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Meg Whitman breaks new virtual ground Search

with Facebook ‘polling’ ads
JUL 28, 2010 16:19 EDT
CALIFORNIA CAMPAIGN | DEMOCRATS | FACEBOOK | GOVERNOR RACE | JERRY BROWN | MEG WHITMAN |
NOVEMBER ELECTION | POLLING ADS | REPUBLICANS | YOUNG VOTERS

In 2010 a candidate would be ill-advised to ignore the Internet, especially if he or she wants to
reach younger voters who aren’t paying attention to more traditional campaigns — or, even worse, Author Profile
are tuning out politics entirely.

And Republican Meg Whitman, the former eBay CEO who is running for California governor
against Democrat Jerry Brown, certainly isn’t the first candidate to advertise on Facebook in
hopes of tapping into its nearly 500 million users.

But Whitman’s campaign says she has become the first political candidate to use “polling ads” on
Facebook — or spots that engage users, asking them to decide which issues they want to hear
the candidate address.

Campaign spokeswoman Sarah Pompei says the first polling ad went live last night, popping up on » View Profile
the Facebook pages of Californians over 18 and asking them to choose one of three issues facing
California: creating jobs, cutting state spending or fixing education. Follow Front Row
When the votes are tallied in about a week, she said, Whitman will address it in a videotaped Washington
speech to the Facebook audience.
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“The Facebook ads play an important role in our strategy to build community support and engage RSS?)

younger voters in the campaign,” Pompei said. “We’re using these innovative campaign tools to
build the groundswell of support for Meg’s agenda, and this is just the latest example.” Tag Cloud
Whitman, a billionaire who is largely funding her own campaign and outspending Brown, has 2008 election 2008 elections 2010 election 2010 elections
already made an aggressive early push for Latino voters, making surprising inroads with a
traditionally Democratic constituency. Now it appears she’s going after another: young voters.
Afghanistan Barack Obama Bill
Clinton campaign climate change Congress Democratic
Party Democrats Denver Dick Cheney DNC economic
“Meg is targeting many different constituencies in California and younger voters are part of that,”
stimulus economy First Draft Front Row Washington
Pompei said. “The number one issue facing young voters, like a lot of Californians, is jobs, and
George W. Bush Harry Reid healthcare healthcare
Meg’s priority is getting them back to work.” reform Hillary Clinton House of Representatives Inside
the Tent Iraq Joe Biden John McCain media Michelle
Photo credit: Reuters/Lucy Nicholson (Meg Whitman speaks to supporters in June after winning
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the Republican primary) President Barack Obama Republican Republicans Robert
Gibbs Sarah Palin Senate Supreme Court U.S. economy
united states White House
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COMMENTS 2 COMMENTS SO FAR | COMMENTS RSS
Senator eyes bill to rein in for-profit
JUL 31, 2010 Well I can say that Meg is getting me to do something I swore I would never schools
12:02 AM EDT do after the whole Gray Davis debacle which is vote for a democrat. I could AUGUST 4, 2010
never in good conscious vote for someone that didn’t even bother to vote for
28 years. Someone that will give illegal immigrants privileges that most
Geithner blasts Bush policies for debt
AUGUST 4, 2010
Californian’s can’t even get. As for jobs get serious why would I trust
someone that outsourced jobs to another country when they ran Ebay. Oh not Petraeus clarifies rules on Afghan air
to mention the fact she has ZERO respect for the United States Constitution. strikes
AUGUST 4, 2010
Posted by KylaGWolf | Report as abusive
White House: no one owes BP's Hayward
an apology
AUG 3, 2010 [...] Meg Whitman’s campaign says the results are in from her innovative AUGUST 4, 2010
5:00 PM EDT Facebook “polling ads,” which asked Californians to choose the issue most House to end recess for states' aid vote
important to them. The message came back loud and [...] AUGUST 4, 2010

Posted by Meg Whitman’s Facebook ad nets 20,000 clicks — and a message

about jobs « Read NEWS | Report as abusive

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