*** Democracies Online Newswire - http://www.e-democracy.org/do *** Great stuff from: http://www.e-advocates.com/survey Contacts: Pam Fielding or Nicole Duritz, e-advocates 202/955-3001 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] Gary Baker, Juno Public Relations 212/597-9005 or [EMAIL PROTECTED] e-advocates/Juno Post-Election Review Finds Net Savvy Challengers Defeat Incumbents In Toss-Up Races, Congressional Challengers Used the Web to Advantage WASHINGTON, DC (November 20, 2000) - In Campaign 2000, challengers who won tight congressional races against incumbents also won the battle of the Web, according to a post-election review of congressional candidate Web sites by e-advocates and Juno Online Services, Inc. (NASDAQ: JWEB). The study found that in the 8 toss-up U.S. House and Senate races where a challenger won, an overwhelming majority - 75 percent - employed a superior Web strategy, as defined by online voters in a February 2000 e-advocates/Juno survey and candidate rankings on top search engines. Additionally, in seven out of the eight races, the winning challenger raised less money than the losing incumbent - an anomaly in the results of all congressional races nationwide. Among winning challengers in toss-up House and Senate races, all had Web sites that provided information and features desired by voters online, including issue statements, campaign e-mail addresses, volunteer and online contribution opportunities, and online voter registration capabilities. Eighty-eight percent of winning challengers provided issue statements that could provide the basis for voters to compare candidates, a feature desired by 79 percent of Internet users. Sixty-three percent of winning challengers provided campaign e-mail addresses, a feature of interest to 73 percent of Internet users. All victorious challengers provided Internet users with the ability to volunteer with their campaigns online, a feature identified as important by 13 percent of Internet users, and 88 percent of winning challengers gave Internet users the ability to make campaign contributions online, a feature of interest to 7 percent of Internet users. Thirty-eight percent of winning challengers offered online voters the ability to register to vote online, a feature of interest to 42 percent of Internet users. "Today's savvy candidates aren't just going door-to-door, they're connecting with voters desktop to desktop," said Pam Fielding, principal, e-advocates. "With 59 percent of U.S. adults now online, no candidate in a tight race can afford to ignore the Web - or the needs of e-voters," said Nicole Duritz, also a principal, e- advocates. The firms also tested the ranking of candidate sites with top search engines - an important strategy for campaigns to connect with online voters. The search engine test found that 75 percent of winning challengers in tight races achieved a first-page, search-engine ranking with at least three of the four major engines as identified by Media Metrix - Yahoo, MSN, AOL, and Lycos. --More-- Reviewers gave candidates a successful rating with a search engine if, after entering their first and last names into the search field, the search engine provided a link to the candidates' official campaign Web sites on the first page of the search results. In seven out of the eight races analyzed by e-advocates and Juno, the winning challenger raised less money than the losing incumbent. According to Federal Election Commission (FEC) data analyzed by U.S. PIRG and reported in an unrelated study, only seven percent of winning congressional candidates nationwide raised less money than their opponents. Michael Cornfield, George Washington University Associate Research Professor and Research Director of George Washington University's Democracy Online Project, observed that the findings suggest a strong Internet strategy can "help financial underdogs gain better footing." "Election 2000 will go down in history as the first presidential cycle where the Net played a decisive role in political campaigns. Candidates and elected officials who underestimated the virtual voter were likely to suffer for it," said Roger Stone, Vice President of Juno Online Services and director of the Juno Advocacy Network, Juno's Washington D.C.-based public interest and political advertising division. To view a chart detailing candidate Internet performance, please visit http://www.e-advocates.com/survey. The U.S. Senate race for Washington State remains undecided and, for this reason, is not included in the analysis. About e-advocates e-advocates, based in Washington, DC, is a full-service Internet advocacy consulting firm dedicated to helping public affairs and advocacy organizations harness the power of the Internet to achieve legislative and political priorities. Principals Pam Fielding and Nicole Duritz are leading experts in the field of cyberpolitics. Fielding is coauthor of the recently published book, The Net Effect: How Cyberadvocacy is Changing the Political Landscape, which highlights how the Internet is reconnecting citizens with government. e-advocates is a subsidiary of Capitol Advantage, the premier innovator of Internet-based political tools and services. Survey results can be viewed at http://www.e-advocates.com/survey. To reach Pam Fielding and Nicole Duritz for comment, please call 202/955-3001. About Juno Juno Online Services, Inc. is a leading provider of Internet access to millions of computer users throughout the United States. Founded in 1996, the company provides multiple levels of service, including free basic Internet access, billable premium dial-up service, and (in certain markets) high-speed broadband access. Juno's revenues are derived primarily from the subscription fees charged for its billable premium services, from the sale of advertising, and from various forms of electronic commerce. Based on its total of 3.7 million active subscribers during the month of September 2000, Juno is currently the nation's third largest provider of dial-up Internet services, after AOL and EarthLink. As of September 30, 2000, Juno had approximately 12.77 million total registered subscriber accounts. For more information about Juno, visit www.juno.com/corp. To get a copy of the Juno software, go to www.juno.com or call 1-800-TRY-JUNO. # # # ^ ^ ^ ^ Steven L. 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