The Courier Post (NJ)

Parties use Bush speech for party time

Monday, January 30, 2006

By MATT KATZ
Courier-Post Staff

Next Sunday, millions of Americans will gather in living rooms across the country, sit in front of television sets and watch the Super Bowl.

In much the same way, the two major political parties are trying to get voters to gather in living rooms Tuesday evening to watch a different kind of American spectacle: The State of the Union.

In an effort to stimulate grass-roots support nearly three years before the next presidential election, the national Republican and Democratic parties are sponsoring "parties" for President Bush's annual speech.

These parties, organized through the World Wide Web, signal another step in the increasing role of the Internet in politics...

These parties began during the 2004 election, when national Republican and Democratic organizations encouraged people to throw parties in their homes to show support -- and raise cash -- for the presidential candidates...

"These people can be great fundraising tools in addition to be great motivators," said Julie Barko-Germany, deputy director of the Washington, D.C.-based Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet...

The Web is a key part of this trend in political house parties.

According to Barko-Germany, the Web site MeetUp.com was the first to facilitate in-person political meetings through the Internet. Former Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, now the chairman of the DNC, also used it effectively.

But "the Bush campaign took the idea and made it explode," Barko-Germany said...

Link