By the Numbers
{{Industy Standard Gif#34651}} Slate and the Industry Standard join forces to examine the effect of the Internet on Campaign 2000.
{{Slate's Political Roundup#73099}}
Politicians will tell you just about anything they think you want to hear. But this year's real story beams through in numbers. Here's our somewhat random, but awfully revealing number narrative. It says as much about those of us who surf the Net as it does about the politicians who crave our votes.
1. Rank of George W. Bush and Al Gore among presidential candidates' names entered into Lycos' search engine in January: 1, 2
2. Ratio of Lycos searches for Bush to those for television's South Park: 1 to 10
3. Ratio of searches for Bush to those for actor-comedian Adam Sandler: 1 to 1
4. Ratio of searches for Gary Bauer to searches for the ill-fated Donner Party: 1 to 1
5. Alaskans eligible to vote by Internet in January GOP straw poll: 3,100
6. Alaskans who voted by Internet: 35
7. Mentions of the Internet in President Clinton's State of the Union 2000 address: 6
8. Mentions in Clinton's 1999 address: 2
9. Funds raised by Orrin Hatch's campaign from all sources: $2.3 million
