Kinder unveils new high-tech campaign site

Lt. Gov. Peter Kinder wants to do something new for his re-election campaign. The Cape Girardeau Republican, first elected in 2004, is establishing a Web site that will feature a blog, a town-hall type forum area and Kinder providing video answers to questions submitted by users.

Too many Web sites set up by politicians are little more than "glossy, online brochures" providing one-way communication from the candidate to the voter, Kinder said. "What I want to do is conduct and set up and be part of an ongoing discussion that is not me talking at the people but Missourians engaging in a dialogue."

Kinder announced his new effort to promote his political campaign during a conference call.

The site, www.TeamKinder.com, is being set up by David All, a consultant from Washington, D.C., at a cost of $11,500.

In addition to maintaining an interactive Web site, Kinder said his video responses to questions posed by voters will be posted on YouTube, the video-sharing website, and he will also begin using popular social networking sites, such as MySpace, Facebook and Twitter. Kinder acknowledged that much of what is being done for his campaign in cyberspace is new to him.

"As far as I know, I am the first statewide elected official to use Twitter," Kinder said. "And sometime in the near future, I am going to have to find out what Twitter is."

Twitter is a Web site that allows the user to follow a string of comments from various people detailing their daily activities.

rkeller@semissourian.com

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