Election 2006: The Google Bomb

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I'm sure many of us have already seen this over at DailyKos, but for those who haven't...

Blogger Chris Bowers of MyDD.com has unleashed some html code that he hopes will help the Democrats win some extra seats in the midterm elections.

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/10/24/122153/98

Basically, it's a list of links to newspaper articles about scandals associated with a whole bunch of Republicans who are facing tough Democratic challengers. He's asking people to repost the code in their own blogs, on their MySpace and Flickr profiles, and anywhere else they can. It's supposed to work in the same way as the "miserable failure" Google bomb of 2003, you can read about that one here on Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Political_Google_bombs

I don't know much about how Google search results work, but can this really work with only two weeks to go before the election? And will it really make any difference if people searching for "Dennis Hastert" find a link to a story about his involvement in the Foley cover-up? Here's how the "bomb" appears when displayed on websites:

Jon Kyl Rick Renzi J.D. Hayworth John Doolittle Richard Pombo Brian Bilbray Marilyn Musgrave Doug Lamborn Rick O'Donnell Christopher Shays Vernon Buchanan Joe Negron Clay Shaw Bill Sali Peter Roskam Mark Kirk Dennis Hastert Chris Chocola John Hostettler Mike Whalen Jim Ryun Anne Northup Geoff Davis Michael Steele Gil Gutknecht Michele Bachmann Jim Talent Conrad Burns Jon Porter Charlie Bass Mike Ferguson Heathe r Wilson Peter King John Sweeney Tom Reynolds Randy Kuhl Robin Hayes Charles Taylor Steve Chabot Jean Schmidt Deborah Pryce Joy Padgett Melissa Hart Curt Weldon Mike Fitzpatrick Don Sherwood Linco ln Chafee Bob Corker George Allen Frank Wolf Mike McGavick Dave Reichert

― Hatch (Hatch), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 22:05 (nineteen years ago)

Glad to see the winning strategy from 2004 is back!

― milo z (mlp), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 22:39 (nineteen years ago)

if this works, people searching for mark foley who have never heard of the mark foley scandal will find the wikipedia article about the mark foley scandal!

― and what (ooo), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

Some these guys don't need Google bombs. Their names are already well toasted in Googlesearch. Take Richard Pombo, for instance.

It's also difficult to imagine how Curt Weldon could be made to look worse.

― Urnst Kouch (Urnst Kouch), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 22:41 (nineteen years ago)

I think it's a pretty decent idea. No one's claiming it's going to tip the scales by itself, but it helps. A surprising number of people go to the polls without paying much attention to the news - some of those people might sit at home or in the local library or whatever a couple days before election and decide to use "The Google" to get more info.

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 22:44 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=%22urnst+kouch%22

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 22:52 (nineteen years ago)

this gimmick will be on Snopes.com within a month.

― don weiner (don weiner), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 23:29 (nineteen years ago)

Don, have you never heard of Google bombs before?

― A-ron Hubbard (Hurting), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 23:31 (nineteen years ago)

Terrorists bombing the Google :o

see you in Gitmo!

― Moderation Request Line (fandango), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 23:46 (nineteen years ago)

seriously, will this work with myspace?

― Moderation Request Line (fandango), Tuesday, 24 October 2006 23:52 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not denying their existence. I'm denying their effectiveness.

― don weiner (don weiner), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:19 (nineteen years ago)

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=miserable+failure&btnG=Google+Search

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:25 (nineteen years ago)

I'm not denying their existence. I'm denying their effectiveness in the election.

― don weiner (don weiner), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:41 (nineteen years ago)

Well yeah but that's kinda hard for Snopes to prove innit

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:44 (nineteen years ago)

i do like the postmodern bit of googling where googling for a phrase turns up an article about googling for a phrase.

― kingfish prætor (kingfish 2.0), Wednesday, 25 October 2006 01:45 (nineteen years ago)

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