An Oral History of the First Presidential Campaign Websites In 1996
As the 2016 presidential campaign heats up, Bernie Sanders has already run custom Snapchat ads promoting himself in Iowa. Ben Carson has been racking up Facebook fans. Hillary Clinton and Ted Cruz have each cranked out original ads just for YouTube. And, of course, during the last two elections, President Barack Obama was widely praised for his use of data in driving voters to the polls while raising millions via social media.
Digital campaigning has come a long way over the past two decades. Back in 1996, President Bill Clinton and Republican senator Bob Dole created the first presidential websites (which have been archived by the Museum of the Moving Image). CMO Today caught up with some of the key players behind those early efforts.