Net Election

By the Numbers, Part 6

Slate, the Industry Standard, and washingtonpost.com join forces to examine the effect of the Internet on Campaign 2000.  

Most political pundits consider July an unofficial vacation from the presidential race, a time to recharge their batteries before the national conventions and the final race in November. On the Web, however, the battle for voters’ hearts and minds continues unabated. As always, a look at the numbers helps take the pulse of the presidential campaign.

1. Number of unique visitors to  Al Gore’s official Web site in June, according to the Gore campaign: 321,000

2. Number of unique visitors to Al Gore’s official Web site in June, according to PCData Online: 69,000

3. Number of unique visitors to the official Web site of  Ralph Nader, Green Party candidate and thorn in the side of Al Gore, in June, according to his campaign: 192,692

4. Number of unique visitors to Nader’s official Web site in June, according to PCData Online: 81,000.

5. Number of times that George W. Bush quoted W.E.B. Du Bois in a  July 10 speech at the NAACP annual convention: 1

6. Number of times that Al Gore quoted W.E.B. Du Bois in his  July 12 speech at the NAACP annual convention: 1

7. Percentage of the national African-American vote that Al Gore is expected to win in 2000 presidential election: 71

8. Percentage of the national African-American vote that George W. Bush is expected to win in the 2000 presidential election: 17

9. Number of photos on  George Bush’s Web site featuring Bush with African-Americans: 1

10. Number of photos on Gore’s Web site featuring Al Gore with African-Americans: 4

11. Amount the Bush campaign spent on ”Internet expenses” for the month of May 2000: $42,253

12. Amount the Gore campaign spent on ”Media/Satellite” for the month of May 2000: $70,372

15. Number of official convention Web sites that AT&T is Web-hosting: 1 (Democratic)

16. Number of conventions for which AT&T is providing land-line and wireless phone service: 1 (Republican)

17. Amount that AT&T has contributed to each convention: $1 million

18. Amount the AT&T convention contracts are worth to the company: AT&T won’t disclose

Sources:

1. Gore campaign (see last week’s “Net Election” for an explanation of the numbers)

2. PCData Online (see last week’s “Net Election“)

3. Nader campaign

4. PCData Online

5. Georgewbush.com (posted speech)

6. Algore2000.com (posted speech)

7. NBC-Wall Street Journal poll

8. NBC-Wall Street Journal poll

9. Georgewbush.com

10. Algore2000.com

11.  FECInfo

12.  FECInfo

13. Algore2000.com

14. Georgewbush.com

15. AT&T

16. AT&T

17.  Center for Responsive Politics