Minnesota Public Radio: Campaigning on the Web is becoming standard procedure
August 17, 2004
State Rep. Ray Cox, R-Northfield, and his DFL challenger David Bly, have remarkably similar Web sites. Both prominently feature blogs (short for Web log, an online diary of sorts) in which they discuss their campaigning and political philosophies. And both sites were designed by Griff Wigley, a Northfield online entrepreneur.“I approached Ray Cox two years ago when he was elected,” Wigley recalled. “I approached him first on his construction company site and said, ‘Your site sucks.’”
Once the business site was updated, Wigley convinced Cox that he needed a Web site for his political activities as well. The result was a new Web site where the first-term representative discusses his ideas and, these days, his campaign.
Bly’s site does much the same.
Unlike campaign sites whose content doesn’t seem to change much, Wigley said blogs allow a candidate to be heard.
“My mantra is that a Weblog can really be a voice of authenticity,” Wigley said.
Both sites also feature an easy way for visitors to donate money to the campaign.
The two candidates’ blogs are part of a larger effort at online civic engagement in Northfield. Wigley also is behind Northfield.org, a community-based blog, and even helps the city’s police chief run a blog.
I’ve added links to this excerpt. Some, but not all, were included in a sidebar to the article on the MPR web site.
