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Campaigns do battle on the Internet
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JOHN LOCHER/LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL FILE PHOTO
Senate candidate Sharron Angle courts conservative bloggers at a Las Vegas conference in July as her image is captured in this reflection. Angle knows the importance of online image, raising questions about whether she knows her deputy campaign manager is in a Twitter mudslinging rift with Sen. Harry Reids communications director. » Buy this photo
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LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL
Updated: Aug. 23, 2010 | 11:29 a.m.
The Internet can be a global stage for smack talk.
Disgruntled employees trash their bosses in online forums. Unsatisfied customers blog about lousy service.
Rumors about political campaigns spread like wildfire, and gaffes by candidates are forever etched into the Internet's memory, even if voters forget.
Remember Sen. Harry Reid's comments about Hispanic Republicans or Sharron Angle's "Second Amendment remedies?"
Google sure does. The unforgiving Internet soapbox can damage reputations.
"The challenge is, especially in politics with a war room mentality, you need to balance that with saying who will pull the trigger on the message," said Julian Kilker, an associate professor of journalism and new media at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
"Once a message is sent out it can be copied, documented and forwarded to other people very easily."
On Thursday, Jordan Gehrke, Angle's deputy campaign manager, got into a digital mudslinging battle with Jon Summers, Reid's communications director, on Twitter:
"Not easy being one of (Angle's) DC handlers," Summers wrote next to a link referring to Angle's comments about Social Security.
It was just enough chiding to get Gehrke to respond only minutes later.
"Really dude? You're still going there?" Gehrke wrote next to a rebuttal YouTube link of Summers repeatedly saying "DC handler" and then pointing out that Summers is tweeting from Washington, D.C.
And with the click of a mouse, those less flattering posts can be seen by everyone with access to the Internet.
"Many less savvy and frequent Internet users don't realize how arbitrary and subjective the Internet can be in what it presents to them," said Mark Peplowski, a political science professor at the College of Southern Nevada. "It's not an encyclopedia, and it hasn't been fact checked by ('Jeopardy' host) Alex Trebek's fact checkers."
Peplowski added that political candidates need to get back in the field to rekindle a more personal connection with voters and minimize any damage caused by websites.
"Voters who care will begin to realize that the Internet is not their friend in this area," he said. "It's like a meddling neighbor that keeps offering advice whether you want it or not. The Internet is not all knowing."
Former U.S. Senate hopeful Sue Lowden's chicken bartering comments dominated national news. Democrats pounced on the Republican candidate by creating parody videos on YouTube and elsewhere.
"She should have defended it and shown examples, but instead she went into damage control mode," Peplowski said.
Candidates must protect their reputations by personally reaching out to voters, picking an audience they can win over and create unity within that group, he added.
Congressmen and political hopefuls nationwide have latched on to social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter to share their views as a commonality approach to younger voters.
"Instead of getting political news at 6 o'clock, now you have to sell the message to them wherever they are," Peplowski said. "Instead of face-to-face, it's behind their backs. It's gossip. You can say whatever you want about politicians."
The digital cavalry at Las Vegas-based Positive Searches purges the online world of negative postings about its clients, mostly lawyers and businesses. The company's website promises clients their names will be removed from major search engines within a few months, although it acknowledges that doesn't always happen.
When reached by e-mail, company officials declined to comment, saying the business is undergoing "a major expansion."
Here's how the business works: The company floods the Internet with blogs, news releases and videos about its clients, which become the newer links seen on search engines.
People are more likely to click on these newer links, which get more hits and become more popular.
Perhaps Gehrke and Summers can take a cue from these guys.
When its work is done, according to the company, the negative posts are pushed far away into Internet oblivion -- or at least to the second page.
-- Kristi Jourdan
Contact Kristi Jourdan at kjourdan @reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0279.
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The largest gap in Gallup's history for tracking the midterm generic ballot's for Congress--gives Republicans--a 10 point lead.
http://www.gallup.com/poll/142718/GOP-Unprecedented-Lead-Generic-Ballot.aspx
!!!!OMG!!!! Obama blames Harry Reid for current jobs situation
From the LA Times:
But before leaving for his ninth presidential vacation, 10 days at a secluded estate on Martha's Vineyard, Obama devoted four minutes in the White House driveway to a special statement on the latest disappointing jobs numbers. According to the president, he's been "adamant" with Congress for months now about a new jobs bill to help small businesses. Obama says this really good bill is stalled in the Senate, where so much administration legislation has been crammed through so effectively by Majority Leader Harry Reid. The very same Democrat party that has controlled both houses of Congress since the 2006 election and really controlled them both since the 2008 balloting.
He is still blaming Bush #43:
http://therealrevo.com/blog/?p=31158
Alvinjh wrote "What in the hell do you mean your Mexican and would vote for a Republican!" Well sparky cased closed on you-your inherent bigotry comes out after all. Last time I checked Mexican's did not vote in America.
American's vote in America-period. But thanks for proving my point.
You answer the things you don't like by VOTING.
It is the one thing they can't control.
BUT YOU ONLY GET TO DO IT ONCE EVERY SIX YEARS.
Your next chance is in just 70 days.
After that they can and will ignore you again for 6 more years.
Your VOTING scares them to death.
Listen to what they say, how they say it, and you can almost smell the pheromones of rage and fear dripping from their pores.
HOW DARE YOU OLD PEOPLE VOTE.
YOU DON’T COUNT
How dare you Church people voice an opinion.
Who the hell do you small business people think you are?
What in the hell do you mean your Mexican and would vote for a Republican!
Or Black..or Muslim or on an on.
Just do it folks.
VOTE
Neither of these incompetent twits have anything to offer;
In the bi-annual budget Nevada can save 2 billion dollars; since we WASTE 1 billion per year OVER PAYING public unions ABOVE what the private sector gets.
FILE BANKRUPTCY; fire all government employees and re-hire those willing to work for the national average of the private sector with those same private sector benefits.
But just watch, our wh0re politicians will tax their employers the citizens and hand out largesse to the public unions.
BTW Nevada looses 1 billion dollars per year on illegal aliens. Start at the hospitals because this is where HUGE dollar volume is wasted; an example is UMC in Las Vegas where illegal aliens cost the dialysis unit 10 million plus $s every year and no one even stops by to check on legal eligibility for these services.
I am looking forward to the debate as a chance to compare and contrast ideas, because that's where the rubber meets the road. All the name-calling and smack talk is good entertainment, but it's not real. One of the big problems Harry faces is that he gave it all to Obama, everything Obama wanted - Stimulus, GM buyout, Wall Street Bailout, Gov't Healthcare, and Obama just didn't sell it. Obama couldn't sell hot water to Eskimos if he had to. That's the real difference between Obama and Bill Clinton. When Bill said "I feel your pain" it was believable and then he did such a sucky job playing that saxophone you just had to believe in the guy. Harry's got the unpleasant task of trying to carry the water for Obama, while Obama's just kicking the bottom out of the bucket. I remain convinced that the only reason the Dem's didn't try to pass amnesty for illegals is that someone smart in DC realized that even if they passed it by November, Obama would manage to tick off all the mexicans in the process. Let's get the candidates in the same room together and see what happens. It'll be the best thing that happens in this campaign.
Reid and his workers are on a say anything campaign to get reelected. What lows will they stoop to next?
oldnuke69 wrote on August 23, 2010 02:33 PM:
"That said, 1) there are many who don't like the president just because he is black;"
No offense, oldnuke, but here's where I have a problem with this statement. There are many, many, many times more people that don't care what Obama's skin color is, it's his ideas that turn them off. Obama campaigned as a "man of the people" and a true moderate and once in office he is now anything but. Skin color has nothing to do with it. Are there people out there that judge people on race? Sure, can't deny that and it happens across races, but that group of people doesn't have enough numbers to materially affect any political race anywhere by themselves. And it's certainly not half the state of Nevada. This argument is a classic example of a straw dog.
Renostarman, I'm signing off for the day. Have a good evening.