Start with the Website

Sorry I have been away for a while.  Well I am now back.  While I try to talk about Conservative issues that are of concern to all my readers, I also want to focus on issues and campaigns that are of concern to my First District and Michigan readers.  Don’t worry, I will continue to put out posts that are of interest to my national readers. 

As many of you know, I was one of the moderators at the First District GOP Debate last weekend.  That can be seen at  http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/405641.  I feel it went well, considering that I am a novice and it was my first time moderating a debate.  I was glad to be up there with two other experienced persons.  I did have a friend in the audience take pictures that I will share with y’all soon.  I will also tell you my thoughts on the debate soon.

For right now, I want to focus on all three candidates websites.  My current purpose in this primary for the Republican candidates vying for the nomination to go up against U.S. Congressman Bart Stupak (D-Menominee) in the U.S. Congressional Race, 1st District, is to let the voters of the First District know about the candidates.  As of current, I am playing a neutral part.  There are things I like about each candidate, and there are things I don’t like about each candidate.   

We are currently living in the technology age.  The internet is one of the best tools that a candidate, running for any office, can have.  A good or bad website can make or break a candidate.  Blogging is also a good tool.  This can either be the candidate themselves blogging, a campaign person blogging, an outside source blogging in support of the candidate, or a neutral observer blogging about any of the candidates.  I fall in the latter category.

If a candidate wants to do well in an election, be it primary or general, is to think outside the box.  Gone are the days when all a candidate needed to do is go to little town hall meetings and “preach to the choir” who is already active in party politics or belongs to the opposite party and is there just to get negative information.  Not to say that town hall meetings should be done away with, they do serve a purpose to “rally the troops” and bring enthusiasm to the campaign.  But also, he or she needs to get their message out to those who may not care to attend said meetings.  People are now checking out candidates via the internet.  Those are the people the candidates need to consider when keeping up a website.  The website needs to be fresh, new and inviting. 

So let’s take a look at Linda Goldthorpe’s, Don Hooper’s and Tom Casperson’s websites.  I am not rating any of these candidates or their websites regarding their stances on the issues, at least not in this post, just on how much information the candidate has on the site, how user friendly the site is and how well the candidate is willing to work with the voter.

Linda Goldthorpe: 

Personally, I like her website the best.  It is the most concise on the issues, best in user friendliness and it seems the best at reaching out to the voter.  Here is her message to the voter on the home page.

Welcome to the Official Goldthorpe for Congress Website

Washington isn’t listening to the American people:

  • We want secure U.S. borders—yet our troops patrol foreign borders instead.
  • We want less taxes—yet Washington perpetually demands more.
  • We want limited government—yet we get bloated bureaucracy.
  • We want a stable dollar—yet we allow the Fed to devalue our money freely.

“Our government has grown beyond its constitutional boundaries and the American people are suffering for it.  America is overtaxed and over regulated.  The answers to the problems facing America today cannot be found in more legislation and bigger government—both are roadblocks to prosperity.  I believe in the traditional Republican platform of small government and lower taxes.  We need to allow the free-market and the economy of America to grow without governmental hindrance.  The lumbering mass of federal control should never be mistaken for a benefactor.”
– Linda Goldthorpe

I believe the message on the homepage is one of the most important aspects of the candidate and their website.  It can either be inviting and wanting the reader to stay on that website and check out more about the candidate.  Or it can be un-inviting and make the reader leave the website without checking out any more about the candidate.  You must also remember that there may be one or two things that you may not agree with, but you must also look at the total package.

On Linda’s homepage are many links that the voter of the First District, that’s you, can click on.  There are tabs that link to learn about Linda, her blog, issues, take action, links to other important sites, then of course the all important donate that all candidates have.  On the most of the mentioned tabs there is drop down menus to check out even more stuff.  One tab that I left out, because I wanted to take time to express my view on, is the contact tab.  This one I feel is one of the most important.  Linda’s website is the only one of the First GOP primary candidates that has this.  Here the voter can express his or her concerns about what is most important to them and ask questions on where the candidate stands on the issues.  I have already done this on Linda’s site.  And someone from her campaign will contact you. 

There are also other links, on the homepage, that the voter can click to check out.  Such as signing up, contribute (which was already covered above). There is also a pop-up window to register to vote, and links to join her online social networks.  The previously mentioned links can all be found at the bottom of the homepage.  There are also links to the side to be checked out.

Don Hooper: 

Don Hooper has a rather decent website.  On the homepage he does not have a welcome message, but there is a decent amount of biographical information about Don.  He also talks in length about the issues and what he would work in Congress to continue the rare things that are right with Washington and how he would work in Congress to help change the things that are wrong with Washington.  There are numerous issues that he seems very passionate about, too numerous to talk about in this post. 

There are also links on his site that take you to his stance on the issues. Such as, Campaign Finance Rules where he would work to replace McCain-Feingold with the Don Hooper’s Law, Illegal Immigration, Domestic Energy, Fiscal Responsibility, Globalism, Representative Priorities and Presidential Responsibility.  And of course, contribute. 

With Hooper’s site there isn’t much in the way of contacting the candidate, unless of course you want to donate.  But there is no online sign up sheet to volunteer for his campaign.  No way to sign up to get updates on his campaign.  No way to contact him or his campaign to ask where he stands on issues that may not be covered on his site.  Or to ask for more info about the issues that are mentioned.  Perhaps I got spoiled with starting out blogging during the beginning of the Presidential Primary.  In the Presidential Primary, the candidates obviously had bigger and better websites than the Congressional candidates. 

In this internet age, this is what the voter wants.  The voter wants to know how a candidate will represent them in Washington should said candidate be elected.  The voter wants to feel as though the candidate is talking to them as it would be in a town hall meeting.

Tom Casperson: 

Let’s admit it, Tom’s website is the most shabby.  I am not saying that Tom is a shabby person or candidate, just his website.  Don’t get me wrong, I have met Tom a few times in my four years of being involved in First District politics and events.  I think he is a nice polite gentleman.  But I would like to talk about what I find good about his site and what I find bad about it, and hope to see improvements on.  Here is the Welcome Message/Campaign Announcement on the homepage.

Announcement
2008 Candidacy for United States
Representative

I proudly announce my candidacy for Congress.  I am
proud because my story is an American story, where a
small town boy from a working class family went from
the seat of a semi to a seat in the State House.   
Unfortunately, for too many, the American story has
turned from timeless to tired.  American’s are tired – of
too much government and too little commons sense; of
too much tax and too little fiscal restraint; of too many
threats to our national security and too little security for
our children; and of too many unreasonable regulations
and too few jobs.

Read more CLICK HERE

 

 

I did check out the full message here.  IMHO, I do think what he says in his message is nice.  But it does not speak to the issues.  Quite a bit of it is fluff.  Political talking points.  I am not saying this to be mean or critical, just expressing my view. 

On the homepage can be found a few tabs that will link to some information such as, biography.  I like that his family life mentioned is short and sweet, along with being on the biography page and not listed as “why you should vote for him,” as many other candidates do, blech.  Other tabs are awards, affiliations, accomplishments, endorsements.  Let’s not forget, contribute.  All these things are nice.  But he does not talk about the issues. 

Also there is no way to contact the campaign, in which the voter can express his or her views on what’s important to them nor be able to ask questions about where Tom stands on the issues.  

Today I had talked on the phone with First District Chairman Joel Westrom (name dropping is fun ) about some of my concerns, which some of it I will get into later.  There are things that I, as a fair and balanced voter and blogger, would like to get all sides on.  One of my concerns that I did talk to Joel about that I feel would be appropriate to talk about that is in regards to Tom’s website and in this post, is that I let him know that I was trying to read Tom’s website in the context of if I was the average Jane Doe voter who has never met Tom, never been to a political meeting, Republican or Democrat. 

At current, I find Tom’s website to make him look like an “elitist Republican.”  Not that I am saying he is.  Just that is the way it could be looked at by the average Joe Schmoe voter, considering that his site doesn’t talk about the issues, but has all these fancy schmancy endorsements from some of the big wigs in the First District and State Party Leadership.   To tell the truth, it makes it look like he isn’t trying too hard to win over the average voter.  It looks like he is some sort of Gumby candidate that is being bent to the will of the party establishment and is the “fill in the blank candidate” to be all things to all people.  Joel told me that when Tom does make the rounds throughout the First District he does talk about the issues.  He just needs to have that on his website. 

So here is my conclusion.  The fact that there are multiple candidates running in the First District GOP Primary for U.S. Congress can either be a good thing or a bad thing.  But I will get into that in a later post.  I promise.  All these candidates have their strengths and weaknesses.  Perhaps I am a bit egotostical, but I believe that the bloggers out there can be a driving force for any candidate for any office.  I believe that bloggers can prevent a candidate from getting lazy and go out and truly campaign along with behaving themselves, because they know they are being watched and that the bloggers are relaying the information to the average voter. 

Also the bloggers out there can encourage people who usually don’t vote because they feel their vote doesn’t count and/or they are too apathetic and just plain ol’ don’t care.  I have mentioned before that I have a strange combo of OCD and ADD.  Right now, my OCD is in overdrive.  I want to bring the information to the eligible voters, and encourage y’all to vote.  I understand that not everyone has the time to look at everything with a fine tooth comb.  But I would like to encourage y’all out there to take a good look at everything that is out there and possibly steer you away from silly things like Angelina Jolie’s pregnancy.  I am trying to make this as easy as possible for y’all.  To paraphrase FOX News, “(I) report, you decide.”  I am not going to tell you who to vote for.  Just relaying the info.  To paraphrase Bill Clinton, “It’s the (Issues), (y’all).”