Candidates fail to use Net successfully

The online-funded and Internet-energized candidacies of Howard Dean and Wesley Clark have drawn a lot of attention to the power of digital campaigning.
So why haven't local candidates taken better advantage of the Net?
Presidential hopefuls have drawn on three basic mechanisms to promote their candidacies: Web sites, e-mail lists and Web logs. They have drawn some criticism for spamming, but in reality their use of e-mail has relied on a filtered "friends and colleagues" network, which has forwarded e-mail among known parties.
Locally, though, the Net remains underused by candidates. This is surprising in Washington, which with Oregon has the strongest Internet usage — with 68 percent of the public logging on — in the U.S., according to a study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. And the Net reaches a more-educated public, which is likelier to vote.
A few of the candidates on the Sept. 16 ballot had Web sites. They're an important first step, but Web sites hardly tap the power of the Internet. They tend to be the online equivalent of a campaign brochure.
Nothing from candidates reached my mailbox in terms of e-mail "doorbelling" that the presidential candidates have leveraged. And a potentially powerful political tool — the Web log — is virtually nonexistent on the local level.
Curious as to why, I talked to some local political organizers. The nagging term "resources" kept coming up. Candidacies are expensive. Candidates are crushingly busy. Internet "presence" takes time and money.
While that may be true, it ignores the relative efficiencies, particularly financially, of the Web. Consider the possibilities...

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Sadly it is the same here in Saskatoon. None of the local candidates are using the web well. It is embarrasing really. Even the mayor can't be bothered with even putting up a website.