Election Analysis: White House Woman Chef

By JULIETTE ROSSANT Online elections and polls are still relatively new, and for those who are interested in how superchefblog conducted the poll or are interested in conducting web polls themselves, here is an analysis. Campaigning: Those chefs who campaigned were by far more successful than those who did not. Media leverage which was visible to superchefblog included email, radio, and print. Of those media, email proved to be the most reliable, attributable to the immediacy of a one-to-one email message and the convenience for voting: email ensured a high Click-Through Rate -- which makes perfect sense for an online-only poll. Other media such as radio and print often haveonline presence and so faciliate (though without the same one-to-one immediacy): however, if anyone accesses these media in traditional fashion, that person has to make an extra effort just to get online. Chefs were also helped by their own strong Media presences. Cat Cora appears on the Food Network nationwide and in Canada. Nancy Silverton has a nationwide bread company La Brea Bread (though her name is not part of the marketing), numerous cookbooks, and a daughter who appeared on the second-to-last day of Air America's Unfiltered show and mentioned her mom. Mary Sue Milliken and Susan Feniger have a radio show in Los Angeles ("Red Hot Tamales in the KFI Kitchen" on KFI 640 AM -- click here to listen live, Sundays, 9:00-11:00 a.m. Pacfic Time). Get Out the Vote: Superchefblog approached a number of culinary and women's professional organizations to help "get out the vote." No major chef-oriented organization supported the poll officially in any capacity -- out of political considerations, since most of them, starting with Women Chefs and Restaurateurs and other professional organizations extending all the way to the major culinary schools such as the Culinary Institute of America (CIA) and the French Culinary Institute (FCI), were making formal, behind-the-scense recommendations to the White House, and of course were recommending chefs based on a non-gender basis (or, in WCR's case, simply on a private basis) which they did not wish to jeopardize with a public endorsement of any kind. These organizations even went so far as to decline mention of superchefblog's poll in any email messages, etc. Superchefblog respects the high level of professionalism exhibited by these organizations in their attempts to remain professional advisors to the White House. Interestingly, other non-profit and non-governmental organizations (or "NGOs") concerned with Women's Issues also declined to participate because the issue of a woman chef for White House executive chef was too narrow for their constuencies. Chad: Superchefblog's "Vote for White House Woman Chef" poll had its own technical problem. The poll laid out headshots of all the chefs, in three groups based on geography. Running a mouse cursor over a headshot would reveal the chef's name, flagship restaurant, and location. One click on the headshot would generate an email message automatically configured and ready to be sent with the vote for that chef. The problem came when a computer was not fully configured, i.e., when a browser was not configured to open an email software program which was itself already configured to send email. Thus, superchefblog failed to take into account public computers, which almost always have no email software configured (public users send email messages from webmail -- browser-based email services, usually available from ISPs.) Fortunately, superchefblog discovered the problem without reader comment, noting for future reference that this problem may have discouraged some voters from voting. Fortunately, voter turn-out was not so high that it caused a situation like chad in Florida's ballots during the 2000 US Presidential Elections. Significance: One entertaining byproduct of this poll was an American Idol-like search for the most popular woman chef in America, which superchefblog leveraged to help drive votes within a short amount of time -- 34 days, with pre-campaign promotion. The absence of pre-campaign promotion also that meant that only those chefs who were willing and able to participate on short notice sent in profiles, so that some of the nominated chefs still have no profiles on superchefblog. (All chefs were contacted except Roxanne Klein, who appears to be have been traveling.) To read more about the importance of this particular poll, please click here. To read more about the follow-on "Tell Laura Bush" email campaign, click here. Previous articles: Results: White House Woman Chef Last Day: Vote for White House Woman Chef Media (2) on Vote for White House Woman Chef Gabby Hayes: White House Chef? Chef John Bubala Votes Sarah Stegner Paula Deen & Friends Sante Magazine Recognizes Jody Adams Shortlisting White House Chefs? Times-Picayune: Spicer for President(ial chef) NAMC Newswire: A Woman in the White House Before 2008? Ventura, CA, Gets Into White House Chef Search Dallas-Ft. Worth Notes Chef Louise's White House Nomination Roland Mesnier's Dessert University Congratulations: James Beard Awards Nominees Ojai Valley News: Diane Forley for White House Chef Denver Supports Jennifer Jasinski for White House Chef James Beard Awards: Dearth of Top Women Chefs? Today Show Emulates Iron Chef America Wireless Flash: White House Woman Chef Fortune Smiles on superchefblog's White House Chef Poll Cat Cora Wins on Iron Chef America Anita Lo Defeats Mario Batali on Iron Chef America Atlantic Monthly: White House Chefs Cat Cora, Anita Lo: Sexing Up Iron Chef America Joe Guzzardi: If Not Governor, White House Chef Reminder 1: Vote for White House Woman Chef Vote For White House Woman Chef Superchefblog: Catalyst for White House Woman Chef? --> back to superchefblog