Oregon Public Broadcasting

Next spring's Oregon primary is still more than six months away. But that hasn't stopped some office-seekers from getting started with their campaigns.

Many Oregon candidates are taking a cue from President Obama by turning to online social media sites to spread their message. Salem Correspondent Chris Lehman has more.

John Kitzhaber entered the race for governor less than two weeks ago. The Democrat now has nearly 8000 supporters on Facebook.

In contrast, Republican Allen Alley has been on the campaign trail for months. And he has fewer than 800 Facebook supporters.

But what does it mean? After all, as a former governor Kitzhaber enjoys widespread name recognition while Alley has never held elected office.

Ravi Singh: “Politics is still a game of perception.”

Ravi Singh is the CEO of ElectionMall.com, a website that helps candidates spread their messages online. He says it would be a mistake for a candidate to assume that a big online following will translate into votes.

Ravi Singh: “In the early days this could be very valuable. But whether or not a campaign is smart enough to convert those supporters to come out on election day, that is yet to be determined.”

And some of those Facebook fans may not even live in Oregon. But that wouldn't stop them from contributing cash, which is another way politicians can benefit from a robust online following.