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The political sites in cyberspace are many and varied. They fall into a few loose categories. Among them: political information sites (topped by nationaljournal.com, CNN/Time's allpolitics.com, and washingtonpost.com), political candidate or organization sites (algore2000.com, georgewbush.com, votenader.com, christiancoalition.org, commoncause.org, etc.), community-building sites (the best of which is grassroots.com), and e-government sites, such as easygov.com or govworks.com, which seek to capitalize on the trend toward providing government services online, from driver's license renewals to federal contracting. In this Presidential election year's mad rush to online politics, one site stands out: Voter.com. The site is versatile, useful, and easy to navigate. For the political junkie, it provides a plethora of breaking news and diverse commentary. For opinionated Americans, it offers bulletin boards to discuss favorite issues, instant electronic access to local elected officials, and links to advocacy groups of all stripes across the country. For candidates and political organizations, Voter.com will build Web sites and offer (for a price) links from its own site. Voter.com does everything well, and some things extraordinarily well. While other sites, at this moment, may offer better news packages or grassroots organizing, Voter.com has the best total political package on the Web, bar none. RELENTLESSLY BIPARTISAN. What is Voter.com? Founded a year ago with the financial backing of an eclectic array of political groups, its stated mission is "exclusively to educate and empower the voter." (And make a profit while doing so.) Among its founding sponsors: the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the AFL-CIO, the Christian Coalition, People for the American Way, the Democratic Leadership Council, the American Conservative Union, the Sierra Club, Business-Industry Political Action Committee, and Americans for Tax Reform. Six months ago, the Democratic and Republican National Committees -- in a rare case of bipartisan cooperation -- joined forces as "national advisers" to the site. The person who came up with this concept is twentysomething CEO Justin Dangel, a former investment analyst with London-based venture capital firm Top Technology who worked on Democrat Paul Tsongas' 1992 Presidential campaign. But the company is relentlessly bipartisan. Voter.com's top executives include Randy Tate, a onetime Republican congressman and executive director of the Christian Coalition; Craig Smith, former political director of the Clinton White House and ex-campaign manager for Vice-President Al Gore; and Bill Paxon, a former House Republican leader and current adviser to George W. Bush. As Campaign 2000 has unfolded, Voter.com has scored many a publicity coup. It became the sponsor of the well-respected and bipartisan Battleground Poll, conducted by Democratic pollster Celinda Lake and Republican pollster Ed Goeas. (A recently released Battleground Poll can be found on the site.) Joining forces with the National Press Club, it sponsored a Super Tuesday election headquarters featuring the latest returns from 17 states and instant analysis from prominent pols. Voter.com has gone on a hiring spree, recruiting Watergate veteran Carl Bernstein as its executive editor along with a team of big-name columnists. To increase its reach, Voter.com has entered into content-sharing and co-branding deals with such Info Age players as Microsoft (MSNBC and Slate), Excite@Home, and MTV (chooseorlose.com). LACKING DEPTH. One way that Voter.com is trying to make a name for itself is as an exclusive live provider of major breaking news events. It has featured everything from an interactive town hall meeting with Vice-President Gore to an exclusive Webcast of firebrand conservative Representative Tom DeLay's recent speech on cultural warfare. In the long run, however, the flashy promotional events are less important than the day-to-day quality of the site. So how does Voter.com rate? The answer is mixed, but generally quite positive. There's lots of interesting material posted on the site each day. You can catch the latest political news from Associated Press, a "Best of the Web" collection of political stories from American newspapers, and a "Columnist Round-Up" of commentary by selected pundits. Other useful features include candidate schedules and a summary of daily political events in Washington. What's still a bit thin is Voter.com's original content. Chief Political Correspondent Ned Martel provides lively and colorful reports from the campaign trail, and Voter.com's "Top 40 Races" and "Sleeper Races" are useful, but the site lacks the depth of political pages run by news leaders such as the Washington Post, the New York Times, and CNN. And while Voter.com recently began to run exclusive columns by well-known writers such as Jack Germond, Eleanor Clift, Tucker Carlson, and ubiquitous conservative commentator Laura Ingraham, it would benefit from a wider array of exclusive content. One suggestion: An easy-to-use digest of the latest polling from campaigns around the country. DESIGN FOR PROFIT. To drive traffic to the site, Voter.com must depend on more than news and commentary. The good news is that Voter.com offers much, much more. Curious constituents can check out the voting records of their elected officials. Would-be grassroots activists can join causes, sign petitions, contact their lawmakers, and chat electronically with like-minded (or hostile) citizens. Voters interested in politics and issues close to home can check out the site's state pages. And they can research the positions of hundreds of candidates, donate to those campaigns, or even sign up as a volunteer through the site. Clearly, Voter.com is spending big bucks on building up its site. How can it make the investment pay off? Excellent content alone won't ensure profits. The key is likely to be Voter.com's efforts at designing and operating Web sites for candidates and political groups. In the end, Voter.com's hiring of savvy operatives with bipartisan connections may be more important than its media stars such as Bernstein and Clift. While the economic verdict is still out, Voter.com is off to a blazing start. Dunham covers the White House and the Presidential campaigns from Business Week's Washington bureau |
