Blog Candidates, Blog!

Why are Americans so apathetic when it comes to voting? What factors in their lives, backgrounds, ethnicity, etc. contribute to this apathy? What can be done to change it?

These are only a few questions that we covered in my Political Parties and Election class last year at JMU. It was by far one of the most interesting classes, and one of the most important classes, that I have ever taken. We addressed issues related to why almost half of this country is apathetic when it comes to politics and voting. We studied statistics related to those who actually do vote including their race, age, socioeconomic background, gender, etc. We also followed voting trends and tried to determine why certain people vote the way they do.

I learned so much pertaining to the history of political parties and elections, but when it came to what can be done about the lack of voting in this country, I got a pretty hopeless feeling. It has never, in the history of our country, been easier to vote. All it takes is a few minutes online or an extra form to fill out at the DMV when you're sitting there waiting all those hours, yet people still do not do it, or they do, their political voice stops there.

Why? Because we're too busy, registration is too complicated, many of us have to vote absentee, candidates do not address areas of interest, political bickering is a turn off, political campaigns are negative, election day is not a holiday, or unfortunately enough, you don't get free stuff.

So pushing aside for now our laziness in registering to vote, how can we get closer to our candidates? Well, perhaps our candidates can become more personal, more on our level, show us that they partake in some of the same activities that we do...like blogging!

Then I realized...most of the candidates web sites already have a tab for their blogs. Would they be impersonal and scripted like most of their interviews? I wanted to find out.

So what did I find when I clicked on the tab for blogHillary? She doesn't write her own blog. Instead, spokespersons for different organizations that support Hillary do.

Well, what about Rudy Giuliani? Nope. Granted, his is a little more personal and engaging, but his Deputy Communications Director, Maria Cornello seems to be one of the most frequent contributors. He also includes various video clips featuring him in interviews and other political figures voicing their support.

And Obama? His blog is more like a page of every day run-of-the-mill "joe schmoe" supporters and why they think Obama should be the next president.

So why are the candidate's blogs more like...group blogs? Wouldn't it be interesting if each week a candidate could sit down and spill their guts a little? They could give us a deep down honest assessment of the weeks events. They could tell us how their campaign is going. They could introduce us to some new thoughts that they might have had that week which they think might help establish their campaign or set them apart from their competitors.

Of course, they would have to have their "people" oversee what they have written and edit it for content, but hey, at least it's a little personal. I, for one, would be more than willing to check out the blogs of the future leaders of the free world every once in awhile, and I'm pretty sure a good portion of America would too.


I can't think of a better way to reach out to the "young adult" category of America which traditionally has the lowest percentage of voters. We're technology savvy and we're on the internet for hours each day. Hey, they could even include an RSS feed and we could stick it on our iGoogle portal.

Just an idea, candidates!

Rudy's "Blog"
Hillary's "Blog"
Obama's "Blog"