Candidates Running Hard in Cyber-Race -- 03/30/1999

Candidates Running Hard in Cyber-Race

30 March, 1999

By Bruce Sullivan
CNS Staff Writer

(CNS) – GOP presidential hopeful Elizabeth Dole has joined a platoon of other Republican candidates in cyberspace, along with the lone Democratic contender with a campaign website, former New Jersey Senator Bill Bradley. The current front-runner for the Democratic slot, Vice President Al Gore, has not yet established an official campaign web address.

At www.edole2000.org Mrs. Dole now joins the first truly interactive presidential campaign in U.S. history. Since 1996, when her husband, former Sen. Bob Dole, ran for president and was defeated by President Clinton, the number of Americans "wired" to the internet has grown from less than 10,000,000 to more than 80,000,000. By the year 2000 that number is expected to exceed 100,000,000. And according to Computerworld the average internet "surfer" spends eleven hours a week in cyberspace.

Dole's site is extremely interactive, as is one of her opponents, magazine publisher Steve Forbes. Dole offers her supporters an electronic bumper sticker to copy and paste on their own websites, and Forbes' website www.forbes2000.com invites his proponents to "lead an e-Precinct." By playing "a role in building the Steve Forbes online campaign organization around the world" and sending Forbes campaign material to "like-minded family members and friends" one can rise through the ranks from "e-Block" leader all the way to membership in Forbes' "e-National Committee."

Bradley's site at www.billbradley.com has a press report announcing that he is the first 2000 presidential candidate to be declared eligible by the Federal Election Commission to receive matching federal campaign funds. FEC rules state that to be eligible for matching funds a candidate must raise " a threshold amount of $100,000 by collecting $5,000 in 20 different states in amounts no greater than $250 from any individual."

Arizona Sen. John McCain's campaign website, www.mccainforpresident.org is unique only because it doesn't use the ubiquitous red, white, and blue color scheme of the other candidates, but employs various shades of purple instead. It's not the first time that the iconoclastic McCain, who spent five and a half years in the Hanoi Hilton as a POW during the Vietnam War, has clashed with other members of his party. His unsuccessful attempts at campaign finance reform and tobacco legislation have earned him a reputation as somewhat of a maverick among Republicans.

However, former vice president Dan Quayle's web site www.quayle.org is awash in the tri-colors of the American flag. The Quayle site gives supporters many chances to interact with the campaign and offers downloadable photos of Quayle, an on-line contribution site, and a volunteer recruitment center. Quayle, a former U.S. senator from Indiana before he was President George Bush's vice president, now, like McCain resides in Arizona. Recently, he campaigned in Iowa where he criticized the Administration's war on drugs. "They really have not focused on a comprehensive strategy for fighting the war on drugs," said Quayle.

President George Bush's son, Texas Governor George W. Bush has thrown his hat into the ring, having formed a presidential exploratory committee and entered the dot com/org world at www.georgewbush2000.com. Bush, who speaks Spanish, has set up the first bilingual campaign with websites in both English and Espanol.

Another colorful campaign 2000 website belongs to former Tennessee governor and secretary of education Lamar Alexander, who ran for president in 1996 and has never stopped campaigning. At www.lamaralexander.com one finds not only a handsome layout with up to the minute information on the candidate's schedule, but valuable news links as well.

Rep. John Kasich is attempting to make the quantum leap from the House of Representatives to the White House with his campaign website at www.k2k.com. A nice interactive feature is the "Who's Your Hero" link where viewers have posted letters in praise of their personal heroes. "I have watched a modest, soft-spoken man live a life of helping others," wrote Keith Barton about his farther and hero, Elmo Barton.

Like Kasich, family activist and now GOP presidential candidate Gary Bauer uses the hip term 2k in his web address at www.bauer2k.com. Bauer recently resigned as head of the Campaign for Working Families Political Action Committee, which has its own website, to pursue the presidency.

New Hampshire Sen. Bob Smith is considered a long shot for the presidency, but his campaign website at www.smithforpresident.org has a link to raise campaign funds through the sale of "twenty dollar shares" in the presidency. " The bearer of this stock is entitled to a President of the United States who will protect and defend the Constitutional freedoms and national sovereignty, and foster a renewed respect for our God-given rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness," says Smith.

National sovereignty is also a campaign issue with perennial GOP presidential hopeful Pat Buchanan, a journalist and former aide to Presidents Ronald Reagan and Richard Nixon. Buchanan's website can be found at www.gopatgo2000.com.

And last, but not least, another holdover from the 1996 presidential campaign is former United Nations ambassador Alan Keyes. Keyes served under President Reagan and now hosts a talk radio show. His web address is www.keyes2000.org.

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