Who Has More Friends on MySpace? Be sure to check before you vote!

With the primary election only a few days away, I have made all my selections for statewide office. I’ve decided to support Phil Angelides for Governor and I was hoping to share with my California readers why I chose him through this blog. Conducting some last minute research on Google, I was surprised to come across an Angelides’ website on MySpace. Now, I can’t claim to know much about MySpace, other than it is the most popular place for my middle school students to hang out with friends, and that my sister is fairly addicted and reports to me daily about new friends she’s found on the site.

On Angelides’ MySpace site there are all sorts of information, stuff like Phil’s a Gemini and proud parent and that he is interested in networking and making new friends. He has 1388 friends already and his top eight are all younger than me. His friends are exceptionally supportive, like Joey for instance, who sends messages like: “hey phil i went to your tight party at the democratic convention. I had a great time and like the greek dancers they were cool. i also had a nice talk with your oldest daughter and she is cool. she is really supportive of you in just the way she talks. i went to steve’s party too but it wasn’t as good. how can you run the great state of california and not throw a good party? you can’t. you are going to win phil you have my vote. and thank you for supporting my grandmother sharon berry for congress on the 22 district. see you later phil take care.”

After I called my sister to tell her she absolutely had to ask Phil to be her friend, I couldn’t resist looking to see if Steve Westly had a MySpace website, too. Sure enough, he does. Westly has fewer friends than Angelides, (only 198) and also shares the basics like he is married, a proud parent, and a Virgo, as well as relevant information for voters like he’s straight. Westly’s top eight friends are also young and supportive. I was surprised to find Jon Garamendi, our Insurance Commissioner who is running for Lieutenant Governor. Even though I am voting for State Senator Jackie Speier for Lieutenant Governor, I couldn’t resist a peek to see who Garamendi’s friends are. Like Westly, he shares that he is straight and of his 64 friends, he includes Barak Obama, Nancy Pelosi, and Jon Stewart. This is what I call MySpace good! 

I had to stop and sing when Nancy Pelosi’s MySpace website greeted me with Scott McKenzie singing San Francisco (Be Sure to Wear Flowers in Your Hair.) Beside a lineup of big name friends, including Russ Feingold and Hilary Clinton, she had messages from fans like David, from Lake Forest, Washington, who tells her she’s the only one with balls in Washington. (Poor David must have slept through her performance last month on Meet the Press. Not only does Nancy not have real cajones, she is without metaphorical ones too!)

It was no surprise to discover that Senator Barak Obama, who is clearly the most popular friend on all the websites I’ve visited, has a whopping 4883 friends and, unlike Westly, Garamendi, or Pelosi, he doesn’t include any of them in his top eight. Instead, he has friends like Maya, a Harvard student sporting a bare midriff and a white baby tee that says “John Edwards is hot” across her chest. His top eight also includes a 14 year-old named Erin whose tag line says, “I’m awesome, tell your friends.”

So, I guess you are on your own next Tuesday when deciding who to vote for. My words of advice—ignore the negative campaigning and stick to the candidate’s record. Most importantly, forget everything I’ve just told you about and pray that the Democrats have something better up their sleeve than getting popular on MySpace!

Comments

[Gianna De Persiis Vona]

Kate: Your article on the upcoming election and myspace is both informative and hilarious! Thanks for helping me slog through the voting quagmire and for writing so well. I am so impressed.

Yours,

G

[sarah mac]

you are so hilarious! but i have news for you. unfortunately at this point in our lives, the large majority of myspacers ARE younger than us. and they probably don't vote and even if they do, they probably just color in the bubbles to make pretty pictures. hmmmm.

[Nicole]

Honnestly, my cat. And he is very happy to know he has more friends than Westly, as I voted for Angelides. Figaro has over 340 cat-friends (okay 3/4 are people, and my friends.) I created a cat-profile to spoof myspace as well as get my poetry out there. And, I must say, for musicians and poets, myspace isn't a bad networking device. I keep telling my husband that he should get a profile for his music, but he refuses, says there is nothing wrong with a simple website. Eh, perhaps he is right.
Democrats and myspace, silly, or smart? I could see if they were utilizing them to illustrate clear stances or plans on the issues they normally skirt- ie what to do in Iraq, and how, foreign and economic policy, gay marriage, etc.- however it appears that their myspace profiles are nothing more than a superficial publicity stunt, further illustrating why we aren't getting anywhere! Ack!

[Nicole]

Ok, I take back what I said here about Democrats on myspace!! The Democratic Party myspace page is wonderfully detailed!! And though I still think Pelosi has a rather superficial profile, the groups she belongs to say much: Stop Dafur Genocide, Food Not Bombs, etc.

Nicole the knee-jerk reactionary?