Primary Candidate Analysis, Part 1

Tomorrow is Primary Day. Two Republicans and four Democrats will face off to earn the right to represent their respective parties in this November’s mayoral election. The Republican candidates are party designee Otis Jennings and challenger Steve Kimatian. The Democrats are party designee Stephanie Miner and challengers Joe Nicoletti, Alfonso Davis and Carmen Harlow. I will be making several posts to this blog today analyzing and rating some key aspects of each campaign. First up: candidate websites.

Alfonso Davis (http://www.alfonsodavisformayor.com)

Alfonso Davis’ website is well done. The front page consists of a note to city residents, a picture of Alfonso, a nice video, buttons to contribute/volunteer, and links to several pages with detailed information about his vision for Syracuse. Again, the website is well done, but just a notch below the professionalism of some of the other candidate websites.

Rating: 4/5.

Carmen Harlow (http://www.harlowformayor.com)

The first impression of Mr. Harlow’s website is that it was designed by a fifth grader. Unfortunately, it’s also the last impression. The entire website is crammed onto the front page. There do not appear to be any internal links. There are a few photos, several of which are grainy. This is not the website of a serious candidate.

Rating: 1/5.

Otis Jennings (http://www.otisjennings.com)

First of all, this website has a nice header: a great picture of Otis with his slogan and an outline of the city skyline in front of an American flag. Then you scroll down. I find the front page of Otis’ website to be a little too busy. Too many links (some of which are duplicated) on the front page and not enough graphics to break up the text. The quality and variety of content of the website are its saving grace.

Rating: 4/5.

Steve Kimatian (http://www.steveforsyracuse.com)

The front page of Mr. Kimatian’s website is similar to Alfonso Davis’ in that they are both pretty standard. Not much flair. At least Alfonso has a nice color scheme. Red, black and yellow, Mr. Kimatian? Really? Aside from that, the website has good content and a nice layout, but still comes up lacking that extra touch.

Rating: 3/5.

Stephanie Miner (http://www.stephanieminer.com)

Let me say right off the bat that this is the best of the six websites. It is the most professional looking and the layout and content match the quality of the appearance. The front page isn’t cluttered and the layout encourages the viewer to explore the website. Unfortunately for the other candidates, this website is the standard to which the others are compared.

Rating: 5/5.

Joe Nicoletti (http://www.joenicoletti.com)

The front page of this website is heavy on content, but the layout helps to organize and break it up. I still think it’s a little too busy. Overall, the website is of very good quality. Joe definitely gets points for quality of content and general professionalism, but in my opinion, his front page is just too cluttered to give him a perfect score.

Rating: 4/5.