Illinois' Democratic Dead Zone

  In the raging "cyber-campaign" being waged on Illinois Blackberries, assorted smartphones, desktops, etc., the Republicans are kicking major butt.

  Race for race, the Democrats are keeping pace.  But the Republican National Commitee and especially the Illinois Republican Party e-mail operations have given the G.O.P. a huge advantage when it comes to whose "message" reaches a reporter's or voter's inbox during this election cycle.

  I get so much e-mail from the Illinois Republican Party with the latest from state chairman Pat Brady you'd think that Brady was running for something.  He's not.  But he's always got plenty to say as a surrogate for his party's ticket-toppers Mark Kirk (U.S. Senate) and Bill Brady (Governor).

  Then, there's e-mail from some guy named Ryan Tronovitch whom I've spoken to on the telephone but never in person.  He keeps my Blackberry chirping with the latest spin and propaganda from the national G.O.P..  Tronovitch is especially active this week promoting an Illinois bus tour featuring RNC chairman Michael Steele. 

  For the Democrats, barackobama.com has stepped up its game over the past couple of weeks, but I don't get e-mail from its spinmeisters half as much as I do from the RNC.

  But where the dems really fall off is at the statewide level.

  The Democratic Party of Illinois has been a 2010 cyber-campaign no-show.  If there are e-blasts, they aren't reaching this reporter who covers politics for the most-watched television station in the state.      

  Nothing.  Nada.

  I went to the website and looked for a way to get e-mail updates from the DPI and found more of nothing.

  Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan, who doubles as state Democratic Party Chairman, apparently doesn't put much faith (or money) in cyber campaigns.  But then, maintaining cyber silence might be a good idea for the powerful Speaker.  Republicans have tried to make the 19-term state lawmaker a campaign issue in 2010.

  The conventional wisdom shared by both parties is that if Illinois Democrats turn out their voters, the Republicans will lose big-time, the way they've lost during most of the past decade.

  If Democrats don't turn out and the party loses several statewide offices and/or control of the Illinois legislature, its leaders will think about lost opportunities.

  Not using technology to spread its message might be one of them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Comments

[A Patriot]

Can you be any more blatant liberal bias? Why don't you get out your pom-poms and cheer for the dems? We wouldn't notice much of a difference.

[LegalEagle]

I agree with the comments of Bob Madden, posted 10/14/10.

I am so sick of CBS, NBC, MSNBC, ABC only being one-sided. They need to ask the hard questions that the American public are asking, and keep asking them until they get answers.

[Bob Madden]

This is why nobody cares what ABC7 says anymore. Not only is their refusal to ask tough questions absolute, but now they seem to be blocking attempts by others to do so.

If all a network does is parrot one party's talking points then it becomes boring. This so called "new media" these ABC7 "so called journalists" so easily dismiss as not being "real journalists" is eating your lunch. To say that the "old media" has lost its edge would be putting it kindly indeed. If the old media will not ask the tough questions anymore then they should rightfully be put out to pasture.