I’m not a party member, nor do I consistently vote for one party or another.  Each election (local, state, or federal) I do my best to find out what the important issues are for the electorate and for myself and vote for the party or candidate I feel will best achieve what I think is right.

I am also busier than ever before.  At no previous election did I have as much going on both professionally and personally as I do this year, particularly right now during the campaign cycle.  The basic outcome is I am very time poor, and that means limited time to seek out election news and find out which party is best suited to receive my vote at the polls on March 21st.

Television advertising doesn’t cut it.  The parties spend their biggest TV ad dollars during prime time, which is a time I am very unlikely to be watching TV.  For the odd show I record and then watch later it means the campaign ad is seen at 12x or 30x normal speed as I fast forward through commercials.  Tip for campaign marketing teams – test your ads at 30x speed and see if your message still gets through.  If I don’t realise its a campaign ad there is no chance of me stopping to watch it at normal speed, and I don’t want to stop to watch a negative campaign ad either.

Media coverage is a mixed bag.  I rarely catch the evening news (which is good since voting based on soundbites is not my style) but try to hit the Courier Mail website once a day to see what is happening.  My memory of the last state election is of a special Courier Mail website section dedicated to election coverage, and prominently linked to from the front page of the website.

This year there is none of that, and election coverage can quickly be pushed off the front page by other breaking news.  I took this screenshot a short while ago and there is no election coverage on the front page at that time.

Clicking through to the Queensland section reveals little more election coverage, but only two stories (and the Anna Bligh story is the only one above the fold, so the LNP misses out for the lazy internet visitor.

Billboards and road-side signs may as well not exist for me.  I don’t drive often and catch public transport to and from work.  Has any party managed to work out how to put their banners up where train commuters will see them?

I considered signing up to the LNP newsletter but could not find an archive of recent editions to see if it was a format I’d be able to digest quickly and easily.

One method I do use to try and keep up with the election is by following the campaign on Twitter.  I currently follow Anna Bligh, Lawrence Springborg, the Qld Greens and another other individual candidates I can find on Twitter.  No matter how busy I am I can keep my Twitter client open on my computer and click through on anything that catches my eye as being important to me for the election.

Some candidates got off to a rocky start on Twitter.  Some are finding their feet slowly but not really using it as a tool to communicate their campaign message.  Doing a better job of it are Anna Bligh and the Qld Greens, each using their Twitter account to notify followers about campaign events and policy, but it is clear Anna Bligh’s team is blowing everyone out of the water with regards to Twitter output.

So what does this mean for busy voters?  If you are an undecided like me then your vote is likely to go towards the party best able to get its message in front of you, provided that message is not something you outright disagree with. We all seem to be getting busier and are less tuned in to traditional marketing methods.  Public speeches, TV ads, news soundbites, billboards, and letterbox drops will hit fewer and fewer targets each election.  The party that understands this best and adjusts their strategy to include new mediums that connect them to busy people will win over many undecided voters and likely win the election.

Other parties and candidates are not quite as organised and seem to either not understand or not wish to make use of the web for their campaigns.  Some of the most obvious missteps are on Twitter.

LNP leader Lawrence Springborg may or may not be on Twitter, it is hard to tell when you search for his name and find two results that could easily pass for genuine.

The problem is which one (if either) is genuinely him?  I sent a Tweet from our own @QldVoice Twitter account asking that very question and got a response from @TheRealBorg claiming that was the real deal.  Either that is not true and is part of that person’s prank, or it is true and Lawrence has potentially discarded his 189 followers on @springborg to start up a new Twitter account with a dubious name.  This is a serious election, do you really want to Twitter as “TheRealBorg”?

Other party candidates have similar problems.  Erin Hall of the Greens is running for the seat of Bundaberg and (someone) has started the Twitter account @erinhallgreens.

Again this may well be the real Erin that is listed on the official ECQ candidate list, but how are we to know for sure?  There are no links on the Qld Greens website to candidates’  Twitter accounts to confirm it.

While it is encouraging to see candidates from all parties reaching out to voters over the web they must also understand that on the internet your authenticity is immediately in question and must be proven.  Anna Bligh gets it.  Will the others catch on before election day?

This morning, at her official campaign launch, she was asked if she had become a serial campaigner, a fairly legitimate question after a failed attempt in 2004 to run for a state seat, and a failed attempt in 2007 to run for the federal Senate , where she received just 4.3% of votes (Source)

Her response? To compare herself to Abraham Lincoln.

“I’d suggest you go and have a look at the number of times Abraham Lincoln stood for Parliament – to stand up for what you believe in.”

Source

Now, I’m no expert on American politics, but even I know off the top of my head that America doesn’t actually have a Parliament. And a quick look at Abraham Lincoln’s Wikipedia page reveals that while he did indeed run for a lot of things, most of his campaigns were successful.

Not bad for a campaign that is barely a day old.

As if the seat of Beaudesert wasn’t already about to become a circus, ex-AFL football star Warwick Capper has announced he will also contest the seat, and challenged Hanson to an election day cook-off. And, since his campaign is being sponsored by men’s magazine Zoo, his campaign launch will feature “a bevy of placard-carrying bikini girls.”

Source

Up here in Queensland, we cop a bit of flack for being a bit redneck, a bit backward, a bit country bumpkin. People of Beaudesert, you have a chance to prove the critics wrong – send these two joke candidates packing, and let’s make sure this election is about the issues, and not the drama.

The Qld Public Service Union (QPSU) have not only got their own website and Twitter account running, but they’ve also opened not one, but two websites having a swing at The Borg: ‘De-necessary’ and ‘StopSpringborg’.

De-necessary is a fairly straight forward jab at Springborg over his claim that some staff are ‘de-necessary’ late last year (Oops! Where are those spin doctors again?), and so the site goes about showing real people who do jobs that are necessary, like Lachlan the Scientist and Kylie the Therapist. You can even add your own pic to the line up! The QPSU have also made an ad they want to get on air, and you can donate accordingly to assist their cause.

StopSpringborg is built in the same light, however with some simple flash animation they give you the chance to fight Springborg in a tug of war – either by yourself or offer up the e-mail addresses of some friends (working on going viral) and then you and your mates can take him on. “Can you save Queensland?” the site asks? It was pretty simple by myself, but then I am a keyboard masher from way back. Same offer to donate in support of getting their ad aired also.

While the QPSU don’t tweet prolifically, they’re lurking there, dropping out reminders like this one: “Non-“de-necessary” workers of the day: Biosecurity Inspectors make sure QLD economy is safe from pests and disease.” with all the appropriate links to the State Govt Biosecurity website. At least they’re active – more than can be said for the leader of the LNP and his lack of tweets.

If only the LNP could offer up something similar from its support base. Maybe they’re waiting on the outcome of the defamation case between Clive Palmer and Anna Bligh? Now there’s an online flash game I’d play – the heavyweight hit out: Bligh v Palmer!

Tech/media score to date:
ALP – 3
LNP – 0
Ind/Others – 0

Lawrence Springborg’s dancing effort while impressing the electorate while on Cairns radio is just such an effort (oh how I wish I could find some video online of this – I’m sure it will come). As is Anna Bligh’s press conference with no content, but for the entirely opposite reason. Where are the (supposedly) ever-present spin doctors and media coaches in this election race? Why is the opposition leader dancing whilst attempting to answer serious questions about the LNP campaign? Why is the premier speaking to the press and not telling them anything? Who’s in charge here?

This is all is stark contrast to both candidate’s federal leaders during the national election in 2008. Kevin Rudd went from geek to… geek chic. John Howard got the pretty suits and ties out, pressed the flesh, offered the Liberal answers. This time around we’re getting the standard “Anna in a helmet”; “Lawrence shaking hands”; “Anna kissing babies (somewhat awkwardly)”; “Lawrence re-hashing the Kippa-Ring railway (again)”; “Anna getting shouted at from a distance at a Uni O-Week meet the people”; “Lawrence shaking hands (again)”. No sign of any real reason to turn up to these media calls other than to: (a) see the candidates say something, hopefully screw it up for it to be really newsworthy; or (b) hope one of the candidates offers something interesting in the way of policy. Long gone are the days of Premier Pete and his always entertaining press conferences – and his hate/hate/love/hate relationship with the media (taken straight from the book of Jeff Kennett).

Of note is who is working hard to update their video feeds with what’s going on for their key candidate. The ALP are popping every ad, video blog and news article almost as quickly as they happen on their YouTube channel. Comparatively the LNP haven’t touched their YouTube channel in 4 months. However, and I can only suppose this is because of the differential limitations offered by the terms of use, both the LNP and the Borg are becoming more active in posting ads, rebuttals, etc via their specific DailyMotion channels. Perhaps whoever is supporting the LNP online should take the big YouTube logo off and replace it with the more correct DailyMotion logo pointing at their channel – it would certainly save potential embarrassment when people go looking for the latest video offerings of the Borg.

The Greens, other parties and independents are yet to offer anything in the way of specific Election ’09 video content. One can only hope Pauline Hanson might offer up a re-hash (or someone may offer a mashup – hint hint) of her infamous “if you see this video, I’m dead” missile.

Tech/media score to date:
ALP – 2
LNP – 0
Ind/Others – 0

Given the success Obama had in using things like YouTube and Facebook through his election campaign, you’d offer these tools are now as important as having the website (right, Anna?) ready to go to support your tilt. With the surge in support and awareness now of things like Twitter, both parties have ensured their leaders are all set to Twit (or at least someone on their behalf). The differential, however, lies in the content…

The LNP and Team Borg are somewhat slow on the upkeep of their website, YouTube, Facebook pages, etc and particularly his Twitter account (with the latter noting only one entry from Jan 24 offering he’s “just getting into Twitter”). The ALP and the Blighster, however, use all these various mediums to fill into their website. The Anna4Queensland Twitter account gets constant, daily use, alerting followers to the latest updates or policy announcements or photo ops, or whatever. Anna’s YouTube account is setup to show off all their policy and promos, where as Lawrence’s just has a few videos listed. Anna’s facebook account has her correctly listed as a politician, so anyone can browse the info and there are links back to her YouTube entries for all of that content. Lawrence’s facebook account is extremely limited unless you request friendship… and then wait for that to be approved.

As for the others…
The Greens have a website (and Ronan Lee, noted ALP defection, has his own too). No social networking or other official internet media to speak of. Pauline Hanson, while only just throwing her hat in the ring, has a website however it was last updated nearly a year ago. As nominations don’t close until 03 MArch, there’s more time for others to weigh in. The Courier Mail has a better online presence (and better budget), allowing you to both track the movements of the main pollies via GoogleMap, and analysing speeches by both key candidates with a very web 2.0 tag word cloud. No candidates for the DS4SEQ party, but their website is at least current, and they have the mandatory Facebook group.

I’m confident that no matter who has the best online presence, this will not be the keystone that gets either team elected as a part of QldVotes09. The flip side is that if both the LNP and ALP (or any of the other candidates) want to connect with the younger, web-centric, socially networked voter and ensure they are across the important policy issues, then one camp certainly needs to sort out their act poste haste.

Tech/media score to date:
ALP – 1
LNP – 0
Ind/Others – 0