Politics as Usual? Facebook Fans, Advertising Budgets and the Familiarity of "New" Media

New media has often been touted as a total game changer when it comes to politics. Its low cost levels the playing field and its ubiquity allows people to explore all their options before deciding on a candidate. Granted, only the uninitiated would think that simply setting up a Twitter account would mean instant online visibility; the campaign has to be run with just as much care and attention on- and off-line. However, some new numbers from the gubernatorial race in Michigan might be a little disheartening to the “new media is revolutionizing politics” crowd: money talks, and Facebook-centric campaigns appear to be just as susceptible to this unfortunate adage as their TV- and print-based counterparts.