I am writing today to announce the closure of the New Mexico Independent. After three and a half years of operation in New Mexico, the board of the American Independent News Network, has decided to shift publication of its news…
While environmental activists played their part yesterday during demonstrations at the capitol building, going so far as to dress up as solar panels and to sing the tune of “You Are My Sunshine,” their counterparts, the anti-cap-and-trade contingency who has…
Roughly one quarter of University of New Mexico students are unimpressed with the state’s flagship public school, according to a survey that questioned college students about their higher education experiences.
John McCain may be "aware of the Internet," but Barack Obama is mastering it as a campaign tool.
Christian Science Monitor blogger Dante Chinni today analyzed the "stark differences" between the two candidates and how they’re using e-communications to reach out to supporters. Chinni’s blog has set up e-mail accounts for "pseudovoters" in 11 representative communities — including Los Alamos here in New Mexico – who signed up to receive e-mail messages from each campaign.
The messages Obama’s campaign sends are increasingly targeted, "trying to strike a chord with voters on the issues that matter to them." For example, one Obama e-mail linked to a survey asking voters what issues they’re conerned with:
(Obama’s) campaign is putting the answers to those surveys to work.
Our Lincoln City, Ore., supporter, for instance, told the Obama campaign that the environment is a big issue for her, as it is for many in the city. Lo and behold, in June she received an Obama e-mail offering her a 100 percent organic cotton T-shirt picturing a tree sprouting out of the Obama campaign logo, for a donation of $30 or more. “Support the environment and our campaign with this high-quality, earth-friendly T-shirt,” the e-mail read.
The post goes on to report that the Monitor’s "supporter" in Los Alamos said he was upset with how Washington works and received a message about Obama’s support for a lobbying reform bill.
In contrast, McCain’s e-mail messages have been mostly uniform, no where approaching Obama’s sophisticated approach, Chinni writes:
What’s more, the McCain e-mails convey at least the hint of a campaign that feels it needs help and organization. One e-mail that went to supporters in Hopkinsville, Ky., and Lincoln City, Ore., asked, “Can you put your life on hold for a few months to make history?” The e-mail was looking for “full-time volunteers” to “relocate to another part of the country.”
