Political Pop-ups, and Follow the Money

finelinebob writes "Now we know why Bush wants broadband for everyone: The Republican National Committee plans on bringing the campaign to Internet pop-up ads. From the article: 'Internet experts said that Republicans have entered a new realm of campaigning. Pop-up and pop-under ads of any variety haven't been around long, and little data exist to suggest how voters might respond to uninvited interruptions.' Okay, folks -- get your pop-up blocking browsers now!" While you're waiting for your first pop-up, pop on over to a website that tracks campaign contributions: vVF4N writes "Fundrace 2004 lets you enter any street address and see what people at or near that location have contributed to a presidential candidate, along with their addresses and occupations. The data is based on reports that campaigns regularly file with the Federal Election Commission. You can also look up a name and get the same information. The Washington Post (registration required) has more. Find out who your friends and neighbors are contributing to."

Comments

Pop ups

[krymsin01]

So instead of using the Internet to rally and energize the American public into voting for them, they are going to use it to furthor alienate and annoy us with pop-ups? Are they that out of touch that they believe pop-ups are actualy going to give them some sort of edge?

Re:Pop ups

[WindowlessView]

-->Hopefully that'll suck up a few minutes of time of some campaign worker

It will suck up the .003 seconds of computer time that it takes to strip your info off the email header, send out a form letter, and put you in a database so you can be harassed by American politicians until the end of time.

Re:MyIE2 is pop-up blocking & content blocking

[linuxci]

Why would you want to do that when you can get the cross platform Firefox that doesn't have the inbuilt holes that anything that embeds IE has.

Also IMO Firefox has a nicer interface.

Note: MyIE2 does also support the Gecko engine in recent versions but enabling it isn't obvious and there's a few bugs in the integration.

Re:MyIE2 is pop-up blocking & content blocking

[mandalayx]

The intro to this article mentions Opera and Mozilla - forget it, there's much better out there. I've tried every browser out there, and for nearly 6 months now I've used MyIE2. It "takes over" IE2 and runs as a seperate program - not only does it do pop-up blocking, it also does _content_ blocking. My eyes are open, the internet (and slashdot) no longer has ads - try it, try it, try it (if you're stuck in Windows).

You do realize, right, that the point of using Mozilla Firefox is not just popup blocking. In fact, it's going to be hard to market Firefox on the aspect of pop-up blocking when you have options like you mentioned and the Google toolbar.

For me, the point of using Firefox is having a browser that I don't need to worry about. When I use IE, I'm not sure whether the next link will take me to an exploit. Or some annoying script. I don't really have that worry with Firefox....not yet..

Re:Oh bloody hell

[Trailwalker]

..living in a vassal state?

Don't get too excited by this, we have fifty of them here.

So I guess Slashdot

[FatAssBastard]

...is now michael's personal forum for his political views? FWIW, I've been planning on voting against the current president for a long time now. Someone like David Duke would have to have received the Democratic nomination in order for me to fail to vote Democratic in November, 2004.

That being said, that's two articles on the current main page posted by michael that have an anti-Bush tone to them. I guess michael doesn't care about being "fair and balanced" as a journalist.

If I were Bush, I would be a bit wary about

[mandalayx]

If I were Bush, I would be a bit wary about Internet marketing. Clay Shirky makes an interesting and insightful dissection on what went right and wrong with Dean and his internet campaign here:

What follows is a long musing on the Dean campaign's use of internet tools, but it has a short thesis: the hard thing to explain is not how the Dean campaign blew such a huge lead, but rather why we ever thought that lead actually existed. Dean's campaign didn't just fail, it dissolved on contact with reality.

Extensive reading, but just read line by line.

Of course, though, we know that the GOP has done better in communicating their message, while the Democrats continue to fail Influence 101...a sad sight.

Re:Bill is a cheapskate

[hughk]

But it won't list the $10000/plate campaign dinners though will it?

DMCA

[epcraig]

Vote for Kerry, vote for the DMCA.

Vote for Bush, vote for the DMCA.

Nader ran against the DMCA in 2000, I can't see why he'd change his mind in 2004.

Kucinich, too, ran against the DMCA. Pity nobody cared.

Re:DMCA

[comedian23]

Your post is the reason our democracy doesn't work. If you vote for Nader enough and the Democrats loose enough times they will finally catch on and attempt to realign themselves with their alienated voters. But if you vote for them they are going to keep putting up degenerates like Kerry over and over again. And they are going to assume you like his politics since you voted for him.

Take a long view on this, not a short view. Your vote is the only thing that matters to your party. Don't give it to them if they don't give you something you want(like a candidate worth voting for).

Of course, I don't think the majority of Dem's want Kerry to win anyway. He strikes me as a candidate set up to fail miserably, to allow for a Hillary run in '08, but that is just my opinion.

-Comedian

now i know who my neighbors vote for

[jtcm]

I had a knee-jerk reaction to browsing this database filled with no less than a dozen of my friends', families', and aquaintances' political affiliations with corresponding addresses. My inner-self cried "INVASION OF PRIVACY! ABORT! ABORT!"

I then took a mental step back, collected my wits, and clicked the "Privacy" link. lo and behold:

All the information presented on Fundrace.org is part of the public record and provided by the Federal Election Commission of the United States.

Anyone who contributes "hard money" to political campaigns must provide personal information. This requirement limits the political influence of wealthy, anonymous individuals and allows the public to track financial contributions that may influence the political process.

Upon further investigation it becomes apparent that this site is a Very Good Thing(tm). It is a bastion of democracy.

Fundrace, I salute you.

Now I have two reasons not to contribute

[frdmfghtr]

(1) As was said in The Hunt for Red October,"I'm a politician, which means I'm a cheat and a liar...when I'm not kissing babies I'm stealing their lollipops." I don't support any organized political party because politicans are representing their represented citizens less and the ideals of the party more.

(2) If a contribution is going to reveal my HOME ADDRESS then you can fuggeddaboutit!

How about let's cut out the political speech here

[Anonymous Coward]

This is at least the 4th story in 2 days; that has jabs at the Republican party or at George Bush. I understand that the majority of people here at /. are liberal or democrat, but this is NOT a political website - to polarize readers. It's starting to get on my nerves.

Republicans and conservatives (on slashdot) are traeted like the Klan treated ... well ... I'll lket you fill in th rest. It's already bad enough that this will either get modded into troll oblivion or offtopic just because I said the words "republican, conservative" - I guess I'll get 100% troll/flamebait if I say I use Macs too!

Trust me, if Bush does something, and enough people like it, the democrats will do it too!

Let's dispense the truth - the real story here is "ALL politicians would like to see broadband so as to push political agenda on the nation faster and cheaper."

A Republican website could read: "Slashdot subtlely brainwashes and force conforms its readers into being liberal ... majority of slashdotters have broadband, is there a link?"

Re:it's all making some sense...

[Vellmont]

more like:

cia: We can't find any evidence for weapons of mass destruction in Iraq.
bush: Find some!!

Mod parent up, he speaks the truth!

[goldspider]

When was the last time you saw a story here about Bush or Republicans that wasn't given a negative spin?

I'm not saying that Bush or Republicans are perfect by any means, and that by and large most Slashdot readers (and posters) tend to lean left. But editors should at least try to maintain some semblance of objectivity in the headlines. Otherwise they risk becoming a partisan political action website, not "News for nerds."

Re:Mod parent up, he speaks the truth!

[4of12]

editors should at least try to maintain some semblance of objectivity in the headlines. Otherwise they risk becoming a partisan

You mean like the objectivity of AM talk radio that floods the airwaves?

I do like to see opposing viewpoints presented intelligently.

For /. or for the right-wing talk radio shows, you notice that if intelligent expressions of opposing viewpoints get modded down or call-screened out, that the overall quality of the experience is diminished.

It's pretty boring if all you hear is the "party line", no matter which party it happens to be.

Re:How about let's cut out the political speech he

[Anonymous Coward]

I absolutely agree with the above poster. The majority of Slashdot readers are overwhelmingly liberal. What good does it do to post inflamatory articles about Bush and the Republicans, just so that 85% of the Slashdot crowd can sit around and glad-hand each other?

I'm sure that someone will respond saying that open debate is healthy. I am inclined to agree. But show me the open debate here. When people with a dissenting view are forced to post anonymously for fear of being moderated down, just for having a difference of opinion, that's not an open debate.

And the last time I checked, this website was "Slashdot: News for Nerds." How is this an article about News for Nerds? This is nothing more than a vehicle for attacking President Bush, thinly veiled in some article about pop-ups.

Mod parent up. Mod article down.

Re:Gates & Ballmer

[tybalt44]

Yes. Under campaign finance laws, any person or corporation can donate a maximum of $2000 to one candidate.

How sad is it that I, in Canada, know this, yet all these Americans don't?

Re:Fundrace 2004 = VERY VERY SCARY

[Anonymous Coward]

yes, but of course jane's boss is not so stupid to leave a paper trail. open and shut case if and only if there is clear evidence, which there will not be in such a case.

Re:Fundrace 2004 = VERY VERY SCARY

[goldspider]

IANAL but you don't need a paper trail to meet the burden of proof in a civil case.

For example, other employees who given similar "career advice" could testify oh Jane's behalf.

Re:How about let's cut out the political speech he

[Deslock]

This is at least the 4th story in 2 days; that has jabs at the Republican party or at George Bush. I understand that the majority of people here at /. are liberal or democrat, but this is NOT a political website - to polarize readers. It's starting to get on my nerves.

You're overreacting. This story simply links to articles that describe how the RNC plans to use pop-up advertising and tell of how anyone can easily look up who's contributed what. That second article applies to both parties, so I assume it's the pop-up portion of the story that bugs you. Frankly, I don't see how it takes jabs at Bush or republicans. If the the DNC had announced that they were going to use pop-ups, I expect /. would've posted about it as well (along with the standard "time to change your browser" remarks).

Republicans and conservatives (on slashdot) are traeted like the Klan treated ... well ... I'll lket you fill in th rest.

I don't think comparing something as trivial as political bias to the KKK is going to help your case. On the contrary, it makes you look like an overly sensitive partisan who can't keep things in perspective.

Interesting: One Microsoft Way 98052

[handmedowns]

It's funny..

If you look at all the people who donated to Bush from Microsoft, its all VP's and high level management that get paid the big bucks and donated the max of $2000, but most the ones that contributed to other candidates are all lower paid blue-collar from programmers to trainers and could only donate $200-$500 dollars..

What does that tell you about a "bush" economy.. other than those that are benefiting are the ones that are already able to retire..

I'll be glad to see bush go.. not that I'm a Kerry supporter.. but I'm just tired of all the crap.

SCO attacks IBM w/o proof.. Bush attacks Iraq w/o Proof... which one do you think will get away with it, without any consequences?

Re:repeatatron

[Doc Ruby]

Al Qaeda will be stopped more effectively when the President is focused on them, uninhibited by Saudi sponsors, and sensible enough not to kick the hornets nest for his hidden agenda. If you think that Kerry, a Silver Star winning Vietnam vet, is a "peacenik", then you understand war, and peace, as poorly as you understand terrorism. Ask a frontline veteran sometime about peace - that'll wake you up.