The Internet campaign: It's all about e-mail

It's no wonder that so many people, in the early days of the Internet, hoped that the new medium could displace the power of television in modern campaigns. To be honest, campaign Web sites have yet to emerge as true mass media. During elections in the late '90s, the small numbers of visitors to campaign sites was downright embarrassing.

But in the middle of this debate about television, one campaign caught a glimmer of the Net's real potential: It's an organizing tool. A one-stroke phone tree. The low-budget, high-profile campaign of Jesse Ventura brought that discovery to light.

Maybe I'm being something of an old-school technophile, but it seems to me that the biggest things we had to learn about Internet campaigning, we had learned by 1999.

In 2000, of course, the campaigns started using the Internet as a gimmick to get stories in newspapers and on TV. I got tired of that game -- so tired, in fact, that I decided not to play. To push those silly stories would have made me part of the problem.

Here are links to stories during the days when we were looking for that electronic election miracle:

Breaking news

"Former Wrestler's Campaign Got a Boost From the Internet"

The New York Times on the Web, Nov. 6, 1998

"Bush Campaign Asks Government to Go After Critical Web Site"

The New York Times on the Web, May 21, 1999

"Bush Shows How Not to Handle the Internet, Experts Say"

The New York Times on the Web, June 8, 1999

"Election Regulators Dismiss Complaint Against Bush Parody Site"

The New York Times on the Web, April 18, 2000

"Volunteers' Actions Lead Skeptics To Question McCain's Online Donations"

The New York Times on the Web, Feb. 12, 2000

"Experts Want to Dissect McCain's Internet Fundraising"

The New York Times on the Web, Feb. 18, 2000

Experiments - for better and for worse

"Spam in California Political Race May Backfire"

The New York Times on the Web, May 27, 1998

"Political Consultant Decides Not to Send Bulk E-Mail"

The New York Times on the Web, June 2, 1998

"Politicians Woo Voters on the Web"

The New York Times, July 30, 1998

"Sites That Measure Candidates' Views Against Your Own"

The New York Times, Dec. 23, 1999

"Politics a Hot New Internet Investment"

The New York Times, Jan. 2, 1999

"Candidates Try Asking for Money Via E-Mail"

The New York Times on the Web, July 15, 1999

"In New York, Candidates for Governor Are Big Online Spenders"

The New York Times on the Web, Oct. 28, 1998

"Site Offers Videos of Candidates, Without the Flash"

The New York Times on the Web, Nov. 18, 1999

"From Experts to Novices, Candidates Try Campaigning Online"

The New York Times on the Web, Aug. 3, 1999

"TV Political News Dumped on the Web; Newscasts burdened by sensation pass politics off to Web sites"

Online Journalism Review, March 27, 2001

"If TV's Just Not Enough: Conventions on the Net"

The New York Times, July 20, 2000

"Republicans Plan to Offer A Party Line To the Internet"

The New York Times, Nov. 8, 1999

(links to archive)

"For-Profit Web Sites Give New Meaning to Campaign Financing"

The New York Times, Jan. 10, 2000

(links to archive)

"In E-Politics, Clinton's Former Adviser Still Plays by Own Rules"

The New York Times, Nov. 12, 1999

(links to archive)

"Two New Web Sites Cover Political Races"

The New York Times, July 17, 2000

(links to archive)

Research and discoveries

"Political Laughs for Internet Users"

The New York Times, Dec. 4, 2000

"Even on the Web, Major Political Parties Have the Edge"

The New York Times on the Web, Feb. 27, 1999

"Candidates in Tight Races Turn to Web, Survey Finds"

The New York Times on the Web, Oct. 28, 1998

"Cheap Online Fundraising Is a Boon to Political Groups"

The New York Times on the Web, Nov. 23, 1999

"Republicans Say Web Brought In Volunteers"

The New York Times on the Web, Dec. 4, 1998

"Who Says You Want a Revolution"

The New York Times on the Web, Oct. 28, 1997

Regulating political expression

"Small Campaign Web Sites May Collide With Election Laws"

The New York Times on the Web, May 16, 1999

"Regulators Ready To Set Some Rules on Internet Campaigning"

The New York Times on the Web, Sept. 8, 1999

"Homemade Campaign Web Sites May Face More Regulation"

The New York Times on the Web, Sept. 16, 1999

"Campaign Regulators Clear Up Status of Political 'Fan Sites' "

The New York Times, Nov. 11, 1999

"Letters Ask Internet Commission to Leave the Internet Alone"

The New York Times on the Web, Jan. 13, 2000

"Group Says For-Profit Political Site is Breaking the Law"

The New York Times on the Web, April 20, 2000