Democrats win on some key issues, there may be little difference between Democrats and Republicans. But when it comes to the Internet, Democrats beat the GOP hands down.
In Philadelphia, a handful of political Internet sites were shoehorned into Internet Alley, a desultory corner of an air-conditioned media tent. In Los Angeles, by contrast, some 60 Web sites – from Vote.com to iVillage – rode high on Democracy Row, a lavish acre of tables and booths in the Los Angeles Convention Center, next door to the Democratic convention venue.
To get to Democracy Row, you walked past a line of high-tech booths that were nowhere to be seen in Philadelphia. Exhibitors included Microsoft’s WebTV,BET.com and HighWired.com, an “online community” of thousands of secondary schools around the world.
One prominent absence in L.A.: Pseudo Programs. After splurging on a skybox and multi-Webcam coverage in Philadelphia, Pseudo dramatically scaled back its L.A. appearance, saying it couldn’t compete with the Democrats’ official site.
Pseudo might have the right idea. According to a Harvard University report, of the U.S. voters that were polled, only 3 percent who watched the convention online spend more than 30 minutes surfing per day. A whopping 66 percent said they logged onto convention coverage for only a few seconds each day.
TAKING IT TO THE STREETS On the opening morning of the Democratic National Convention, as phalanxes of riot-gear-clad police closed off chunks of downtown Los Angeles, several hundred protesters gathered to hound Al Gore about$500,000 in Occidental Petroleum stock his family owns. Seems Occidental is looking to drill on land sacred to the U’Wa tribe in Colombia.
What got the crowd there? The Internet. “I think the Net is responsible for about 70 percent of the organization of this event,” says protest organizer Randall Hayes of Rainforest Action Network. “It’s the only way we can bring these people together.”
People have noticed. Last month, anticipating the protests, L.A. Mayor Richard Riordan castigated organizers as “international anarchists” and likewise fingered the Internet.
But a dozen blocks from the Staples Center, the Net seemed a long way off. As the group marched, police officers lining the streets wore mostly bemused smiles. A young woman implored some building painters, apparently Latino, to join the march.
“Join us,” she yelled. “We’re fighting for you!” The painters shrugged. “I have to go back to paint,” said one.
It was only at the end of the rally that the protesters clashed with police.
At Seventh and Flower streets, a group of activists dropped to the ground, blockading the street. The police charged the crowd with their nightsticks and quickly cleared the area. Nine protesters were arrested.
AL GORE’S NEW DOMAIN The first official event to take place from the Democratic National Convention was unmistakably an Internet one – the launch of Algore.com by Al’s oldest daughter, Karenna Gore Schiff.
Making her Net debut, Gore Schiff, the head of GoreNet, a network of young people working to help elect her father, started things off with an online interview. Some highlights: Education, Gore Schiff said, “is my dad’s No. 1 priority.” And rampant homelessness, her parents taught her, was an example of Ronald Reagan’s misdeeds.
As the official site of the Gore-Lieberman ticket, Algore.com consists of policy briefs, fundraising pitches and campaign merchandise. The Webbiest feature is NashvilleCam, with live shots of Gore’s headquarters. Webby, but none too exciting: While the convention was roaring in approval to the party platform back in L.A., there was exactly one staffer in Nashville, talking on the phone
