Howard Dean's 2004 Online Campaign

Today, it is impossible for campaigns not to have some type of web presence, but this was not always the case. Howard Dean, the former Governor of Vermont and 2004 presidential candidate, is probably best known for his infamous “Dean Scream” following his loss in the Iowa Caucus during the Democratic Primaries of 2004 (Frank 2005). This is unfortunate, as Howard Dean’s impact on the way campaigning takes place now is much more important than this viral moment. Dean’s use of the Internet to fundraise, mobilize voters, and gain volunteers has forever changed the face of campaigning. Some have even called Dean’s 2004 online campaign the “Birth of Web Campaigning” (Friess 2012). Both Republicans and Democrats have adopted methods that the Dean

However, prior to 2000 campaigns were seen as little more than “virtual billboards” and mainly held basic information about the candidate; such as press releases, biographical, and views on certain issues (Schneider and Foot, 2006). In 2000, campaigns began the gradual shift to mobilizing and connecting supporters through the internet with marginal success; approximately 87 percent having established practices of involving their supporters digitally and 12 percent having established practices of mobilizing them (Schneider and Foot, 2006). In 2004, this jumped to 100 percent had established practices of involving their supporters, 44 percent with established practices of mobilizing their supporters, and 11 percent had established practices of connecting their supporters (Schneider and Foot, 2006). Additionally, every major Democratic nominee’s (Edwards, Kerry, Dean, and Lieberman) web site had features that allowed voters to get involved (by donating, online stores, volunteering, etc.), connect (by showing endorsements, linking to sites, etc.), and mobilize (by sending links to others from the site, allowing supporters to print out campaign materials, etc.) (Schneider and Foot, 2006). With so many other major candidates using the Internet to attempt to mobilize, connect, and involve supporters, what made Howard Dean’s outreach on the internet so

Democratic leaders noted that Dean provided the best leadership to organize the Democratic party to challenge Republicans citing his 2004 Internet campaign (Lexington 2005). As DNC chair, Dean implemented a “50 state strategy” and oversaw the Democrats take back Congress in 2006 and the White House in 2008 (Madden 2008). Obama took Dean’s theory and ran with it in 2008. As he successfully took on a more established primary candidate in the primary through implementing a “improved version of the Dean model.” (Kornacki 2008) In this model, Obama perfected Dean’s original model as they collected more data on voters, emailed them at specific times of the day they had noticed was the time that person usually checked their mail, and collecting information on offline volunteers (Madden 2008).

While Dean’s time as the DNC Chairman might have helped his career, his loss freeing up technological savvy talent may have helped the party even more (Friess 2012). Joe Rospars, Obama’s chief digital strategist for 2012, worked for Dean in 2004 (Friess 2012). Additionally, Clay Johnson and Jascha Franklink-Hodge (both former Dean employees) founded Blue State Digital a “Democratic online campaign consultancy” (Friess