Grant scores online
BOISE – One Idaho congressional candidate’s online campaigning has sparked national attention on the Internet – and garnered him hundreds of small campaign contributions in just two days.
Democrat Larry Grant, who is running for the open 1st District seat, has been online with a Web log, or blog, since last November.
This week, a group of top national Democratic political bloggers singled him out as one of 19 “Netroots” endorsed candidates – and more than 300 online donors across the country anted up more than $7,000 for the campaign in two days.
“Larry Grant is courageously running in one of the deepest-red districts in the nation,” the blogs ActBlue.com and DailyKos.com said. “But he’s got a lot going for him. … The local netroots scene is positively on fire.”
That’s a reference to the Internet “buzz” around the campaign.
“It has everything to do with his Internet presence,” said Grant campaign staffer and Idaho blogger and writer Julie Fanselow.
Idaho political historian Randy Stapilus, a blogger himself, said the Netroots endorsement gave Grant’s campaign high-profile play on several national, high-traffic political blogs. A Netroots endorsement is credited with raising thousands for Connecticut candidate Ned Lamont, who defeated U.S. Sen. Joe Lieberman in that state’s Democratic primary.
Stapilus said, “Such support is not enough to win an unwinnable race. It can be enough to matter if the race tightens on its own merits.”
Grant’s blog has included everything from endorsements and campaign events to live, online question-and-answer sessions with the candidate.
“It reaches out to people all across the district, but also to a national political audience,” Grant said. “They ask questions, discuss issues, make suggestions, and conduct what is, in effect, an online town meeting. It’s redefining the democratic and political process in the country.”
Grant has held two of those live sessions so far, and plans another on Sept. 10.
Grant, a former Micron Technology Corp. executive, faces Republican Bill Sali, United Party candidate Andy Hedden-Nicely, independent Dave Olson and Constitution Party candidate Paul Smith in the congressional contest.
The Sali campaign has a Web site but no interactive blog. “This race is about who has the best ideas for the citizens of the 1st Congressional District, not who has a blog,” said campaign manager Jesseca Sali.
Hedden-Nicely has his own blog, but it doesn’t include the interactive features of Grant’s, which allow readers to post their own comments.
Smith has a single-page Web site that includes his photo and a statement touting Christianity and decrying the “United Socialist States of Amerika.” Olson has no Internet page.
Stapilus said Internet campaigning can generate visibility, money and volunteers. “Part of the big advantage of all of this is how cost-effective it is,” he said. “The number of people who are routinely online has grown so much that you are really beginning to reach masses now.”
Fanselow, author of the “Red State Rebels” blog and a widely published magazine writer, said Grant contacted her last November to talk about the role of the Internet in his campaign, and the Grant blog was born.
“Especially with Larry’s background in technology with Micron, it was just a natural for him,” she said.