The internet really began to have a significant impact on the election, much later than people think.

Although Credon used e-mails to let voters know his governing philosophy and platform in his re-election election two years ago, the Internet did not play a decisive role in the two elections since.

In the 2000 election campaign, Bush and Gore still adopted the traditional election method, neither of them had a professional technical team to maintain online public opinion and conduct online fundraising, but each set up a symbolic campaign website to canvass for votes.

By the 2004 election, at this time the Internet had been fully popularized on the PC side, Xiao Bushi and John Kerry naturally strengthened the construction of network information, but because there was no super influential social software at this time, the online propaganda of the two was extremely perfunctory in later generations, and they still relied more on the propaganda of online portal news websites.

The real decisive role of the Internet in the U.S. election began with Obama in '08.

Obama not only used the previous campaigner's personal website and email voters to win over voters, but also registered multiple accounts on Facebook, YouTube and other social and video networks, using online platforms to launch an all-round attack on rival McCain.

In addition, Obama also bought Google keyword search rankings and water armies, whether it is Barack Obama or McCain, the top ranking is praise for Obama and cynicism about McCain.

Crucially, Obama was the first presidential candidate to use online fundraising to achieve great success.

You know, the main reason why Obama was able to run for success, in addition to catching up with the trend of political correctness, is money - the main reason.

Obama's campaign in 2008 raised a record $600 million, three times as much as his predecessor, Bush Stone, and 85 percent of that money came online.

It can be said that Obama was single-handedly put on the presidency by the Internet.

Not to mention the 16-year campaign, without the Internet, Chuanpu would not have been able to get the nomination.

Small fundraisers are the object of hatred and love of every campaigner, and if these people do not do door-to-door fundraising, they will undoubtedly lose their votes, or they simply do not vote and do door-to-door fundraising, and the cost is too high.

And Zhang Chen now proposes that as long as these people are called and emailed, supplemented by online fundraising, they can add a fundraising link to the donation email, and also make fundraising advertisements on the Internet, and voters can donate through online payment at home.

In this way, small donors who were too lazy to go to the bank to remit money can receive tens of hundreds of dollars of donations with just a click of the mouse, which reduces the threshold and difficulty of donations, improves the enthusiasm of voters, and can be called a revolution in small donations!

Of course, it is impossible for Xiao Bushi to predict the development of future generations, but the instinct of a politician tells him that this is definitely a choice that is beneficial to him, as for how much it is beneficial, it is still unknown, but as long as it is beneficial, it can be done, right?

It's just that...... Will this be a violation of the campaign law?

If you break the law and give your competitors pigtails, no matter how much money you can raise, it will be worth the loss.

"This is not a violation of federal campaign law. Condoleezza Rice's professionalism ensured that she was able to answer Xiao Bushi's doubts as soon as possible, "Legally speaking, whether it is online fundraising or door-to-door fundraising, as long as the amount of individual donations is less than $1,000 and more than $200 is published with donor information, it is legal." Moreover, this money can be used as a hard money expense. ”

Xiao Bushi's heart was pounding, "This model has never been used before, I don't know how much I can increase the amount of donations?"

The corners of Zhang Chen's mouth curled slightly: "Mr. Bushi, according to IDC's survey report, as of December 31 last year, the number of Internet users in the United States has exceeded 15 million, and it is still increasing at a rate of more than 10 percent per month, and it is expected that by the middle of 2000, the number of Internet users in the United States will at least exceed 60 million, that is to say, a quarter of the people in the United States will become loyal users of the Internet." ”

Xiao Bushi's eyes couldn't help but widen in surprise, he is a post-40s generation, of course, his acceptance of new things is not as fast as that of young people, and Texas is notoriously conservative, and it is even more difficult to believe that the growth rate of the Internet will be so fast.

Not only her, but even Condoleezza Rice, who has lived in Silicon Valley for a long time, only knew that the Internet was developing fast, but she didn't know that it would be so fast.

The two were about to speak, but they heard Zhang Chen continue: "But I'm skeptical about this data. ”

Xiao Bushi was stunned: "You mean this survey is too optimistic?"

Zhang Chen shook his head and smiled: "No, it's too conservative." ”

Booshi and Condoleezza Rice looked incredulous, too conservative? 60 million! A quarter of the U.S. population! Excluding people under the age of six or seven and over the age of sixty or seventy, that means that there will be one Internet user in every three adult Americans, and this number is conservative?

Zhang Chen nodded and said, "Of course, DC's survey is only based on the average growth rate to calculate the results in two years. But judging from the rise in Google search volume and AOL access statistics, by 2000, there will be at least 80 million to 90 million Internet users in the United States, that is, one in two American adults will have an Internet user. ”

"If you think about it, even if you have one percent, no, even if you add one thousandth of your supporters to the network, that's 90,000 votes, and even if each person only gives ten dollars, it's 900,000 dollars. Of course, if your opponents are also more competitive online, it will also widen the gap between you. ”

"So, in the future, the Internet must be the new decisive arena, and if you aspire to run for president, if you don't pay attention to this territory, the chances of winning are even slimmer. ”

Xiao Bushi blinked, deep crow's feet appeared at the corners of his eyes, of course he would not be fooled by Zhang Chen's words. However, what Zhang Chen said does make sense, even if the benefits are not large, it is always good to add one more path, and it can also shape his image of accepting new things, and change the conservative and outdated stereotype of the Republican Party in the minds of young voters.

"Zack, I formally invite you to join my campaign. Xiao Bushi took a deep breath and said: "We really need to increase investment in the Internet, you are an expert in this area, and with you joining in the personal operation, I believe that it will greatly increase our chances of winning." Little Booshi didn't feel at all that Condoleezza Rice was kicking him under the table.

Zhang Chen shook his head with a smile, Xiao Bushi's brows furrowed slightly: "If you have any conditions, I can discuss it with the team." ”

Zhang Chen waved his hand and smiled: "No, Mr. Bushi, you forgot, I am still a Chinese, even if I am successfully naturalized in ten months, are you sure you want to invite a newly naturalized Chineseman to join your campaign team?"

Xiao Bushi's face suddenly became extremely embarrassed, Ma's, he was too confused, how could he forget such an important thing.

(End of chapter)