For political candidates, Web 2.0 getting a little Trippi

While the Internet may not quite be the great equalizer when it comes to political campaigns pitting heavyweight candidates against underdogs, Politics 2.0 has certainly caused front-runners to sweat a few buckets.

Today’s Washington Post has an A1 story examining the Web’s promise and peril for Presidential candidates - particularly front-runners with less to gain and everything to lose when viral campaigns turn against them.

As online politics has expanded from simply another fundraising channel to a web of viral videos, Facebook campaign sites and influential political blogs, candidates have struggled to maintain a grasp on how their messages reach the voter. This marriage of necessity was the fodder for a lively discussion at last week’s ExecutiveBiz The New New Internet Conference during a panel titled: Politics on the Web, by the Web and for the Web (catch the video of the panel here). The panel was comprised of Joe Trippi, John Edwards for President, Senior Advisor; Cyrus Krohn, RNC, Director of eCampaign Division; John Della Volpe, Harvard Institute of Politics, Director of Polling; and Gary Arlen, Arlen Communications, Inc., President.

Politics 2.0 really started with the 2004 Presidential Campaign run by Howard Dean. More specifically it started with Joe Trippi, who served as National Campaign Manager for Dean and pioneered the use of online technology to organize what became the largest grassroots movement in presidential politics. Dean for America ended up raising more money than any Democratic presidential campaign in history, all with donations averaging less than $100 each.

While the Web can still produce surprises and offer an unexpected financing platform for darkhorse candidates, (Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul appears to be the micro version of Howard Dean in the current election cycle) the panelists discussed how politics on the web, as the Washington Post article suggests, has spun well beyond the control of the candidates and front-runners still fear taking risks online.

John Della Volpe pointed out that as opposed to 2004, when the Democratic candidates had to take more risks to bring down Bush, 2008 sees a GOP field that now must be more open to using the Web in order to chip away at the Clinton machine.

At the same time, Trippi pointed out that in some ways candidates are still more comfortable operating at the Web 1.0 level with moderated user groups, portals and forums. Not all have willingly shifted to the Web 2.0 level where the moderator function is removed and control is handed off directly to the voter.

While political candidates still might be tiptoeing from Web 1.0 to Web 2.0, the Web has exacted a rapid and fundamental imprint on Presidential politics. Candidates realize they must handhold bloggers and online influencers the same way they do offline journalists, or risk having a negative blog post, video or audio clip send the campaign into crisis mode. And as more voters visit the Web first for news, the stakes will only increase for candidates trying to maximize their web strategy.