The presumptive Democratic presidential nominee John Kerry has finally put an end to the running mate rumors. We know he chose John Edwards. We know he chose email over other communications tools to
announce his decision. But there remains one burning question: boxers or briefs?
PoliticsOnline hopes the answer is boxers. "Yes, indeed," affirms Phil Noble, Founder of Internet politics
resource PoliticsOnline. "We will send John Kerry a pair of boxers for being the first presidential candidate to announce his running mate via email." In recognition of Online Political Firsts,
PoliticsOnline has offered up undergarments to pioneers of uncharted political Web terrain including Senator Barbara Boxer, the first to sell campaign merchandise online.
About one million
Kerry campaign email subscribers got the gift of insider knowledge yesterday morning when they received an email message from John Kerry naming Senator John Edwards as his choice for vice presidential
sidekick, before an official press announcement was made.
Why email? Kerry's email message cited gratitude for his supporters' "incredible grassroots energy and commitment" as the reason for
making his flock of Web followers the first to learn the news. The use of email follows "a pattern of decisions of the Kerry campaign," explains Campaign Director of Internet Strategy, Josh Ross,
who says the campaign sends out about four emails per week to registrants. "Email is a way for a campaign to speak immediately and to speak directly to grassroots supporters."
Noble suggests
that the email announcement "reflects the Kerry campaign's understanding that they have an online constituency that is just as real and important to them as the traditional media," Noble suggests. The
fact that the campaign alerted the press and supporters beforehand that email would be the medium of choice is also significant, he says.
"People probably made a point of looking at their email
this morning," commented Karen Jagoda, President of non-partisan trade association E-Voter Institute yesterday. "It gives people receiving the email a sense of being an insider....The Internet has
changed the way we get our news and are made aware of our politics."
The rise of Web and email usage by political campaigns has been greatly heightened as a result of Howard Dean's influential
primary campaign and its use of online viral marketing efforts like email to enlist supporters, volunteers, and donations. Consultants and campaign watchers count the unfiltered, one-to-one quality of
email, as well as its immediacy and interactivity, among the reasons that political campaigns are taking a shine to the medium.
Email communications sent by the Kerry campaign are increasing,
according to Jagoda, who registered to receive John Kerry for President email messages in October. "I'm definitely seeing more sophistication in their emails," she says, noting that fund-raising pleas
are often sent by Kerry's Campaign Manager Mary Beth Cahill, while issue-centric messages are often labeled with John Kerry as the sender. "It shows email is being integrated into their campaign,"
Jagoda concludes.
Of course, by dangling the email announcement carrot late last week, the Kerry campaign was able to lure thousands of new registrants over the weekend--more than 150,000,
according to Ross. Those additional email subscribers could result in more funds raised by email donation solicitations, which cost far less than direct mail or phone fund-raising efforts.
"I'm
sure [the Kerry campaign will] see a fabulous bump this week in fund raising," predicts E-Voter Institute's Jagoda. She believes that the interactive components of email have yet to be recognized by
many political campaign strategists.
Despite its ultimate failure, Howard Dean's primary campaign undoubtedly piqued politicians' interest in the Internet. In the same way, the Kerry campaign's
use of email in making such a significant announcement could lend the medium more legitimacy in the eyes of politicos.
Kerry's use of email serves to sanction the communication tool "for the
entire political food chain," opines PoliticsOnline's Noble, in the belief that local and statewide candidates now will be more comfortable using email. "Email is coming of age; this is just the
latest, clearest, trongest example of that," he continues, adding: "It was the single most important thing the Kerry campaign has done. ... And they chose email to do it."