9:00 AM - 10:15 AM
Session B:
Digital Democracy - Voting, Polling and Public Opinion on the Net
One day soon, all voting will take place on the Net or at the least, an election will be determined by activities on the Internet. Whether it’s in the form of “direct democracy,” the effect of online fund raising, instant polling or the ever increasing influence of “politically active” groups who find new and innovative ways of using the medium, direct action politics has found a home on the Information Superhighway. The Internet not only gives power to the politically organized, it also empowers the voice of the individual. In the future anything is possible. If a third party is ever to take root, the Internet is bound to play a huge part it the effort. In this session, Digital Hollywood is proud to bring together the organizations who are taking the lead in the movement toward digital democracy.
Carin Dessauer, Executive Editor, allpolitics.com
Joe Mohen, CEO, election.com
Kurt Ehrenberg, Managing Editor, Politics.com
Dave Girouard, VP & GM, Virage Interactive
Sam Hollander, Executive Producer, PseudoPolitics.com
Marc Chalom, Vice President Programming, EXBTV.com
Justin Dangle, CEO, Voter.com
James Ledbetter, New York Bureau Chief, The Industry Standard, Moderator
Additional speaker to be announced
Carin Dessauer, Executive Editor, Washington, D.C., and Election Director, CNN Interactive. As executive editor, Dessauer is the primary liaison between CNN Interactive and CNN Washington, D.C., for all news coverage matters. This includes overseeing the production of original content and supervising the Washington, D.C.-based staff. Dessauer also acts as the main events planner for Washington, D.C.-based and other special events and is a member of the senior editorial planing and strategic team for CNN Interactive. As CNN election director, Dessauer is responsible for the integration of daily online and television coverage of national political campaigns and oversees election coverage for CNN Interactive. Dessauer conceived the "First Online" 2000 presidential interview series, a succession of online chats at CNN’s AllPolitics.com of all announced major party presidential contenders. Dessauer also acts as the principal liaison between CNN.com and political content partners and serves as the main liaison to the Washington, D.C. political community. Dessauer was named election director in 1998. Dessauer was previously CNN’s deputy political director, responsible for coordinating CNN’s political coverage. She served as CNN’s main liaison and off-air reporter to the political community and wrote, reported, produced and broke news for CNN’s political coverage on Inside Politics and other CNN news programs. She also oversaw CNN’s background political content and served as a manager of the political coverage team. Dessauer was part of the original four-person AllPolitics board (two executives from CNN and two executives from TIME) to which the site’s executive producer originally reported. Earlier, Dessauer was the network’s associate political director. In this capacity, as part of CNN’s original dedicated political team, she was instrumental in shaping the network’s political coverage. Dessauer has interviewed numerous political leaders, including President Bill Clinton and Vice President Al Gore. Before joining CNN in 1990, Dessauer was a contributing editor to Campaigns and Elections. She was associate editor for Congressional Quarterly’s 1990 "Politics in America" and one of two off-air reporters for ABC News political director Hal Bruno, covering the 1988 presidential and other election contests. Dessauer began her political journalism career as a reporter covering congressional campaigns for The Rothenberg Political Report. She has been included in Who’s Who of American Women, Who’s Who of Emerging Leaders and Who’s Who in the World. Dessauer received her undergraduate degree from Bucknell University as a member of the liberal arts honor society Phi Beta Kappa.
Dave Girouard, Vice President & General Manager of Virage Interactive: Dave Girouard has overseen the delivery of Campaign 2000 a service created by C-SPAN and Virage to allow users to search from archives of unedited C-SPAN footage of the 2000 U.S. Presidential campaign race, changing the way Americans follow and practice politics. Other sites using Campaign 2000 include top news sites like the Washington Post and the Associated Press. Prior to campaign 2000, Girouard oversaw the searchable, online release of President Clinton's deposition on Altavista. Within hours of going live, over half a million users logged onto the site, using the President’s and prosecutor’s own words to find and play back only the segments of video testimony of interest to them. The Red Herring, San Francisco Chronicle and Wired News described the convergence of the President’s testimony with the breakthrough video search technology as a “watershed event” for the Internet. Girouard came to Virage from Apple Computer's Worldwide Product Marketing organization. Girouard holds a Bachelor of Arts in Engineering Sciences and a Bachelor of Engineering from Dartmouth College. He also holds an MBA from the University of Michigan.
Kurt Ehrenberg, Managing Editor, Politics.com: A self-described "political junkie"
with a journalist's heart, Kurt designed and built PoliticalJunkie.com (now part of Politics.com), which has since become a popular source for political news and opinion as well as a portal to other political Web sites. For over 20 years, he worked as a consultant to political organizations and candidates, primarily in New Hampshire. His campaign experience spans races for both Democrats and Republicans running for U.S. senator, governor, state senate and mayor. Throughout his career, he gained expertise in issues management by working for organizations that include the Energy America Education Fund, the NH Consumers Utility Cooperative, the Institute for Cooperative Community and the Campaign for Ratepayers' Rights.Sam Hollander, Executive Producer, PseudoPolitics.com: Sam Hollander joined Pseudo Programs as Executive Producer, PseudoPolitics.com in November, 1999. Hollander's experience in television production, law and politics prepared him to take political coverage to the Internet. He served as Producer for Court TV, CBS News and ABC's World News Tonight, Turning Point and 20/20. A JD/MBA from Columbia University, Hollander professional career began at the Wall Street law firm Sullivan & Cromwell. In 1991, Hollander joined the Clinton-Gore campaign, serving as New Jersey Press Secretary and as a National Advance Staffer.