JULY 19, 2008 MARTHASVILLE Just like a lot of people in Southern Warren County, Southern District Commissioner candidate, Hubie Kluesner, lives too far away from the phone company to get DSL delivered to his farm. But despite the lack of Internet connectivity, Kluesner realizes how important being online has become for communicating with and reaching voters. Especially younger computer savvy ones.
Kluesner doesn’t know a lick of HTML code, and still personally prefers talking on the telephone to email, MySpace or Facebook. But, Kluesner’s “People First” values and simple “Common Sense” wisdom recognized the need to go high-tech to encourage more voting. So, Kluesner is making Warren County political history as the first Warren County political candidate (besides high school class presidents) to take it up a notch with a high-tech Web 2.0 website and the sophisticated social networking tools of Facebook and MySpace.
W.W.W. and Social Networking sites create “get out the vote buzz”, make history
Kluesner says, “It’s important to recognize that a lot of constituents, especially those in the Internet generation, want to communicate their ideas online. That’s why I’ve made it a point to listen and reach out to those who use the web. My website is a place where people can get honest information and answers and I hope MySpace and Facebook will help them become more engaged in the political process.“
So to make this happen, Kluesner turned to Dan Walk, from Marthasville and 2002 graduate of Warren County R3, who is an owner of a web marketing company in St. Louis.
“I went away to school and earned my degree in computer science and moved to start my own business, but I still like to visit my parents’ farm on weekends and help folks back home,” says Walk, “Hubie’s campaign is a perfect fit for what my company does. Hubie wanted a website and he’s the only candidate with the foresight and interest in younger voters to harness the powerful social networking software tools of MySpace and Facebook.”
Walk’s company, iDotMind (idotmind.com) was contracted by the Kluesner campaign to create the get out the “Vote For Hubie” message online. iDotMind designed and built the website VoteForHubie.com and is actively placing Kluesner’s campaign in front of younger voters and area Internet users. iDotMind helps by writing custom software programs and by managing the profiles on social networking giants Facebook and Myspace.
Already a buzz is building, new friends sign up daily, messages get back to Kluesner, and e-flyers circulate, as the important August 5th primary nears. Recent postings on Hubie’s Facebook wall so far show good humored interest.
Leann Michelle Couch writes “Ok I about fell out of my chair when I got the add request! I’m sure he has a little bit of help with this one!! “
Abby Jacob-Rinne writes, “Wow! My dad can barely turn on a computer…and here you are on Facebook! “
Diana Garbs writes, “Nice Hubie, nice…. I work at an ad agency that manages these accounts for corporations. I’m impressed! Good luck with the election!”
And Erin, a 22 year old from Marthasville writes on Hubie’s MySpace page, “hey I am proud to be the first one to write on your wall…anyway, I just wanted u to know u got my vote…goodluck!!!!”
Kluesner could not manage the profiles personally, so he had iDotMind design a program to cross the Internet generation and DSL deficiency gap. iDotMind designed a feedback loop that enables communication across various technologies. Kluesner says, “When I get a message from online it gets right over to me. My wife checks my email at her work, we’ve got a fax machine set up at the farm where time sensitive messages can come through, and if it’s real important or if someone wants to talk about something I make sure all my responses include my home phone number. And, I still like old-fashioned letters.”
VoteForHubie.com, features information about the candidate, and helpful resources for voter registration including how to vote by absentee ballot and learn about any voter ID requirements. Users can sign up for a newsletter, and use a contact form for sending Kluesner a message directly.
“We are proud of Hubie that he recognizes the importance of reaching people on the Internet and that we can help bring more technology to to Warren County,” says Walk, “In larger cities it’s been shown to be less expensive and more persuasive than traditional media. But since this is a first here we can’t be sure going high tech locally will make Internet literate voters more likely to actually turn out. I hope it does. So far the numbers are good. We aren’t going to make any predictions, but we know the message is getting out.“
Kluesner’s online pages can be found at the following Internet address:
http://www.VoteForHubie.com
MySpace
Facebook
If you think iDotMind can help you win your campaign, send us a message or
Call iDotMind Toll Free: 1866-491-0577
Written By Nestor Wheelock
Systems Architect and Client Support Guru
http://www.iDotMind.com
This article be freely shared non-commercially under the Creative Commons
iDotMind Makes Political History by iDotMind is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License.
