Blogging for Votes

In the past, voters would learn about political issues from a candidate in a suit—not a gopher in a suit. Enter blogging: websites and political blogs such as why08.org and VoteGopher.com allow viewers to compare candidates, mostly without bias and definitely with some funny twists.

William M. Ruben ’10 launched VoteGopher.com last month, pledging: “We dig. You decide.” The site educates voters by presenting election platforms cleverly illustrated with gophers. But Ruben’s vision hasn’t played out entirely—the site does the digging, but the voters haven’t been voicing their decisions online.

Martin Eiermann ’10, who wrote the profile of Democratic candidate Dennis Kucinich, notes that surfers haven’t been very active on the site.

“Right now most people go check out the site, but what would be a great thing is if people participated,” says Eiermann.

Student involvement in political websites is nothing new at Harvard, but earlier sites were mostly one-sided. Red Ivy, an often tongue-in-cheek conservative blog, was started by the Harvard Republican Club in 2004. The College Democrats have a similar blog known as Dem Apples, which contains mainly conservative-bashing articles such as “Ron Paul Still Scares Me.”

Current Red Ivy editor Frances I. Martel ’09 thinks informative websites like VoteGopher.com can be a good way for students to learn about candidates’ issues, but warns them to take the postings with a grain of salt.

“Everyone is biased to some extent,” says Martel.

But even if the sites aren’t completely balanced, cute furries can make even agricultural subsidies seem almost fun and interesting...ish.