Lt. Gov. Candidate to Launch Race on the Internet

Forget the streamers and campaign chants. Don’t expect doughnuts, beaming supporters and a brass band.

When Brooks Firestone declares his candidacy for lieutenant governor this week, all will be quiet--save for the tap of fingers on a computer keyboard. Hidden away in a conference room, flanked by a few hotshot technicians, Firestone will announce on the Net.

In what backers call a California first, the Republican assemblyman from Santa Barbara County is shunning political traditions and going online to launch his first run for statewide office.

On Wednesday, at the Westwood headquarters of an interactive computer company, Firestone will play host to a virtual news conference with any reporter who cares to join in. Those who are technologically deprived may visit a satellite center equipped with computers and Firestone family members eager to assist.

Firestone aides say they turned to cyberspace to jazz up the often-stale campaign process and showcase their candidate’s interests in technology.

“We were trying to be innovative,” said a campaign source who asked not to be identified. “We hope it energizes younger people--who might not be that excited by the political process--as well as the whole online community.”

How the online community will react remains to be seen. But a few in the political community were quick to take shots.

“I guess if you have nothing substantive to say, it’s a cute idea,” said Bob Mulholland, political director for the state Democratic Party. “But it’s a zero-impact kind of thing.”

A spokesman for state Sen. Tim Leslie (R-Carnelian Bay), who is also running for lieutenant governor, agreed, calling the move a stunt and urging Firestone to “come out from behind the computer screen” and explain several controversial votes.

Others, however, praised the idea as creative, while cautioning that Firestone would have to leave the keyboard to attract votes.

“Image-wise, it positions him as a candidate of the future--and that’s good,” said Ray McNally, a Republican political consultant with no ties to Firestone. “But now he’s got to get out there and press the flesh. Because ultimately, people want to meet their politicians.”

Firestone, 60, is a two-term assemblyman from Los Olivos, where he owns a family winery. An heir to the Firestone tire fortune, he is considered a moderate Republican who tends to vote for environmental protection and supports abortion rights.

His Internet announcement is sparked in part by Proposition 208, which was passed by California voters last fall and set tough spending limits for candidates, forcing them to find novel ways to spread their message.

“The game is much different now and cyberspace is going to be vital to our success,” the Firestone campaign official said. “Take e-mail, for example. We can do instant communication with tens of thousands of people simply by hitting a button--and it’s basically free.”

Beginning Wednesday, Firestone will have his own Web page, offering oodles of propaganda about his life, family and politics. He will also engage in cyberstumping, holding interactive “Firestone Chats,” a spinoff of the beloved fireside chats held by President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.

He is not the first politician to play in cyberspace. Numerous lawmakers and candidates have Web pages, and Lamar Alexander even talked about his 1996 candidacy for president on America Online.

Wednesday’s formal announcement takes the technology a step further. According to officials at BoxTop Interactive, the company coordinating the event, journalists will be armed with a password allowing them access to a chat room.

Once in, they will fire off questions--which will be fed to Firestone by a “facilitator”--and await the candidate’s response. The pace of the event will no doubt be dictated by Firestone’s typing speed, which is said to be brisk.

Although the format might sound more civilized than the testy bellowing that characterizes many news conferences, it will inevitably deprive the news media of a useful window on the candidate--his flesh and bones.

Is there a glisten of sweat on the candidate’s brow? Is his suit rumpled or neatly pressed? What do his body language and expressions suggest? Isolated at their work stations, journalists simply won’t be able to tell.

Samuel Popkin, a political scientist at UC San Diego, cited another shortcoming, that the format limits the “collective interchange” with and among reporters.

“Instead of a symphony,” he said, “what you get are a lot of duets.”

But Popkin also called the idea “a refreshing throwback.” How unusual, he said, “to have a candidate in this day who prefers the written word to the spoken word or the picture.”