University Wire
03-23-2007
(Daily Egyptian) (U-WIRE) CARBONDALE, Ill. -- New media are playing a new role in political campaigns -- a development that has already proven its effectiveness on the national stage and now is shaking things up in the local mayor's race.
Political chatter that used to take place in the local bar over a beer or two has moved into a new arena -- the Internet, said local blogger Peter Gregory.
"Maybe the bloggers have become a replacement for those meetings," said Gregory, who maintains a blog called "Gregorian Rants."
Facebook has become the latest new media product to become a political tool. Supporters of Mayor Brad Cole created a group on the popular social networking site that carried inflammatory statements and other claims about his opponent, Sheila Simon.
Gregory and another local man, David More, maintain local blogs that for the past few months have become devoted almost exclusively to the mayoral and council elections.
During the mid-term elections in November, the Internet likely played a very important role in key races that ended with the Democrats seizing control of Congress. Many attribute that change to the effect of blogs and sites such as the online video-sharing site YouTube, all of which are considered new media.
Philip Habel, a Southern Illinois University assistant professor of political science, said the growth of the Internet as a political tool is fascinating to watch.
"Five years ago, I would have dismissed them quickly," Habel said.
Though both Cole and Simon have Web sites, neither maintains a blog as a means to deliver messages to voters.
The two local blogs both carry the banner for Mayor Brad Cole, who is seeking re-election. His opponent, Sheila Simon, can get torn apart with criticisms, and as a result, a flurry of comments from Simon supporters try to refute the claims.
More, who runs the "(New) Carbondaley Dispatch," mixes reporting along with his opinion. He said he averages more than 150 unique hits a day on the blog. In December, the average was 82.
Gregory describes his blog as mostly opinion. He said while the media's reporting requires a certain level of proof before something becomes a story, he gets his information "through the grapevine." Although his information can be rumor-based, he said he doesn't believe he has published anything inaccurate.
Deciding whether to focus their energy on the combating blogs or targeting voters can be a difficult choice for candidates, Habel said. Even if they don't solicit bloggers on their behalf, the cyberspace support can be helpful, but it also has its drawbacks, he said. "That can work to a candidate's favor if they raise an issue that would not otherwise be raised, or it can hurt a candidate, if it is gossipy," Habel said.
Cole joined the Facebook group called "Vote for Brad Cole -- Keep the Bars Fun," and had the inappropriate comments and altered photos removed.
But he did not take off claims that Simon would raise the bar entry age to 21 and create party-free zones throughout the city if elected. Until Wednesday, there was no definitive proof supporting that claim on the site and that didn't bother Cole.
"The people who posted that think it is accurate," he said. "It doesn't say that she is or isn't (in support of changing the bar entry age). It says that she is rumored."
A 2003 survey of Carbondale mayoral and council candidates reveals that there may be more truth than fiction to the rumor that Sheila Simon would favor increasing the bar entry age to 21 and over.
Before the 2003 election, The Carbondale Times, the local newsweekly, printed a self-reporting survey from the candidates running for mayor and City Council. Simon, who went on to win a seat on the council, said, "the city's bar entry age should be 21 and up."
Simon said she has had a change of heart since completing that survey in 2003. She said having a bar entry age at 19 years old is similar to a "wink and a nod and will lead to people underage being able to drink."
"But I think that maybe what I have learned along the way is that although this is not ideal what we have currently, it is the least bad alternative," she said. "I don't have a secret agenda to move the bar entry age to 21."
Simon said the only accurate part of the Facebook group is that she is a "family woman."
Simon also said she does not know anything about the party-free zones described on the site.
Rob Taylor, an SIUC alumnus who operates Moonlight Taxi Company in town and is helping Cole campaign, said Simon talked about such zones during a forum in 2003.
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