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Presidential campaigns take to the Internet
May 7, 1999 WASHINGTON (CNN, May 7) -- Estimates show there to be 54 million Internet users in mid-1998, 62 million now, and one million new users logging on every month. It's an audience no information-age candidate can afford to ignore.
Like never before, political candidates are pouring money into increasingly sophisticated Web sites. According to Federal Election Commission records and interviews with the campaigns, Web sites are high up on the candidates' spending lists.
Dan Quayle's committee shelled out $26,000 to get his site up and running -- one of the biggest checks he wrote. Pat Buchanan has a webmaster on his payroll earning $50,000 a year. Lamar Alexander is spending $20,000 on his site just for starters. You get the picture.
Web sites are by no means the biggest ticket items. George W. Bush paid his top consultant, Karl Rove, $220,000 in the first quarter. Steve Forbes spent $200,000 on video production. And direct mail costs are already running into the hundreds of thousands.
But Web sites have evolved from mere curiosities in 1996 to indispensable campaign tools in 2000. And if they live up to the hype, the amount candidates spend on their sites could grow as fast as the Internet itself. MORE STORIES:Friday, May 7, 1999
• Senate committee outlines responsibility for China technology transfers • Congress looks to finish Kosovo appropriations by next week • Dole's latest campaign swing earns her the political play of the week • Presidential campaigns take to the Internet • Clinton to contest $495,500 reimbursement request from Jones lawyers • Bush using Texas to build record • Lawmakers push to end sodas at school lunch • Lies about George Washington: And he didn't sleep here, either • Puerto Ricans say Congress must take lead on territory's future • Slave's kin to attend Jefferson family reunion for the first time • Democratic fund-raiser's tax evasion trial begins • Gore switches roles from host to guest on CNN • Transcript: Gore calls on software and movie industries to reduce violence in products • Back from Europe, Clinton switches focus to fund-raising • Energy secretary: 'Blame game' hurts nuclear security | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
