The Election 2006 Republican Googlebomb

by John Hawkins | October 23, 2006 9:37 am

Last night, I learned that Chris Bowers over at MyDD[1] has been organizing a Googlebomb campaign for the 2006 election.

Now normally, I think Googlebombs are kind of dumb. One of the most famous Googlebombs involved making George Bush’s name come up under the words “miserable failure.”[2] My reaction to that was, “Cute, but so what?”

However, believe it or not, in this case, a Googlebomb could actually have an impact. Think about it. Who would be doing a Google Search on a particular candidate in the final days of a campaign? Probably an independent voter who is trying to get more information about a candidate. And, if the first article he runs across is a brutal hit piece, well, that could be the information that helps him make up his mind.

Would it play out that way in every case? No, but in big districts, if there’s particularly damaging information out there, a Googlebomb could have the potential to sway hundreds of voters.

So, what’s to be done? Well, in my opinion, we should simply fight fire with fire. That’s why I put together a list of key races for Republican blogs to Googlebomb. How do you do that? Simply view source, grab the HTML below, and post it on your blog or in a forum that you frequent. Then, once Google picks it up, the links on these candidates should rocket up charts and help even the playing field for the GOP in the key races.

Senate

Connecticut: Ned Lamont[3]
Maryland: Ben Cardin[4]
Michigan: Debbie Stanbenow[5]
Missouri: Claire McCaskill[6]
Montana: Jon Tester[7]
New Jersey: Bob Menendez[8]
Tennessee: Harold Ford[9]
Virginia: James Webb[10]

Democrat Held Seats

(CO-03): John Salazar[11]
(GA-03): Jim Marshall[12]
(GA-12): John Barrow[13]
(IA-03): Leonard Boswell[14]
(IL-08): Melissa Bean[15]
(IL-17): Phil Hare[16]
(IN-07): Julia Carson[17]
(NC-13): Brad Miller[18]
(PA-12): John Murtha[19]
(WV-01): Alan Mollohan[20]

Republican Held Seats

(AZ-08): Gabrielle Giffords[21]
(CT-04): Diane Farrell[22]
(CT-05): Chris Murphy[23]
(CO-07): Ed Perlmutter[24]
(IA-01): Bruce Braley[25]
(IL-06): Tammy Duckworth[26]
(IN-02): Joe Donnelly[27]
(IN-08): Brad Ellsworth[28]
(IN-09): Baron Hill[29]
(FL-13): Christine Jennings[30]
(FL-16): Tim Mahoney[31]
(FL-22): Ron Klein[32]
(KY-03): John Yarmuth[33]
(NC-01): Heath Shuler[34]
(MN-06): Patty Wetterling[35]
(NM-01): Patricia Madrid[36]
(NY-20): Kirsten Gillibrand[37]
(NY-24): Michael Arcuri[38]
(NY-26): Jack Davis[39]
(OH-15): Mary Jo Kilroy [40]
(OH-18): Zack Space[41]
(PA-06): Lois Murphy[42]
(PA-08): Patrick Murphy[43]
(PA-07): Joe Sestak[44]
(PA-10): Chris Carney[45]
(VA-02): Phil Kellam[46]
(WI-08): Steve Kagen[47]

Update #1: As an aside, while I was researching articles for this Googlebomb, I noticed something interesting: most Republican candidates, for whatever reason, already had at least one negative article up on the front page of Google. On the other hand, again, for whatever reason, it was not unusual for me to go 3 or 4 pages deep into some of these Democratic candidates without finding a single, negative, article about them. So, ironically, we may have a good opportunity to make a much bigger impact than the liberal bloggers with this Googlebomb. We’ll see.

Endnotes:
  1. MyDD: http://mydd.com/story/2006/10/22/212217/05#readmore
  2. “miserable failure.”: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/3298443.stm
  3. Ned Lamont: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/08/02/AR2006080201655.html
  4. Ben Cardin: http://blogs.washingtontimes.com/insiderpolitics/?p=614
  5. Debbie Stanbenow: http://youtube.com/watch?v=tZ9xfiqwyvc
  6. Claire McCaskill: http://www.thehill.com/thehill/export/TheHill/News/Frontpage/072706/ethics.html
  7. Jon Tester: http://www.helenair.com/articles/2006/09/28/montana/a08092806_04.txt
  8. Bob Menendez: http://www.philly.com/mld/inquirer/news/local/15624888.htm
  9. Harold Ford: http://youtube.com/watch?v=7h5MZMpXgWI
  10. James Webb: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/archives/week_2006_10_15.PHP#006620
  11. John Salazar: http://breakingnews.redstate.com/blogs/colorado_cd_3/2006/sep/25/rep_john_salazar_d_co_employs_islamist_extremist
  12. Jim Marshall: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Qtv96piDIds
  13. John Barrow: http://new.savannahnow.com/node/158044
  14. Leonard Boswell: http://www.radioiowa.com/gestalt/go.cfm?objectid=374DEEF2-6775-46ED-83B29D7DF092C215
  15. Melissa Bean: https://rightwingnews1.wpenginepowered.com/archives/week_2006_08_20.PHP#006292
  16. Phil Hare: http://zingaforcongress.blogspot.com/2006/10/zinga-earns-peoria-journal-star.html
  17. Julia Carson: http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20061020/COLUMNISTS19/610200417/-1/ZONES04
  18. Brad Miller: http://www.yesweekly.com/main.asp?SectionID=49&SubSectionID=223&ArticleID=1739&TM=4430
  19. John Murtha: http://www.washtimes.com/op-ed/20060620-083859-8753r.htm
  20. Alan Mollohan: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,218581,00.html
  21. Gabrielle Giffords: http://youtube.com/watch?v=X8cK3NGaf1Q
  22. Diane Farrell: http://www.shaysforcongress.org/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=18476
  23. Chris Murphy: http://www.factcheck.org/article451.html
  24. Ed Perlmutter: http://www.rickodonnell.com/camprel092606taxspend.html
  25. Bruce Braley: http://iowasfirst.blogspot.com/2006/05/i-think-unfortunately-mr-braley-may.html
  26. Tammy Duckworth: http://youtube.com/watch?v=Xtwu04PyFjs
  27. Joe Donnelly: http://www.chocolaforcongress.com/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=18519
  28. Brad Ellsworth: http://www.courierpress.com/news/2006/oct/15/prosecutor-ellsworth-spar/
  29. Baron Hill: http://youtube.com/watch?v=RlywPpoeS_k
  30. Christine Jennings: http://www.vernbuchananforcongress.com/news/Read.aspx?ID=54
  31. Tim Mahoney: http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/15776039.htm
  32. Ron Klein: http://www.bocaratonnews.com/index.php?src=news&prid=17422&category=Local%20News
  33. John Yarmuth: http://www.northupforcongress.com/2006/10/19/click-here-to-watch-our-latest-television-ad-hypocrisy/
  34. Heath Shuler: http://www.taylorforcongress.com/news/news_item.2006-10-02.6773768489
  35. Patty Wetterling: http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/15782120.htm
  36. Patricia Madrid: http://youtube.com/watch?v=p5AJYcA5XzE&mode=related&search=
  37. Kirsten Gillibrand: http://www.sweeneyforcongress2006.com/News/DocumentSingle.aspx?DocumentID=18416
  38. Michael Arcuri: http://youtube.com/watch?v=lL8JzPMhLGE
  39. Jack Davis: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jack_Davis_(industrialist)
  40. Mary Jo Kilroy : http://www.worldmagblog.com/blog/archives/026885.html
  41. Zack Space: http://www.noagenda.org/2006/04/zack_space_breaks_ethics_pledge.php
  42. Lois Murphy: http://www.webcommentary.com/asp/ShowArticle.asp?id=phyrillast&date=060929
  43. Patrick Murphy: http://youtube.com/watch?v=NId_e1oOPy4
  44. Joe Sestak: http://www.curtweldon.org/newsandpress/view_article.cfm?ID=148
  45. Chris Carney: http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=17337250&BRD=2259&PAG=461&dept_id=455154&rfi=6
  46. Phil Kellam: http://content.hamptonroads.com/story.cfm?story=111831&ran=245190&tref=po
  47. Steve Kagen: http://youtube.com/watch?v=hxIbJxC4Bxw

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