HOUSTON, Oct. 18, 2001 (PRIMEZONE) -- PoliticalNet(tm), a subsidiary of Houston InterWeb Design, Inc. (OTCBB:HITD), announced today details regarding its positioning for its PoliticalNet(tm)/PoliticalTeam subsidiary. PoliticalNet(tm) is in the process of developing a new political marketing powerhouse -- a one-stop shop for political information and campaigning needs.
There are on average over 170,000 elections a year at all levels in the U.S. Candidates, political action committees (PACs) and other political organizations spend nearly $5.4 billion annually in the U.S., and another $4.8 billion internationally. This marketplace is currently extremely fragmented and ripe for consolidation.
InterWeb already owns Politicalnet.com(tm) (http://www.politicalnet.com), a political portal focusing exclusively on political information and Websites, and PoliticalTeam, Inc. (http://www.politicalteam.com), a company providing online campaigning and fundraising tools, video production, e-mail broadcasting, electronic polling, auto-dialer, fax broadcasting and other interactive media to politicians and political organizations, serving all of their campaigning needs.
PoliticalNet(tm) President Lee Magness stated, "Year 2002 is a very significant election year. In addition to elections on the local, county, state and regional levels, full congressional elections will be held in the coming year. While the overall political scene right now seems to be bipartisan and we see very little debate on political issues, this will change quickly, since control of both the house and senate will be up for grabs in 2002. Political spending is not going down. Instead, political organizations and politicians will be spending larger amounts of money to ensure their election."
Use of the Internet in political campaigns has matured. In 1998, Minnesota's governor Jesse Ventura declared that he couldn't have been elected governor without the Internet. And, in 2000, John McCain raised over $6.5 million online. In 2002, the Internet will play an even greater role in elections. We believe that PoliticalNet(tm) is uniquely positioned to capitalize on the major shift within this multi-billion dollar market.
Additionally, last month's terrorist attacks have also fueled Americans' interest in politics. For example, CNN -- an AOL Time-Warner company (NYSE:AOL) -- is now receiving over an average of 200,000 votes per day in its Quick Vote polls!
"A few days ago Houston InterWeb announced plans to spin-off PoliticalNet(tm) into a separate entity. Several traditional political brick-and-mortar organizations are available which might complement and increase the service offerings of PoliticalNet(tm). The company intends to focus on developing and enhancing these relationships and opportunities. Depending on our financial resources, we may also start producing unique political content for our PoliticalNet(tm).com political portal, thus making it a more attractive hub for people interested in politics," added Magness.
"Finally, we intend to explore and develop additional international opportunities. InterWeb has subsidiaries or operations in China, Mexico and Brazil. PoliticalNet(tm) in particular has customized and licensed its site building software to Electorales.com (http://www.electorales.com) the well-known Spanish language political portal and through Brazil Interweb has created a Portuguese political site builder. The U.S. is light years ahead of most countries when it comes to utilizing technology as a part of political campaigns, but we see this as a vast opportunity that is ripe for companies such as ours to take advantage of. It is only natural for PoliticalNet(tm) to export our existing knowledge and technology, while leveraging the current assets and relationships we already have in those countries," stated Magness.
This is not a recommendation to buy or sell securities of Houston InterWeb Design or of any other publicly traded company.
Forward-looking statements in this release are made pursuant to the "safe harbor" provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Investors are cautioned that such forward-looking statements involve risks and uncertainties, including, without limitation, continued acceptance of the Company's products, increased levels of competition, new products and technological changes, the Company's dependence upon third-party suppliers, intellectual property rights, and other risks detailed from time to time in the Company's periodic reports filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission.