Internet Is a Hot Spot for Political Fund-Raising

Insight on the News, August 2, 1999 by John Elvin

An Internet activist group called MoveOn.org claims to have broken several fund-raising records in an initial five-day blitz for its "We Will Remember" online campaign. The drive netted $250,000 in pledges to use against members of Congress who supported the impeachment of President Clinton.

With Internet fund-raising in its infancy, the group says its campaign at the end of June was "the first time a contributor has been able to support a full slate of candidates at a single site on the Internet." The group also boasts, "Raising $250,000 in five days, the effort breaks all records in online campaign fund-raising dollars raised and speed of response."

In another mix of politics and the Net, a new pilot program will allow a test group of military personnel to vote electronically. The test is under the auspices of the Federal Voting Assistance Program, a Website primarily aimed at providing Department of Defense personnel with voting information. The sponsors say they avoid specifics about candidates and issues. The FVAP Website is www.fvap.ncr.gov. Another example of the scampering going on to take advantage of the Net for political purposes comes in a report from USA Today on pollsters Gordon Black and Humphrey Taylor, top executives with Harris Black International, who plan to use the Internet instead of the telephone to conduct polls on the 2000 elections. Critics say the Internet polls won't represent the entire population, but the pollsters say they will factor in necessary adjustments to provide an accurate overview.