• by Shankar Gupta , August 10, 2006

When Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman campaigned against victorious challenger Ned Lamont in the Democratic primary, the Web didn't play a large role in his media efforts. But the Senator, who has said he will run as an "independent Democrat" in November, appears set to beef up his Internet strategy in connection with the race.

"My suspicion is that we will have a more active presence on the Web," Dan Gerstein, a senior advisor to the Lieberman campaign, told OnlineMediaDaily. He added that the campaign might use the Internet "to counter some of the lies that some of the more extreme, vicious bloggers have been telling."

Some of Lamont's most vocal support came from left-wing bloggers, who posted critical pieces about Lieberman. In August, Jane Hamsher--author of the blog Firedoglake, and a contributor to the Huffington Post--ran an image of Lieberman as a grinning minstrel in blackface; Lamont's campaign later asked that the image be removed.

Lieberman's campaign, by contrast, was mostly mired in traditional media. "Lieberman's campaign was last century," said Rich Hanley, director of the graduate program at Quinnipiac University's School of Communications, in Connecticut. "He got off slowly, he didn't anticipate this challenge, and he did nothing with the Internet even though Connecticut is a wealthy state," he added. "Lots of voters use the Internet daily, and he just didn't get it."

What's more, said Hanley, the TV ads that Lieberman ran appeared "lackluster and template." "He couldn't compete with the 21st century look, feel and aesthetic of Lamont's ads and his Web presence," Hanley added.

But, Hanley said, he anticipates that Lieberman will shift gears for the November election, noting that even though Lieberman's campaign site crashed in the final days of the campaign, the Senator still touted its URL when he conceded the primary race.

"You can go to my Web site, joe2006.com--when it is unhacked--to send me your ideas about how we can build this new politics of unity and purpose," Lieberrman said in his Tuesday night concession speech. His campaign site went dark on Monday, triggering accusations that Lamont supporters had sabotaged it. As of Wednesday, it wasn't clear whether the site had crashed as the result of sabotage or due to unrelated server problems.

Hanley added that Lieberman's mention of the Web site indicates he will devote more energy online in the coming months. "I suspect that his campaign staff will take the Web more seriously in the general election."