No strangers to the World Wide Web, Arizona politicians are looking beyond conventional campaign sites to social network Myspace.com for an added boost on the campaign trail.
Sen. Ed Ableser, D-Tempe, has 109 MySpace .com "friends." Ableser says he continues to get "a ton" of new friend requests everyday.
"People on my friends list are anyone who's more interested in hearing about what I believe," Ableser said.
Ableser, a District 17 candidate for the state House seat in the September 12 primary, said MySpace.com has been an extremely useful and effective tool in his campaign since he joined the Web site in March.
MySpace.com is listed as one of the world's top ten most popular sites on the Internet, and has 500,000 new members signing up each week, according to Alexa, a branch of Amazon.com that ranks Internet traffic.
"For me, it's a great way for people to connect to their community," Ableser said. "It's easier than [other campaign methods] because your profile is seen by so many people."
Ableser said MySpace.com's advanced features, such as the option to add videos to profiles, make it more attractive than similar sites.
His profile includes several video clips of him speaking on the House floor, including one titled "Senator Ableser Fighting for ASU."
"It gives people the opportunity to look at me as a candidate," Ableser said.
He isn't the only politician with a MySpace.com profile, although not all were started by the candidates themselves.
Gary Tupper, a Republican candidate for governor, has a MySpace.com profile, but he said it was set up by someone else.
"I've been to the site a few times," he said, but he prefers conventional campaign methods.
"At this stage of the campaign, meeting voters face to face and getting good press is most important," Tupper said. "The only way you learn about what's going on is by going out and talking to people on the streets."
Len Munsil, another Republican gubernatorial candidate, and Rhett Wilson, a Democratic candidate for the state House's District 17, both have profiles on MySpace.com.
Wilson said he doesn't use the site for campaigning, although he displays the address of his campaign Web site profile at the top of his page.
Instead of having a long list of campaign groupies as friends, Wilson said his friends are mainly former students and old high school friends.
"[Myspace.com] is a great way to stay in touch with people, but I joined it for other reasons," Wilson said.
Although the majority of MySpace.com members are under 35 years old, older candidates are still signing up.
Jim Pederson, the 64-year-old Democratic candidate for U.S. Senate, who is up against Republican incumbent Jon Kyl, has a MySpace.com profile of his own.
Pederson's profile provides a detailed plan of his campaign objectives, along with a video of his latest TV commercial.
Many of Pederson's 579 "friends" show their support by leaving encouraging comments on his page.
One female fan of the candidate, "Sexy Sheila," wrote "I will vote for you! I like what you're about! You're kinda sexy too! Xoxo."
Reach the reporter at natalie.i.hayes@asu.edu
