Code Politics, Ontario Election 2007: Weekly Research for Week Ending Sept. 28, 2007

Campaign Websites

The PCs have uploaded an almost exact impersonation of Premier McGuinty’s campaign website www.dalton.ca. The Ontario PC-registered website www.daltonmcguinty.ca (also promoted on the “McGuinty’s REAL record” Facebook group) mirrors the exact formatting of the Premier’s site, right down the Liberal leader’s signature. The PC site however offers a series of critiques and rebukes of McGuinty’s record along the lines of the Liberal’s internet war room www.torytube.ca. This tactic, referred to as “cybersquatting,” has been controversial in the United States where courts have ruled in favour of public figures, celebrities and corporations seeking ownership of internet addresses that use their formal names. See http://www.internetlibrary.com/topics/domain_name.cfm for a list of high-profile disputes related to cybersquatting in the U.S., or http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/1682/159 for a discussion of how such strategic campaign tactics have entered into Canadian politics at the federal level in the past.

Other examples of current political cybersquatting include http://www.ontarioliberals.ca/ which in opposition to its name is an obvious critique of McGuinty’s record. The site is registered by Cam Guthrie, a Guelph area Progressive Conservative campaign manager.

Facebook

Overall the top groups have remained fairly static without major changes in ordering or membership. Instead we see gradual increases in already established groups. Vote for MMP continues its steady increase in membership with over 600 new members this week. The Green Party of Ontario continues to grow as well and is the most popular of direct party groups on Facebook.

This week saw the launch of the “Environment Matters to Ontario Voters” group on Facebook. Launched midweek, this group has quickly accumulated 209 members, making it one of the biggest movers on our chart. The group was founded by a coalition of thirteen major environmentalist organizations and is dedicated to prioritizing green issues in Ontario.

[1]Top Ten Facebook Groups by Membership for Ontario Election for September 21, 2007: Click the chart to see it in a full-size window [2]Largest Gains in Group Membership on Facebook for Ontario Election, September 28, 2007: Click the chart to see it in a full-size window

YouTube

Both PC and Liberal videobloggers and campaigns highlighted voters confronting the leaders this past week, though the video showing John Tory getting an earful from an elderly voter was the only one that received significant views (1680 views over the past week).

The Grit’s war room continues to successfully spread anti-PC videos across the net (and the mass media). Four of the top five most watched videos on John Tory this past week were uploaded by www.torytube.ca.

Also, a significant new trend has emerged across the web: the most watched this past week uses a lengthy radio interview to critique Dalton McGuinty’s record on health and funding for cancer patients [3]. The Liberal campaign also included a press release that featured a talk show transcript to highlight John Tory’s position on the outspoken PC candidate Randy Hillier. Through such tactics we see the impact of unscripted talk in an otherwise highly-managed campaign.

John Tory

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
The story of an Ottawa Cancer Patient & Liberal Jim Watson [3]	September 19, 2007	1848	Blogger Network	Positive
Voter scolds John Tory over private religious school funding [4]	September 25, 2007	1680	Liberal	Negative
John Tory: A Week in Review (From the Diary of John Tory) [5]	September 23, 2007	1331	Liberal	Negative
Curtain Call for PC Privatization [6]	September 25, 2007	968	Liberal	Negative
Covertcat submits Ontario election debate Question [7]	September 20, 2007	858	Unknown	Neutral

Dalton Mcguinty

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
The story of an Ottawa Cancer Patient & Liberal Jim Watson [3]	September 19, 2007	1848	Blogger Network	Negative
Dalton McGuinty's Broken Promise Commercial [8]	September 21, 2007	1124	Unknown	Negative
Dalton McGuinty Music Mix [9]	August 28, 2007	596	Conservative	Negative
Sticky Notes [10]	September 7, 2007	570	NDP	Negative
Debate win goes to Tory [11]	September 20, 2007	423	Conservative	Negative

Howard Hampton

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
Hampton Gets NDP Eyes Rolling [12]	September 20, 2007	764	Liberal	Negative
Sticky Notes [10]	September 7, 2007	570	NDP	Positive
Priorities [13]	July 3, 2007	310	NDP	Positive
Get Orange [14]	January 26, 2007	276	NDP	Positive
Howard Hampton introduction video [15]	January 27, 2007	258	NDP	Positive

Ontario Election

Title	Upload Date	Views Last Week	Affiliation	Tone
Green/Grey Promises [16]	September 22, 2007	1364	Green	Positive
Green/Grey Education [17]	September 13, 2007	1067	Green	Positive
Ontario Debate: Education [18]	September 20, 2007	941	Unknown	Neutral
Green/Grey Health Care [19]	September 22, 2007	921	Green	Positive
Let Frank In [20]	September 4, 2007	677	Green	Positive

Daily Views for Official Party Accounts

Daily Views for Unofficial Party Accounts

Blogs

John Tory continues to dominate discussions in the blogosphere, with the top issue being funding for the Catholic school board.

Top Five Blogosphere Issues for “Ontario Election”

1. catholic schools
2. the debate
3. faith-based schools
4. MMP
5. poverty

[21]Leaders Names in the Blogosphere for Sept. 28, 2007: Click the chart to see it in a full-size window