Jimmy's weblog

Howard Dean may have failed spectacularly in his bid to become the Democratic Presidential candidate in the United States, but he was a pioneer in using the Internet to raise money and communicate with his supporters. Despite not winning any primary delegate votes, he managed to raise over USD$40 million, with the majority being solicited online from small donors.

With political commentators predicting another nail-biting Presidential vote, challenger John Kerry and President George W Bush have learnt from Dean’s legacy and both campaigns have spent heavily on their websites. Visitors to www.johnkerry.com or www.georgewbush.com are overwhelmed by policy documents, campaign videos and exhortations to donate or join the volunteer brigade.

Australia is also likely to have a close election during 2004, so how do the websites of the major Australian parties compare?

Over the next week, I will be posting technical reviews of the websites of Australia’s five most prominent political parties: The Australian Labor Party, The Australian Liberal Party, The Australian Democrats, The Australian Greens and The Nationals.

Once the parties have finished making their pre-election pledges, I will be returning to their websites for a review and rating of the content.  Are they useful places for undecided voters? Are they simply propoganda tools preaching to the converted?  Or maybe a combination of both…

Stay tuned, with the Labor Party’s site to be examined tomorrow.