Spencer Bachus Web-Style

Spencer Bachus (AL – 6) Web Style

Gulati Home Page Webstyle

            Spencer Bachus

·      Bachus.house.gov – Mixed of national and local

·      Spencerbachus.com – Neutral

Richard Shelby (Alabama Senator)

·      Shelby.senate.gov – Mixed of national and local

Jeff Sessions (Alabama Senator)

·      Sessions.senate.gov - Local

Congressman Bachus’ official house website definitely falls into the mixed category according to Gulati’s article.  On the top left are: a picture of a plantation-style home and the official seal of Alabama.  Flanking the title, on the right, is a picture of Spencer himself super-imposed over The Capital building.  The rest of the main page includes links to many of Bachus’ issue positions and a widget that allows the user to view a Google map of the boundaries to Alabama’s 6^th district.  A moving slideshow dominates the main page, which includes photos and links involving Spencer Bachus' activities. These photos are a mix of both DC images and local images.  A menu near the top of the page does provide a list of constituency services under the heading “Helping You”.  Bachus is neither portraying himself as an insider or an outsider with this webpage.

      Bachus does not have an obvious personal website.  His Twitter account only lists bachus.house.gov in the links section.  The only other website I was able to find, that was not overtly run by a PAC, was www.spencerbachus.com.  Although this is a re-election website, it appears, at least at first glance, to be run by Bachus’ campaign manager.  This website falls strictly under Gulati’s neutral imagery category.  The only images are a picture of Spencer dressed in business-casual attire set to a backdrop of the American flag.   The links from the main page all appeared to be efforts to either elicit help with the campaign or to increase re-election constituency support.  For example, several articles were about endorsements won by Bachus and at least one was an article stating that a judge did not believe Bachus violated any laws concerning his ongoing insider trading investigation.

Both of Bachus' websites take a very neutral stance on the insider/outsider continuum.  Additionally, both websites are not dominated by the red Republican colors that one might suspect for a congressman that represents an exceptionally conservative district.  This trend of neutrality seems to be consistent with Alabama Senator Richard Shelby.  Shelby’s Senate webpage has a large Alabama state flag as his background, but at the same time the foreground shows a picture, stamped with the seal of the United States, of Shelby sitting inside The Capital building.  Jeff Sessions’ website however, is very skewed towards local/state “outsider” imagery.  The masthead includes a massive picture of what I am assuming is the USS Alabama.  The first link on his navigation bar is to “Constituent Services”, and the only other major images are Sessions posing with some construction workers and the seal of Alabama.  Session’s official site, unlike the other two Republicans Bachus and Shelby, is dominated by a red color scheme.  Interestingly, Sessions is the only one of the three whose Twitter avatar is not a portrait.  It is instead what appears to be his Senate seat, which would qualify as an “insider” image.

In conclusion, representatives of Alabama generally seem to prefer a balance between outsider and insider imagery.  Gulati’s findings seemed to suggest that Republicans do not favor insider or outsider, so these websites are consistent with that finding.  Bachus is doing a good job emulating Alabama’s Senators, should his intention be to one day attempt to reach for the next level.