New election, new world

By Ellen Ratner
Many of the traditional press at the White House and around Washington have been discussing what this presidential election year is going to be like. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that this year all the old rules will be thrown out the window.

First, we have the candidates –"non traditional" candidates – a woman (Hillary Clinton), a Mormon (Mitt Romney), someone who has been married three times (Giuliani), an African-American (Obama) and a Hispanic-American (Richardson).

Second, the campaign season is more like a campaign millennium – eighteen months of debates, town hall meetings, debates and the all important fundraisers. We have the possibility of a Jewish billionaire Republican entering the race as an Independent along with a Republican (Hagel). Wow! The presidential contenders are truly representative of the diversity of America. It really is a new century!!

What really mixes this race up is Internet. It has the potential to make the conventions look like something from the horse and buggy days. The traditional press corps, of which I am a member, begins to look very out of touch. The Internet has power to change elections. Did one "You Tube moment" of George Allen uttering his famous Makaka phrase win the Senate for the Democrats? If the answer is "yes," then the Internet has great implications for the upcoming elections.

This week I attended the Personal Democracy Forum in New York City. It is the sum of all the Internet has to offer in terms of politics. The subtitle of the conference was "technology is changing politics." We’re not just talking about bloggers. Bloggers are critical, but they do not wield as much power as they would like. What is changing the election is the nature of the content shift from newspapers, radio and television to the Internet.

Several innovations have changed politics overnight. The biggest one is the cell phone. The amount of camera cell phones have exploded making it possible for someone with even the lowest level of technical skill to shoot photos, and even videos, and send them instantly to the Internet or even a television station for the evening news. People are viewing videos on the web instead of watching television. Despite the hype about the Internet being a young persons medium, the "average" viewer of Internet video ranges from the late teens to the mid 50s.

More and more people are turning to the Internet to satisfy their political curiosity. In 2006, more than 64 million people used the Internet to find political news and information leading up to the elections. Some campaigns are trying out new ways to get participation. Hillary Clinton held a contest for her Internet audience to help her pick out her campaign song. This was more of an Internet focus group, but voters are going to want real connection and interaction on issues.

A Conservative politician in England has used Internet video to make real connections with his constituents. He kept cameras rolling as he lived in a Muslim community for three days, worked for a day behind a cash register in a store and worked in a school. The videos portrayed him as human and authentic. Had former Sen. Bob Graham of Florida done that as he worked for a day in hundreds of jobs, he may have done better in his quest for the presidency.

The websites tracking the election will also change the face of the campaign. Offthebus.net is going to track the election not through the lens of the journalists who travel with the candidate on the bus, but through those who see the candidate from the community perspective. Viral videos, similar to the very funny Jib Jab, "This Land Is Your Land," that we saw in the 2004 election will now be made by Joe and Susie citizen. Quality homemade content will rise to the top and get sent around the Internet faster than some boring political ad. Blogs will still be key, but the fast video commentary will have a huge influence this election.

As an opinion journalist who has covered campaigns since the 1992 election where every word is meted out by the candidate’s press flack assigned to shepherd the press, I am eager to embrace the new media. "Bring it on." Maybe this election will be less about sound bites and a few press comments. Real people may make the candidates more real. Those who are acting will likely crack under the pressure of pretending for so long.

Homemade media may bring integrity to the election itself – the actual voting process. Maybe people whose voting machines didn’t work right will make an instant video and send it to the local television station and the local Internet advocacy site. Who knows, maybe we’ll get a reality-based election thanks to marriage of technology, ingenuity and citizen activism. I can’t wait.