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New congressional candidate Phil Hare has a website. I know Phil, and I think he did a very good job for Lane Evans, but that website really sucks. The Democrats better hope he runs a campaign better than he builds a site. Also, what’s with that photo?
Republican Andrea Zinga also has a website, and it’s much better.
Consider this a congressional campaign open thread.
[Hat tip: Passing Parade]
posted by Rich Miller
Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 2:06 pm
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Awesome pic! He looks like Tom from Office Space. Maybe he will run a “jump to conclusions” campaign. It’ll be a campaign that has conclusions… that you can jump to… Like the conclusion “This website sucks.”
Comment by Lovie's Leather Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 2:31 pm
Hope this is just a temporary website. What about positions on issues, etc. What about a good photo(s)???
Comment by Wile Coyote Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 2:37 pm
Phil’s busy taking phone calls from the DCCC right now … raising money … not enough time for a first-rate web site just yet. Stay tuned.
Comment by statehouse shark Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 2:52 pm
I spent 3 weeks trying to get a hold of the Hare campaign offering to do their website. I figured since I am a resident of the district, and would do it for free, that might be inticing. But instead he pays some D.C. firm a pretty penny to build crap.
Comment by Robbie Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 3:10 pm
Big deal.
He will still win by 20.
Comment by Skeeter Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 3:34 pm
Robbie, perhaps you can offer to buy him a necktie…and maybe a larger shirt, but definitely a necktie.
Comment by Rico Shakman aka Wumpus Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 3:35 pm
Pst… it’s not finished.
Comment by Scott Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 3:37 pm
Scott, if it’s not finished, then there ought to be something on the page indicating that. Right now, it’s all we have, and it really sucks.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 3:39 pm
The difference between those two websites is the same as comparing Angelina Jolie to Wilma the bag lady of Lower Wacker.
Comment by Wow Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 3:50 pm
At least Phil’s site isn’t Flash powered. Why does everyone think they have to use Flash? Sigh.
But still, its very bad.
Comment by doubtful Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 4:04 pm
Wasn’t it Hare who screwed up Evans FEC report so bad and they got fined really bad?
Comment by Remember when... Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 4:31 pm
You’d think with all his vacation time, he’d take a web design class or at least find one of those “Under Construction” images.
Comment by Rico Shakman aka Wumpus Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 4:34 pm
It is not a finished site. Just something temporary. I am sure within a week or two it will be up in running with campaign stop photos and issues.
Everyone has to start somewhere
Comment by Craig Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 4:35 pm
Craig, that’s not an acceptable excuse. The site sucks, even if it is temporary. An extra five minutes of thought, or a modicum of talent on the part of the web designer could’ve made it so much better. This is an embarassment. He should fire his web consultant right now.
Comment by Rich Miller Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 4:40 pm
Websites that suck seem to be a Dem speciality
Guess they are too busy winning elections.
Noticed the TomCross&TheSockPuppets blog got out last week.
And they were once the big heroes.
Way to keep up the tradition Phil
Comment by Reddbyrd Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 5:08 pm
That site does suck! Whatever parasite is running Hare’s campaign should be canned for putting out a piece of crap that doesn’t tell you about the candidate or his ties to Congressman Evans (note to the candidate… the election may well be decided by people who presently do not know you have been Lane Evans’ top aide; you might want to let them know NOW).
Comment by Randall Sherman, Secretary/Treasurer, Illinois Committee for Honest Government Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 5:18 pm
election prediction
Zinga wins by a hare!!!
Comment by ron Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 5:26 pm
What I’ve heard through the political grapevine up north is that Hare is under so much pressure to raise money that he can’t hire talented folks to run his campaign. So he’ll rely on some fresh-out-of-college types to run the race. Which might be perfect for Hare, since he’s the type who will want to run his own campaign anyway.
Comment by A Little Birdie Told Me Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 5:38 pm
If you look at past political directors for Friends of Lane Evans, it was the same system, a youngster with little political experience is the day-to-day director of the campaign committee, with someone else pulling the strings.
Comment by Up North Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 5:43 pm
so maybe that explains why Lane never won with any big margins … when you peel back all the layers you find young and inexperienced political staff doing mediocre at best work … why don’t they reach out to pros? makes you wonder.
Comment by A Little Birdie Told Me Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 10:43 pm
The same people (the young ones) also ran Lane’s 2004 campaign. And if I must say, they have no idea what they are doing. They go through the motions with no new or creative ideas, and no real clue on how to win a close election, because Lane’s name alone has had it nailed the entire time they’ve been in. They do not know how to run a REAL campaign. I actually have first hand experience with how their system works…and it doesn’t (work, that is).
Comment by Bad Experience Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 11:03 pm
Yeah, they’re good at giving big titles to empty suits. But I don’t think the youngsters realize how weak they are. I know Phil does, because he likes to run the show. Bringing in real experience would threaten his show and his power base. My guess is that this is the reason the campaign will end up being way too close.
Comment by A Little Birdie Told Me Tuesday, Jul 11, 06 @ 11:08 pm
I’m guessing the margin between a good and bad website on election day is no more than 200 votes. If he even has a web consultant, he’s wasting money
Comment by Real Illinoisan Wednesday, Jul 12, 06 @ 4:08 am
Real Illinoisan, I think you underestimate the web community. While it can be a minor factor, if utilized well, it can be a major campaign help. There are lots of young people that are constantly on the internet. If you can get the rallied and mobilized, then you just shifted the demographics of the district voters.
I saw last night that facebook and myspace are going to allow politicians to have sites and then users can add them as friends. that can result in lots of exposure. I heard on the radio this morning that myspace recently passed both yahoo and google in the number of pageloads.
For an example of how the web and bloggers influence races, just look at how that Kos guy has spurred the Lieberman challenge in Connecticut.
People that think the web can’t help a campaign have failed to utilize it properly.
Comment by Robbie Wednesday, Jul 12, 06 @ 10:05 am
The site is pretty lame. I can’t understand how major party, serious candidates for serious offices still underestimate the power of a really good site as a way of connecting the grassroots. Zinga’s site is really good. There are others, on both sides of the aisle, who get it.
The first thing people will do when they hear the name of a candidate is punch them into google and look at their site. If their site looks bad, it will negatively reflect on that candidate. Guaranteed.
Comment by Daniel Darling Wednesday, Jul 12, 06 @ 11:13 am
Want a really miserable website? Try this one:
http://www.cookcountydems.com/
Under “events” the only listing is a November 2005 Madigan event.
Of course, if your name is not Stroger, Hynes, Lipinski, Beavers, or Daley, then the party does not have much use for you anyway.
Comment by Skeeter Wednesday, Jul 12, 06 @ 1:39 pm
Hare also has that silly Bunny Bread truck that he takes to parades. Ay-yi-yi. 22 years as a major player should give him enough experience to know that a bad website and a bread delivery truck are not the sharpest campaign operandi.
This race is all about cash. Phil must be spending all of his money advertising and fundraising (in no particular order) because he has four major media markets to worry about: Quads, Quincy, St. Louis and Springfield/Decatur. One week on St. Louis TV will kill him if he’s running low on cash. But hiring inexperienced people who don’t know how to bargain with the DCCC and Minority Leader Pelosi and Minority Whip Hoyer is not a smart move for a guy who’s running against a candidate who has the support of the RNC and the NRCC. This is a golden opportunity for the GOP to pick up a long-awaited open seat.
Comment by Team Sleep Wednesday, Jul 12, 06 @ 2:26 pm
I’m sure it may be temporary to some degree … but even a temporary site can look nice. Sure, more complete information will be nice too, but even the layout looks poor. To quote Rich, the site sucks.
statehouse shark: Phil should be busy raising money, but he’s not the one doing the site. Someone else should be busy doing that.
Robbie: never work for free. It’s never worth it. I promise. But you are right, if he’s paying someone, whatever he is paying is too much for the product.
Skeeter: Winning by 20 and winning by doing things well are different. Don’t be so pragmatic.
Scott: Thanks for letting us in on the secret, but refer to my first point.
Doubtful: Flash-powered? Hmmm … there is ONE small piece of Flash on the home page of Andrea’s site. Do you see Flash anywhere else? That’s like saying your car is washer-fluid driven. Incorporating some Flash into a site is not a big deal, although I do agree that truly Flash-driven sites are annoying.
Craig: He’s been in this thing long enough to have more online than he does right now. Although I agree it’s a start … I would have started elsewhere. I mean the blue text in the small boxes can hardly even be read over the striped background. Just poor design work. Period.
Real Illinoisan: You may be partly correct. A website is a small piece of the campaign puzzle. But the importance is growing and will be. And it’s the same as I feel about signage at churches, stores, and the like … it’s often the first impression I get of someone or something, and there’s something to be said for having an excellent first impression … or at least a good one … or at the very least not a horrible one.
And finally … one of the uses for a site should be to help build support in terms of people and cash. WHile at least his site offers that … once you click on one of those links there is no navigation back to the site … errr … I mean the “page”. That’s called an “orphan page” … Website Design 101 from 1997.
Back to Rich’s point … which has been mine as well. Those who want this guy to win better hope he does EVERYTHING else better than his website. If the website is any indication, I’d get out while the getting’s good.
Comment by YNM Friday, Jul 14, 06 @ 3:11 pm
I’m sure it may be temporary to some degree … but even a temporary site can look nice. Sure, more complete information will be nice too, but even the layout looks poor. To quote Rich, the site sucks.
statehouse shark: Phil should be busy raising money, but he’s not the one doing the site. Someone else should be busy doing that.
Robbie: never work for free. It’s never worth it. I promise. But you are right, if he’s paying someone, whatever he is paying is too much for the product.
Skeeter: Winning by 20 and winning by doing things well are different. Don’t be so pragmatic.
Scott: Thanks for letting us in on the secret, but refer to my first point.
Doubtful: Flash-powered? Hmmm … there is ONE small piece of Flash on the home page of Andrea’s site. Do you see Flash anywhere else? That’s like saying your car is washer-fluid driven. Incorporating some Flash into a site is not a big deal, although I do agree that truly Flash-driven sites are annoying.
Craig: He’s been in this thing long enough to have more online than he does right now. Although I agree it’s a start … I would have started elsewhere. I mean the blue text in the small boxes can hardly even be read over the striped background. Just poor design work. Period.
Real Illinoisan: You may be partly correct. A website is a small piece of the campaign puzzle. But the importance is growing and will be. And it’s the same as I feel about signage at churches, stores, and the like … it’s often the first impression I get of someone or something, and there’s something to be said for having an excellent first impression … or at least a good one … or at the very least not a horrible one.
And finally … one of the uses for a site should be to help build support in terms of people and cash. WHile at least his site offers that … once you click on one of those links there is no navigation back to the site … errr … I mean the “page”. That’s called an “orphan page” … Website Design 101 from 1997.
Back to Rich’s point … which has been mine as well. Those who want this guy to win better hope he does EVERYTHING else better than his website. If the website is any indication, I’d get out while the getting’s good.
Comment by YNM Friday, Jul 14, 06 @ 3:18 pm
I am not sure that a website will matter that much, but a candidate needs to take advantage of every means of communication available. I actually ran against Phil Hare in the 17th nomination process - I was the only candidate with a website. You can still go to it although I have not updated it since Hare’s victory in the nomination process – www.robmellon.com. Many of the committee members that I talked to did not even use the Internet so it really did not help me. I do plan on keeping it operational just in case I need it in the future. I created the site in a very short period of time including issues and a biography - so I do not think the excuses offered for the site’s lack of substance have merit. If I can do it professionals in Washington I am sure have that capacity.
Comment by Rob Mellon Tuesday, Jul 18, 06 @ 1:50 am
sorry for the double-post … a glitch i guess.
I did notice that their web person put up an UNDER CONSTRUCTION note now … but it says “Subscribe for Updates when we Launch our Site” … to me that means when they launch the site you can then subscribe for updates, but I think they met you can sign up for updates to be notified of the site’s launch. Oh well … you can’t ask for too much I guess.
Comment by YNM Wednesday, Jul 19, 06 @ 3:54 pm