This year’s presidential campaign has shown that the Internet can be a powerful tool to have in one’s campaign arsenal. Both presidential candidates have ushered in a new and effective means for developing grassroots support on a large scale with their use of the Internet. Politics4All is designed to provide those same types of campaign management tools to every office seeker or current office holder on the local, state, and national level. The catch is . . . there is no catch. Politics4All offers this service at no cost to the candidate.
Today’s campaign environment is getting harder to control. Candidates or incumbents seeking all levels of government office are trying to navigate through an unprecedented access to media sources. In addition to traditional media (newspaper, radio, television, outdoor), the Internet has taken on a more pronounced role in campaigning. With the proliferation of Facebook and MySpace-type web sites, today’s voters are expecting a “quick view” of politics. While these types of Websites and single-candidate sites may give them a taste of politics, Politics4All gives the candidates and citizens all-things political in one place.
For example, if a candidate creates their own web site, the number of potential citizen-visits will be extremely limited. The majority of visitors to a candidate’s Website are those citizens already supporting the candidate, or members of the media that are researching the candidate. With Politics4All, the candidate will attract far more potential voters without incurring costly design, development, and hosting fees.
Politics4All provides today’s candidate with a free Web-based platform combining campaign tracking, volunteering, blogging, press kits, and a real-time town hall forum, helping bridge the gap between the candidate and the citizen.
To register, go to www.politics4all.com and create an account. When creating an account, type county, municipal or state in the Promo Code box. Next, the candidate will request a Candidate account. A candidate account will provide more tools to help them manage their campaigns and grow their support base. The candidate can then build their personal candidate profile and start to experience the power of Politics4All. The candidate can add pictures or videos, blog about their campaign or platform, or contact potential voters. And with a personal web address, ex. jansmith.politics4all.com, the candidate can drive traffic directly to their personal P4A website.
“Politics4All is designed to allow candidates, citizens, and political organizations to collaborate and influence the political landscape, at all levels of government,” says Branden South, Vice President of Marketing & Co-Founder of Politics4All. “Now the candidate has a tool to help them grow their voter-base, all on a politically-neutral site.” said South. There are only a few hundred nationally elected officials in the U.S., but more than 400,000 on the state, county and municipal levels.
One of the added benefits of Politics4All is that the communication established by the candidate during a campaign doesn’t have to end once the campaign has ended. For instance, if the election is won, the office holder can continue to send information and news to their constituents through Politics4All, or use our platform to direct them back to the local government’s official web site.
From voter referendums for a proposed drink tax in Allegheny County, Pennsylvania, to a ballot in Nashville, Tennessee proposing English as a first language for all state government workers, Politics4All provides a forum for a candidate to rally support and voice their opinions with others, including the citizens who will be impacted by these decisions. While the U.S. presidential elections are top of mind, Politics4All builds upon promoting political candidates, issues and parties on a local level, where decisions made have an immediate impact on voters.
Politics4All’s collaborative network provides a community of users interested in people, activities, events, and groups about politics. Local politicians are excited about the launch of Politics4All. According to Alabama State Representative David Grimes, “Politics4All provides an unbiased forum for the free-flow exchange of political ideas so that all sides can be more accurately informed.”
Now, the power of developing a grassroots support base is available to anyone who campaigns for an elected office. The future of campaigning is here, and Politics4All is leading the charge. Politics4All is encouraging registered political candidates, incumbents, advocacy groups, and voters to register with its site, and begin the political discussion in their hometown.
Technorati Tags: candidates, local elections
Another interesting move this week, that has sparked lots of debate, is the 5 to 4 decision by the Supreme Court (PDF) to lift the ban on the corporate use of treasury funds for political speech. The majority agreed in the 180+ page decision that the government should not be regulating political speech, citing the First Amendment and our right to free speech. While the dissenters found that allowing corporate monies to be used would corrupt democracy. The timing of the decision is important in that it could be a game changer upcoming mid-term elections.
