Campaign Journal Three

Chris Carney v. Chris Hackett (Pennsylvania 10th Congressional District)

The Lebanon Daily News stated, “On paper, freshman Rep. Chris Carney should be relatively easy pickings for the Republican Party and its nominee, Chris Hackett. After all, Republican voters outnumber Democrats in Carney's rural district in northeastern Pennsylvania by more than 30,000, and Carney owed his 2006 election largely to a sex scandal that engulfed the GOP incumbent, Don Sherwood.” And the DCCC has the race listed a “targeted race.” However, as of a September 21-25 poll, Carney has a solid 10-point lead over Hackett.

A review of the respective web sites and internet news about the campaigns show a picture of politics as usual. The first thing one notices on the official sites are the attack messages. Both sites prominently feature “fact check” sections that attack the opponent’s record, messages and actions. The different comes from Carney’s use of video, possibly accounted for by deeper pockets. Beyond the fact check section, the sites are primarily a repository for press releases, in the media stories, and candidate bios.

A review of the few blogs and media outlets reporting on this race, shows a lopsided coverage of the race. Carney seems to be playing well with the district’s republican base. As a conservative Blue Dog democrat, he has successfully portrayed himself as a candidate with Pennsylvania values, first, and a democrat, second. The local media has fixed on the story of “Republicans turn out for Carney” and “Republicans for Carney” (a group formed by the Carney campaign). The coverage of Hackett follows the line that republicans are supporting the man (Carney) and not the letter after the candidate’s name (Hackett – R). Most of the blog comments followed a Democrat line calling on democrats to rally behind all democrat candidates. Though, one blog comment call Carney “a Repub in Dem clothing” and calls on democrats to unseat him as a warning to other Blue Dog democrats.

Carney, as the incumbent seems to follow the Margolis and Resnick model, politics as usual. He favors offline events such as a “Republicans for Carney” rally, or a press confernce at a local hunting and skeet club to promote his pro-gun stance. Events designed to get local media coverage and to reinforce his identity as a moderate, even conservative, among democrats. A theme that is re-played often in the press and one that has been hard for Hackett to counter.
As for Hackett, he should be taking his cues from Benkler and Howard, and using his new media campaign to be agile, innovative and responsive. He should be using it to target potential voters with a direct email campaign, recruit and mobilize volunteer to canvas the district, and provide campaign materials for download and email re-direct. Nevertheless, a visit to his site shows a politics as usual approach and highlights a possible lack of funding by a lack of visual design and appeal. Instead of using his online presence to mobilize and motivate his followers, he uses it a tradition brochure-like way to criticize his opponent in a manner that lacks the impact to attract media attention.

So considering that this campaign is in a district that is narrow geographically and demographically homogeneous, is an aggressive and innovative new media strategy important? Is a web site or even the use of outside new media options, such as YouTube and Facebook (Carney has 367 supporters and Hackett has 127 supporters out of a possible electorate of around 484,000), going to have a significant impact over the local press coverage and the campaign’s publicity events to change an election?