New Jersey’s gubernatorial race goes viral: Ads getting more play on Internet than on TV
By DAN GOOD Staff Writer | The Press of Atlantic City | Tuesday, September 29, 2009
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Have you seen Chris Daggett’s new campaign advertisement?

Daggett, the independent candidate for governor, recently released a television commercial that shows actors portraying Democratic incumbent Jon S. Corzine and Republican challenger Chris Christie, standing on a stopped escalator.

‘Corzine’ is reading a newspaper, indifferent to the problem. “Someone will bail us out,” the character says. “They always do.” Fake Corzine shakes his balding head.

‘Christie’ starts sweating and yelling, his necktie coming undone.

“If someone doesn’t fix this now, people are going to jail,” the actor says. “Jail I say. Jail!” Fake Christie takes off his jacket and slams it down.

And then Daggett appears, hands on hips.

“This is broken,” Daggett says, indicating the escalator represents New Jersey. Daggett walks up the escalator steps, waving forward a group of women and children and saying, “Follow me.” Click here to see the video, close video window to return to story.

If you missed the commercial on TV, no problem – it’s splashed all over the internet, the perfect vehicle for a candidate such as Daggett who has limited financial resources.

“We haven’t raised as much money from special interest groups, and we don’t have the backing of governors associations, so we’ve relied more heavily on Internet and social media to get our message across,” Daggett said. “I think it’s working pretty well.”

The video has attracted about 4,000 YouTube views in the past few weeks, as well as spikes in visitors to Daggett’s Web site, which means, well … who knows? Could Web videos draw extra votes on Election Day? That’s the hope for Daggett, Corzine and Christie, each of whom is tacking November success to September – October mouse clicks.

And those mouse clicks are starting to mount up for the state’s gubernatorial candidates. Christie’s YouTube channel has been viewed 15,000 times since February, while 12,000 thousand folks have glanced at Corzine’s page since April. Both camps have released about 100 videos in the past half-year, as campaign staffs siphon energy and resources into emerging technologies with impacts that are not yet known.

Daggett? Well, he’s clocking in at only 600 views … but people are talking about that escalator ad.

All this online content has put New Jersey politics deep into the viral age, making this governor’s race different than any other in state history. The season’s Web video campaign contributions are witty, unapologetic, sneaky, funny, immediate, sleazy and thought-provoking – everything you could ever expect from a Garden State political race. What’s more, they are available at any moment, in any place with an internet connection.

* * *

When Corzine was elected governor, Facebook was some stupid time trap for college students, YouTube was your personal Web cam and Twitter was a word used in bird watching circles and dictionaries.

That was so 2005.

Four years later, Corzine and his challengers are relying on the social networking and file-sharing Web sites Facebook, YouTube and Twitter to reach voters.

Juan Melli is a big part of that technology push. Melli, who grew up in Gloucester County, founded the Democratic blog Bluejersey.com four years ago and later served as associate editor for Politicker.com, a political insider Web site.

Now Melli is Director of New Media for Corzine’s campaign. Melli said online initiatives make it easier for candidates to target their messages.

“With these emerging technologies, you can respond a lot more quickly than you could before, in ways you can’t do with print and television,” Melli said.

The candidates’ back-and-forth multimedia jabs about health care and cancer coverage highlight this fact. In the last week, Corzine’s campaign released three videos on those topics, including one showing a heated exchange between Christie and a cancer survivor during a speech at Rider University. Click here to see health care video, close video window to return to story.

Christie released a Web and TV response, discussing his mother’s bout with breast cancer and debunking Corzine’s claims. In the past, the turnaround might have taken weeks. Here, Christie and Corzine can sit in front of a camera … video download … upload complete … and the video is available for the world to see.

* * *

The black-and-white video shows stars in space. Music plays in the background, da-da-da-da. A floating door appears. It opens.

Da-da-da-da.

“You’re traveling through another dimension, a dimension not only of low property taxes and plentiful jobs, but of mind,” says an announcer’s voice. A window smashes. Eyeball and equation and wooden mannequin and clock float over the stars.

Da-da-da-da.

Welcome to “The Corzine Zone,” team Christie’s most creative campaign ad to date. Based on the 1960s sci-fi TV show the “Twilight Zone,” the Corzine Zone video features a cigarette-smoking host named Flash Sterling, a mock-up of series host Rod Serling. The idea came about during a staff brainstorming session. Click here to see the video, close video window to return to story.

The video attacks Corzine’s wealth, claims of his efforts to stop the foreclosure crisis, the state’s deficit, job growth and property tax relief.

For Christie campaign spokesperson Maria Comella, the Corzine zone video addresses the issues without being too serious.

“One of the key things we try to do with our video is try to make it interesting and engaging, and try to make it seem like it’s not a political video,” Comella said.

Another popular Christie video centers on a Corzine misspeak. At a press conference, the governor called it the “Garden State Expressway” instead of Parkway, so team Christie matched the sound byte with old-time 1950s traffic movies, and “Life is an Expressway” was born.

Beyond YouTube mudslinging, each major party candidate has one piece of technology that sets their campaign apart – technology that might determine our next governor. Take away party ideologies and issues and leadership credentials, and this whole race could be decided by a phone call or a new internet window.

* * *

Bzzz. Bzzz. Bzzz.

Phone vibrates in your pocket. Glance at the screen, and there’s a text message. Your friend? Your mother? Nope, it’s the Corzine campaign.

The group is sending texts to voters located near campaign stops. The texts are meant to rally interest and attract volunteers and helpers. People can sign up to receive text messages on Corzine’s Web site.

Juan Melli is encouraged by the success of the text messages.

“With e-mail, only a certain number of people will open it up, but with a text message, 100 percent of people will open it up,” Melli said.

While buzz surrounds Corzine’s phone efforts, Christie’s staff members are pinning election success on the Web site www.itsmynj.com, a sounding board for New Jersey voters. The Web site allows voters the chance to upload comments and videos about their hopes for the state.

“The Web site gives people the chance to speak directly to the campaign, and it allows a range of voices to be heard,” Comella said.

How about the other voice in this campaign, the quiet voice, the voice that just wants to talk about issues?

* * *

Chris Daggett wanted people to laugh.

He wanted people to know what he stands for, let people know who he is.

“I felt strongly that this campaign shouldn’t be about negative ads, and screaming at each other about driving records and private loans,” Daggett, the independent candidate for governor, said.

So he released his escalator ad, expressing his belief that Corzine and Christie have focused too heavily on each other’s faults – and not enough about fixing New Jersey.

“For a campaign with limited resources at the moment, the ad has had a pretty big impact,” Daggett said.

Daggett doesn’t have the staff or deep pockets of his challengers, so the internet is the perfect resource for him – a chance to reach a broad slice of people without breaking the bank.

Daggett thinks this multimedia-driven election cycle is a follow-up to Barack Obama’s online voting presence a year ago. And that Obama carried forward the initiatives of 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean’s internet grassroots efforts.

And four years from now, someone may be talking about Facebook and YouTube and Twitter in a past tense – and how some not-yet-imagined Internet concept is changing New Jersey’s 2013 gubernatorial race.

Facebook? YouTube? Twitter? That is so 2009.