By Claudia Rahola
LOS ANGELES (AFP) - The big four U.S. TV networks may be shying away from the Democratic National Convention, but the upstart Internet industry is breaking down the doors to get in.
For the first time, the Democrats have been at pains to design and wire their convention headquarters, the modern Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, to enable millions of web surfers worldwide to follow the event online from the comfort of their homes, minus the TV commercials and uninvited talking heads.
"This is the first e-convention ever," said Lindsey Berman, the youthful organizer of facilities for the 60 dot.coms who have set out their stalls at the convention, which runs from Monday through Thursday.
Berman said demand from the dot.coms for a place at the convention was so strong the Democrats had to double the space originally allocated for such heavy-hitters as AOL.com, ABC.com and CNN.com.
The party is hoping online coverage will have more success than the Republicans enjoyed at their convention two weeks ago in Philadelphia when online coverage was a flop, according to one study.
Americans had almost no interest in experiencing the Republican convention over the Internet, concluded a study released Sunday by the Vanishing Voter Project, a research group at Harvard University.
"There's much criticism about the Republican convention being scripted and a little too much about a pageant, more so than anything of substance, and I think being able to be online allows you to kind of skip through what you don't want to see and to find important issues," said Andy Hoefer, 22, covering the convention for Internet firm Politics Online.
Online interactive convention coverage allows political junkies or the simply curious to follow events in real time and to get behind the scenes, questioning guest speakers and delegates and joining in some of the festivities planned during the four-day convention.
The number of Internet organizations accredited to the convention stands at 120, up from only six four years ago. "Up until now, American politicians ran their campaigns through TV and radio. What the Internet really allows the candidates is to communicate more effectively with people that share their ideas," said Douglas Boxer, spokesman for Voter.com, the most successful U.S. political Internet site.
In additional to providing a link to voters, politicians from both parties view the Internet as a tool to stir up the youth vote, the 18-24-year-olds who experts say are most likely to go online, but least likely to vote.
The Internet is no complete answer to youthful apathy, says Boxer, but it will help. "The candidates have to speak more effectively (to the youth) but with the Internet they can communicate more effectively," he said.
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