Party faithful click picks in online poll on Senate race

The Southeast Missourian's online poll on the U.S. Senate race in Missouri garnered 2,688 responses as Internet users, urged on by e-mails from the state's Democratic and Republican parties, clicked their picks during the weeklong survey that ended Monday.

It was the largest response to the weekly online polls since the newspaper began keeping records of its semissourian.com polls, starting on Nov. 13, 2000. It far exceeded any of this year's polls. The previous high response this year was 513 votes on a poll that centered on the Enron scandal the week of Feb. 4 .

Republican Jim Talent won the latest poll, garnering 1,381 votes or 51 percent to 1,255 votes or 47 percent for Democratic incumbent Jean Carnahan. The remaining 2 percent was divided equally between "other" and "undecided."

But few votes were cast until the state's two main parties got involved.

The online poll began on March 11. By midnight Wednesday only 262 votes had been cast in the unscientific poll.

But more than 1,000 votes were cast on Thursday and 788 votes on Friday as party e-mails started getting out the vote.

On Thursday, Carnahan garnered 644 to 385 for Talent. On Friday, the trend reversed, with Talent receiving 457 votes to 298 for Carnahan.

Democratic Party officials said they sent out an e-mail on Thursday encouraging supporters to vote for Carnahan. The Missouri Republican Party responded with an e-mail message of its own.

State Democratic Party officials wouldn't say how many people they e-mailed.

"We just sent it to a few friends," said Nancy Tully, spokeswoman for the Missouri Democratic Party, on Monday. "It was not that big a deal."

The Missouri Republican Party e-mailed several thousand supporters after party officials saw the Democrats' e-mail.

From east and west

Some of the votes were cast from as far away as Washington, D.C., and Olympia, Wash., based on e-mailed comments received at the newspaper in conjunction with the poll. Other comments came from the Kansas City and St. Louis areas.

Scott Baker, state GOP spokesman, said the actions of both parties was "a bit frivolous."

Still, Baker said the Republican Party felt it needed to respond to the Democratic Party's effort to get out the votes. "You don't want to give them the opportunity to make hay out of it," he said.

Diane Diebold, Cape Girardeau County collector, said she received two e-mails and a phone call from Republican acquaintances urging her to vote online. None was from the state party office, she said.

Diebold already had voted online, but sent e-mails to seven or eight people urging them to vote.

Diebold said she didn't vote more than once, but it is possible to do so with modem connections by logging off the Internet and then logging back on. It's also possible to vote multiple times by using a different computer each time.

Southeast Missourian officials say there's no way to know if someone voted more than once.

Joe Sullivan, Southeast Missourian editor, said the online poll isn't scientific.

"This is not a serious poll," he said. "Obviously, this was one where both major political parties got involved."

Downplayed results

Party operatives and officials with both campaigns downplayed the poll.

Rich Chrismer, Talent's spokesman, said it offers party supporters a chance to get involved. "It is fun, but not scientific," he said.

Dan Leistikow, Carnahan's spokesman, agreed. "Nobody sees the results of this poll as having any particular significance."

But David Barklage, a political consultant in Cape Girardeau with ties to the GOP, said political campaigns pay attention to all polls and surveys, even online polls.

"Every campaign is going to take any kind of public survey, poll or endorsement and they are going to spin it to show why they can win," he said.

mbliss@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 123