Candidates campaign on MySpace

CHARLOTTESVILLE, Va. – As the 2008 potential presidential candidates look to gain momentum, they are increasingly reaching out to the youngest voting demographic through a new venue: MySpace. The Internet networking site recently posted a new section for politics called “The Impact Channel” in order to promote interest in national and local political elections. \nAccording to a MySpace press release, five potential Republican and five potential Democratic candidates in the upcoming 2008 presidential election have posted links to their official profiles on the site. MySpace users can learn about candidates’ platforms, view video footage of interviews and pledge their support for certain candidates. \nChris DeWolfe, CEO of MySpace, said in the release that he believes the Impact Channel will play a large role in mobilizing and educating voters in the upcoming election. \n“By empowering our users with easy-to-find information, offered in a way they can relate to it, Impact will ignite their involvement in the political process.” \nOf the five Democrats on MySpace, Sen. Barack Obama has the most supporters on his profile as of press time. He created his site at the beginning of November 2004. \nOf the Republican candidates with public profiles, former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney held the most supporters as of press time. \nMany of these political candidates also have other unofficial MySpace profiles. \nPresident of the University of Virginia’s Democrats group Sophia Brumby mentioned candidate pages on Facebook and “channels” on YouTube as other ways for students to learn more about political campaigns. \n“I think that campaigns are ... using the Internet quite effectively,” she said. “Such a wealth of information gets out there to such a diversity of people.” \nFirst-year University of Virginia College Republican member Adam Erby said he believes political campaigns on MySpace and Facebook promote name recognition rather than actual campaign issues. \n“I feel that we need to return these campaigns to the issues and keep them from being simply popularity contests,” he said.