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Mayoral candidates seek votes in the blogosphere

Supporters of Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Hau Lung-bin yesterday hold up ''big head Bin'' signs while campaigning at the Taipei City Hall MRT station. PHOTO: CHANG CHIA-MING, TAIPEI TIMES

With the rising popularity of blogs among today's youth, more candidates are taking their campaigns into the blogosphere, which has become the latest battlefield for the upcoming Taipei and Kaohsiung mayoral elections.

Although the word "blog" was first coined in 1999, it wasn't mentioned during the nation's election campaigns in 2000. It was not until 2004 that blogging really entered the mainstream.

According to a survey conducted by marketing researcher InsightXplorer Limited that was released last month, the dominant age group for bloggers still consists mostly of those under 29, but the number of bloggers over 30 is increasing.

About 30 to 40 percent of bloggers are students and about 20 percent are white-collar workers, the survey showed.

To reach these young voters, candidates have have adapted by writing blogs of their own.

Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei mayoral candidate Hau Lung-bin (郝龍斌) set up a campaign blog called Reading Hau Lung-bin in February upon joining the KMT's primary.

Mayoral candidates bolgs * Hau Lung-bin http://city.udn.com/v1/blog/index.jsp?uid=longbin * Frank Hsieh http://city.udn.com/v1/blog/index.jsp?uid=FrankCTHsieh www.wretch.cc/blog/FrankCTHsieh http://frankcthsieh.yam.com/blog/ * James Soong www.tpblog.tw * Chen Chu www.wretch.cc/blog/kikuchen * Huang Chun-ying http://city.udn.com/v1/blog/index.jsp?uid=chunying * Lo Chih-ming www.wretch.cc/blog/jimmylo

That first blog introduced Hau's background, stories about his life and his campaign platform. Then, in an attempting to attract younger voters, Hau's camp launched two more blogs, with one telling Hau's story with comics (www.wretch.cc/blog/longbin) and the other posting campaign commercials and video clips from campaign events (www.im.tv/myvlog/longbin).

Tony Tso, director of the Web site team for Hau's campaign, told the Taipei Times that the design of the blogs is aimed at revealing Hau's sincerity and friendliness while appealing to voters through animated layouts and interesting articles.

"Voters are not that attracted by campaign platforms, so we first posted Hau's personal stories and experiences on the [first] blog to give voters a better understanding of his character," said Tso, who declined to give his Chinese name.

The comic blog, in addition to highlighting Hau's experience as the former head of the Environmental Protection Administration, also poked fun at the candidate.

"We invited campaign workers to share funny stories or observations about Hau in everyday life and had the artist put them into the comics ? We want people to know him better and not feel that he is someone too high too reach," he said.

Besides taking Hau's campaign into the blogosphere, the camp also recruited about 50 to 60 young volunteers tasked with attracting younger voters through designing creative campaign ads and planning activities such as graffiti contests and baseball and basketball games.

According to Chen Chia-chiang (陳家祥), the executive secretary of the youth volunteer team, the volunteers also joined the candidates on their visits to grassroots supporters and borough wardens -- something younger volunteers do not usually get a chance to do.

"Some borough wardens were surprised to see young people and thought they would have problems communicating with us at first, but later they said that they were glad to see us," he said.

Democratic Progressive Party (DPP) Taipei mayoral candidate Frank Hsieh (謝長廷) has three blogs, including Frank Hsieh's All Winning Headquarters, Frank Hsieh's Love and Trust and A Blog of a Child Who Grew up in a Street of Blacksmiths. All of the blogs are hosted on different portals.

Hsieh's team has endeavored to make the blogs very personal so that voters will come away with a feeling that they not only know Hsieh as a mayoral candidate, but also know his personality.

To that end, on Chinese Lovers' Day this year, an old wedding picture of Hsieh and his wife was posted on one of his blogs, along with an intimate story about their relationship.

It might not be easy for voters to associate the feeling of being in love with a politician, but blogs such as that on Hsieh's wedding help to soften a candidate's image.

Hsieh's campaign also appears to be trying to strengthen his image as a daring dreamer through the blogs.

In order to demonstrate Hsieh's vision for Taipei -- particularly his dream that Taipei compete for the right of being the host city for the Olympic Games in 2020 -- campaign video clips were posted on one of his blogs at the same time that they were run on TV.

Because anyone with an Internet connection can replay the clips on his blog at any time, Hsieh can present his "dream" campaign theme to more people, and at a lower cost, than by airing TV ads.

Chen Lu-huei (陳陸輝), an associate research fellow at the Election Study Center of National Cheng-chi University (NCCU), told the Taipei Times that the most effective campaign themes in past elections in Taiwan aroused a sympathetic response in voters.

People First Party (PFP) Chairman James Soong (宋楚瑜) launched his Taipei Blog months before declaring his intention to join the mayoral election.

The blog presents Soong's campaign platform and has a large section devoted to allowing Taipei residents to post their complaints or suggestions about the city's government.

Soong's team is also using a mobile campaign office to get the word out.

Spokeswoman Bao Hui-chuan (包慧娟) said that the office -- a remodeled tour bus covered with Soong's campaign advertisements and equipped with tables, computers, fax machines and a wireless Internet connection -- allows the candidate to directly exchange ideas with residents in many different parts of the city.

Unlike Hsieh's more intimate blogs, Taiwan Solidarity Union (TSU) Taipei mayoral candidate Clara Chou's (周玉蔻) blog appears to use more negative campaign tactics.

Articles on Chou's blog entitled A Sunny Woman and A Promising City offered mostly criticism about political issues and her electoral opponents.

The narratives of the articles, much like Chou's personal image, are straightforward and poignant.

In Kaohsiung, DPP mayoral candidate Chen Chu's (陳菊) blog attempts to reveal the candidate's softer side, much like Hsieh's blog. Chen's blog uses the unusual twist of portraying her through cartoon alter ego Sister Chu (菊姐), which highlights her personality as an amiable but sturdy for democracy.

By making Sister Chu animated icons available for download and by selling Sister Chu magnets on her blog, Chen, though in her 50s, is able to present herself to younger voters as a person in touch with the digital world.

Chen and Hsieh's blogs attempt to portray them as approachable next-door neighbors. Voters can keep track of Hsieh's daily routine through an interactive online map in one of his blogs, and on Chen's blog they can see pictures of her in a curly, free-flowing hairdo.

The blog of KMT Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Huang Chun-ying (黃俊英) is more businesslike, featuring well-turned statements and campaign schedules.

TSU Kaohsiung mayoral candidate Lo Chih-ming's (羅志明) blog is almost scholarly in tone, with most articles focusing on current affairs rather than his personality and life.

While promoting candidates through creative, interactive blogs is a growing phenomenon targeted at younger voters, political analysts say that highlighting candidates' characteristics and solid campaign platforms remain crucial in any campaign.

"Especially as the election day gets closer, candidates who are able to give voters a stronger impression are more likely to be the winners," said Ku Chung-hwa (顧忠華), a professor of sociology at National Chengchi University.

Commenting on the blogs of KMT candidates, Wang Yeh-li (王業立), a professor of politics at Taichung's Tung Hai University, said Hau and Huang shared the characteristics of kindness and sincerity, but both lacked charisma.

Although blogs may prove useful in election campaigns, it is unlikely that the voters will make their decisions based solely on reading a candidate's blog.

But Hau's blog allows him to interact with voters, and some bloggers have discussed serious issues such as the facilities for the disabled with him in the blog, Tso said.

Though candidate blogs are increasing in number, they may not be as effective as a campaign teams would hope, said Katherine Chen (陳憶寧), a professor in the Department of Advertising at NCCU.

"Blogs are, after all, not mass media," she said, adding that it was still not clear that blogs are able to actually reach targeted voters as there is no way of evaluating their effectiveness.
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