*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** The Industry Standard, ZDNet, and Roll Call have all posted important politics online stories about the role of the Internet in the 2000 election and the politics .com world. I also "appeared" on the Quorum site to answer a number of questions. I'll summarize my opinion with a question - how do take barely sustainable non-profit models and turn them into profitable enterprises? There may be ways to redirect existing money flows in "as is" politics (i.e. interest group lobbying, political fundraising, political skullduggery) to support new firms, but the vast majority of civic stuff I care so passionately about will require volunteer, foundation, government and individual member/donor support to exist or it will come by influencing the activity of large portal and news sites owned by traditional media and representative democracy. My analysis on the .com viability situation from last February might be useful: http://www.egroups.com/message/do-wire/457 Meanwhile on the E-Democracy ranch we just launched another volunteer- based interactive project - the Minnesota Young Voters Forum. MN-YVOTE <http://www.e-democracy.org/mn-yvote> is special online discussion for people 18-30 to discuss the Presidential and MN U.S. Senate race. We are planting the seeds of "e-citizenship" one person at a time. There is no Internet shortcut to instant political engagement - just an Internet-enabled opportunity to turn the sparks of political interest into an eternal flame of civic passion. Steven Clift Democracies Online My Q & A with Quorum readers: http://www.quorum.org/servlet/ArticleServlet?action=view&article=11497 Industry Standard's Netelection special report: http://www.thestandard.com/article/display/0,1151,19397,00.html October 16, 2000 Net Election 2000 In politics, the Net hasn't changed everything – yet. But the Web's influence on government, policy and politicians is unmistakable. From the money that drives elections to the way campaigns are waged to the issues dominating the agenda, one thing is clear this November: The Internet Economy has come of voting age. The Search for E-mocracy By Jacob Weisberg In 2000, the Internet was supposed to change politics the way TV did in 1960. Turns out this year is more like 1952. What's at Stake By Keith Perine, Aaron Pressman and Elizabeth Wasserman Some of the biggest issues facing candidates and policy makers in election 2000 tie in to the new economy. Tech Companies Pay to Play By Laura Carr 'Computer equipment & services' companies are giving to political candidates in record amounts, but the tech sector still lags behind other industries in total donations. The Early Adopter By Keith Perine Al Gore wears a Palm, surfs the Web and raised millions of dollars in Silicon Valley. He wants to be the first high-tech president. Taking Care of Business By Elizabeth Wasserman George W. Bush never claimed to be a techno-whiz – just the guy who knows how to keep the new economy humming. The Wired Candidate By Ted Rose Jean Elliott Brown may be running one of the most technologically sophisticated congressional campaigns in the country. But will that win her any votes? After the Fall By Patrick A. McGuire When the dust from the election clears, will the party be over for political-content sites? Kings of the Hill By Aaron Pressman From its early days, America Online has been a Case study in Beltway savvy. So why is the merger with Time Warner such a tough sell in Washington? Hail to the Chief Tech-Heads By Michael Beschloss Lincoln held his own patent. Kennedy aimed for the moon. What should the next president do? Maybe nothing. The Net Electorate Logs Off By Laura Carr Media Metrix predicts that nearly 9 in 10 surfers plan to vote this year. The Standard takes a look at where they are or aren't getting political information. The Valley Way By Scott Harris Startup executives want to reinvent political influence. PAC.com's approach: Dole out stock to candidates. And two more stories on the politics online .com world ... From: http://www.zdnet.com/intweek/stories/news/0,4164,2640368,00.html End Is Near For Political Sites By Rebecca Fairley Raney , Inter@ctive Week Special To Inter@ctive Week October 15, 2000 7:03 PM ET Joshua King has made a career of rolling the dice: He has worked in the White House, toiled for three presidential campaigns and served as vice president for external affairs at SpeakOut.com, one of several political portals that emerged last year. He knows the day may be coming when he must bid his online column good-bye. "I fully anticipate writing that farewell piece in November," he says. "I never thought I was going to be the next Carl Rowan." The column, like much of the news and information produced on SpeakOut and other political portals, may go by the wayside as the companies abandon the notion that they can make money by attracting large audiences to political information. Even if the sites do attract large audiences, the phenomenon is likely to be short-lived; the managers of nonprofit political Web sites learned years ago that the audience for politics on the Internet appears on the day before, the day of and the day after the election. "It's not a business," says Allen Weiner, vice president of analytical services at NetRatings, a Web audience measurement firm. "Business is based on sustainable traffic." Rather than promote the Web site, SpeakOut is pushing a new product: online polling. Other venture capital-backed politics companies, such as Grassroots.com and Voter.com, also plan to shift their emphasis to the tenuous market of Internet campaigning. >From (Thank you Stephanie Vance): http://www.rollcall.com/pages/news/00/10/news1016c.html October 16, 2000 Making Web Politics Pay Firms Find Internet Election Sites Are No Easy Sell By Amy Keller In their mad dash to tap the political potential of the Internet, dozens of cyber entrepreneurs are discovering that competing on the Web resembles a cutthroat game of "Survivor" - minus the rats and nudity. "The road to success on the Internet is littered with the wrecks of the field," said Ron Gunzberger, who runs Politics1.com. "I'm one of those few survivors who's been around for more than one election cycle," explained Gunzberger. He admits outright that his site is hardly a big profit maker, but says the heavy traffic it receives makes it "a nice marketing platform for the other things" his company does. And, he says, he's learned some valuable lessons about the business from the venture. "Any time anyone out there tells you 'we're going to corner the (fill in the blank) field' ... I try not to laugh directly in their face, because anyone who says that is showing an inability to understand the Internet and how it works," Gunzberger said. "Those people with the 'Field of Dreams' business plan - 'if you build it, they will come' - have no idea what they're doing." Judging by the growing list of e-casualties, the field of dreams has turned into a nightmarish morass for many politically oriented Web startups. - end clip - ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. 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