Candidates' Supporters Connect Online

W A S H I N G T O N, April 17, 2003 -- How did former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean, who just months ago was expected to raise well under $1 million during the first quarter of 2003, manage to find enough donors to amass a war chest of more than $2.6 million?

Part of the answer is simple: They Metup for him.

And the eight other Democratic presidential campaigns are watching closely.

Dean's staff took advantage of a new Web site, Meetup.com, which allows users to collaborate about fund-raising, appearances and grass-roots campaigning for the candidate of their choice. With a few clicks, visitors can sign up for information about their candidates and invite themselves to campaign parties in any of more than 480 cities.

Its founder, Myles Weissleder, sees the site's launch as an epochal event.

"Meetup.com is turning democracy and politics on its head, providing a platform for people with similar interests to meet and a fantastic way to mobilize people," he said.

Reaching Out to Younger Voters

The campaigns aren't that effusive, but Dean's, for one, has benefited tangibly. Campaign spokeswoman Dorie Clark says $750,000 was raised through the Internet — at least a quarter of which was routed through Meetup events.

Weissleder says he's talked to representatives from all the major Democratic candidates. North Carolina Sen. John Edwards is among the candidates who have made use of the site.

"There was an event in Chapel Hill recently where some of our staff went and were able to sign up volunteers to help the campaign," said Edwards spokeswoman Jennifer Palmieri. "This is a great, effective tool in reaching out to younger voters."

Palmieri said the campaign will collaborate in the future with the Meetup site.

Simplicity may be one reason for the Web site's success. Users search for the candidate and the city of their choice. The next step is providing an e-mail address to officially join and "Meetup."

And in more than 100 cities, Dean supporters did — getting together in bars, bowling alleys and bookstores.

"This is a big deal for us as we are doing well contribution-wise, but beyond that, we are organizationally stronger than the other candidates because of the use of the Internet and the Meetup.com site," said Dean campaign manager Joe Trippi.

So far, according to Meetup statistics, organizers have held more than 240 meetups on Dean's behalf. His campaign pegs the numbers of attendees at 15,000.

From Online Observer to Activist

In the months ahead, Dean and other candidates will have to convince their online supporters to do more than meet, saidMichael Cornfield, who is the research director at the George Washington University's Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet.

"The challenge for the Dean campaign will be converting as many as 14,000 session attendees as possible into active volunteers," Cornfield said. "Active volunteers can recruit more volunteers, monitor media coverage and opposition rhetoric, give money and evaluate campaign ads, all without leaving the Internet."

Cornfield said that the Dean-Meetup combination recognizes the importance of the Internet in arranging logistics and keeping people posted on face-to-face meetings, which get supporters motivated to take the next step and help out the campaign itself.

One way the campaigns won't benefit is through the user's e-mails addresses itself, according to Meetup's Weissleder. He says the site will not give e-mail addresses to the campaigns unless the user gives permission.

In the coming months, as the Democratic hopefuls travel the country looking for support and dollars, they might just meet up with their "Meetups" — illustrating the effectiveness of the Web as a recruitment tool.