Date: Wed, 6 May 92 15:50:12 CDT
From:
[email protected](Joe Abernathy)
Subject: File 6--Online Debate Article
This article appeared in the Washington report of the Sunday, May 3,
Houston Chronicle. Please send feedback and further developments to
[email protected] (800) 735-3820
Hungry candidates might share a byte
Computer-based electronic communities emerge as political constituency
By JOE ABERNATHY
Copyright 1992, Houston Chronicle
A leading figure in computer communications is issuing a challenge
this weekend for the major presidential candi dates to participate in
the first national online political debate.
And a spokesman for at least one presidential hopeful - Democratic
front-runner Bill Clinton - said the candidate likely would accept the
invitation.
A spokeswoman for President Bush's campaign said no decisions will be
made about any debates until after the primary season. Bush is
expected to clinch the GOP nomination in state conventions this
weekend in Maine and Wyoming.
"But depending upon how it's organized, as we get closer to the
general election, it may be something we will consider,'' said Darcy
Campbell, the Bush spokeswoman.
The debate would be a milestone in a year marked by firsts for a
nascent electronic democracy movement.
Empowered by the ability to quickly reach an audience estimated at 8
million to 15 million people, at little cost, organizers of this new
political community envision the debate as a way to bring the major
presidential candidates and media into potential personal contact with
every citizen who owns a computer and a modem - the device that lets
computers communicate via phone lines.
Online activist Jim Warren's proposal for the debate is being
distributed to the campaigns of Clinton, Bush and the other most
prominent candidate - prospective independent H. Ross Perot, as well
as to Democrat Jerry Brown, Republican Patrick Buchanan and
Libertarian Andre Marrou.
It calls for a panel of three reporters from major media outlets to
communicate online with each candidate over the course of a week in a
moderated newsgroup - an electronic roundtable set up for the purpose.
A parallel, unmoderated newsgroup would allow direct discussion of the
issues by everyone online, while the journalists on the panel would be
required to accept proposed questions from the online audience. Jeff
Eller, campaign spokesman for Clinton, the governor of Arkansas, said
Clinton likely would participate.
"I don't think that would be a problem at all,'' he said, adding that
the campaign already has placed position papers and other information
online. "Anything that brings more people into the system is a great
idea.''
The Perot campaign did not respond to an interview request.
The debate proposal is the latest development in a series of events
drawing attention to the emergence of computer-based electronic
communities as a political constituency.
Notably, a proposal by Perot to organize electronic town meetings has
set fire to an online grass roots movement to put him on the ballot as
an independent. Democratic candidate Jerry Brown already has gone
online for direct electronic give-and-take with potential supporters.
In California and Alabama, a number of major candidates have signed
agreements to enact legislation to protect civil liberties such as
free speech and privacy regardless of whether they are exercised on
paper, on computer networks, or in media yet to be envisioned.
"This is the first time that 8 to 15 million people have been online
out of all of history, and that suddenly provides a critical mass for
political action,'' said Warren. "That provides an interesting
constituency.
"Secondly, the candidates who have any awareness of modern technology
realize that this is an essentially free opportunity to reach millions
of voters, in a manner unrestricted by cost or sound bite editing or
interviewers' reinterpretations.''
Warren is a member of the board of directors of the software firm
Autodesk; a columnist for MicroTimes; the founder of the Infoworld
newspaper; founding host of the PBS series Computer Chronicles; and
organizer of the First Conference on Computers, Freedom & Privacy, a
seminal event in giving shape to the online political community.
"National online interaction between citizens and their
representatives by far will provide the most efficient and effective
means of having legitimate representation and active citizen
participation in the governmental process,'' he said, adding that this
gives rise to a number of interesting considerations.
"A large percentage of the people who are online are well educated,
affluent citizens who are often leaders within their communities. I
think there are too many people online for government to successfully
suppress what is developing, this communication mechanism that is
developing so rapidly.
"One of its major advantages for legitimate candidates is that
communications have to be long on information and short on useless
emotional content ... which undoubtedly horrifies some politicians.''
Soaring sales of personal computers are likely to strengthen the new
online electorate. Analysts say that 7 million personal computers were
sold last year, bringing the number of home users to 20 million - plus
60 million in business.
As many as 15 million people are linked on the global Internet
computer network, with the number growing. The commercial service
Prodigy now claims 1.5 million users, while CompuServe claims to reach
980,000, and GEnie around 600,000.
Users of smaller scale community bulletin board systems represent a
potentially even larger group, although it's hard to say where one
begins and the next ends. Boardwatch magazine, which loosely monitors
the field, estimates that there are several tens of thousands of such
BBSs around the country. Each of them allows from a handful to several
hundred personal computer users to call in and trade messages,
computer software, and other information.
Current issues often are hot topics, the most recent example being the
Rodney King verdict in Los Angeles, which is prominent in online
conversation just as it is dominating national news.
In Washington, the chairman of the House Administrative Committee
recently said that all House members will have, by next year, full
interactive access to users of the Internet computer network, which is
quickly eclipsing the academic and military worlds that gave birth to
it.
While the new online electorate is likely to bring change, it is not
supplanting traditional methods. Instead, computer-based conferencing
is adding a new dimension to the traditional process by which a grass
roots candidate is drafted.
Perot, who has not yet himself been spotted online, has become a
beneficiary, as services such as the Whole Earth 'Lectronic Link
(WELL) in San Francisco, the commercial Prodigy information service,
and a "Perot for President'' bulletin board communicate strategy and
rally potential supporters.
As the best known computer link of writers, thinkers and activists,
the WELL has become the online focus of the intellectual issues raised
by the Perot movement.
But the Prodigy service, with its broader presence among non-experts,
has become the battle front, as Perot support ers frantically trade
information on efforts to get his name placed on the ballots of all 50
states.
One typical message recently posted to a Prodigy confer ence promoted
a Perot rally in Houston.
In Colorado, meanwhile, the new "Online for H. Ross Perot'' bulletin
board may offer a measure of the breadth of support.
"I want to send you $5,'' wrote Marjorie Darling, who is described as
"about 80'' and got involved through Senior Net, an activity organized
by Dave Hughes, an online activist who runs the Perot board.
"We hear the third candidate has only been a spoiler' and can never,
or has never made it running for president,'' wrote Darling. "But none
of those has been 'Ross Perot, Business Man.'
"You can make it!''
Downloaded From P-80 International Information Systems 304-744-2253
