June 25, 2007
National Presidential Caucus
The inaugural National Presidential Caucus will commence on December 7, 2007 in thousands of cities and small towns across the nation.
The caucus has been created to help the country better prepare for the selection of our next president through thousands of informed face-to-face discussions, and to discover more meaningful access to the country’s political system toward the goal of helping revitalize American democracy.
This builds on the phenomenon of the ‘03/04’ election season where the Internet enabled nearly 5 million self-appointed citizens to organize and participate in countless local political “Meetups”, Town Halls, and House Parties.
With hopes to advance discussion and deliberation on the issues and candidates in greater numbers, the Caucus creates a new voice for those willing to participate in person. It’s open to all civic and political organizations that wish to take part as a special event or as part of their regular activities on the condition that the meeting be publicly accessible.
Registration for the event is scheduled to officially open on Labor Day at NationalCaucus.com. The use of other web services such as Meetup, Facebook, and MySpace is also encouraged to ensure a successful caucus. PoliticsOnline Inc. is a partner with the National Caucus.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:51 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 21, 2007
Candidates Utilize SMS Campaign
Senator Obama is appealing to the grassroots of the Democratic party, and points out that over 100,000 people have contributed to his campaign.
With grassroots support swelling the campaign is utilizing SMS technology to organize tens of thousands of people nationwide.
Joe Rospars, the New Media Director for Team Obama claims, "This campaign is about the people across the country who are taking organizing into their own hands and text messaging is a key tool that will help us reach out to people who rely on their mobile phone service for information." In addition, Obama supporters can customize campaign ring tones and wallpaper for their cell phones.
How many times foes your cell phone ring each day? That number will be the number of opportunities Obama supporters will be able to share why they support the Senator's campaign. Rivals for the Democratic party presidential nomination, Sen. Hillary Clinton and fmr. Sen. John Edwards, have also instituted SMS campaigns.
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June 18, 2007
YouTube and Croatia
It appears America isn’t the only country in which YouTube is playing a prominent role on the political stage.
Recent videos have shown slips by leading Croatian politicians. Interior Minister Ivica Kirin of the ruling HDZ party called YouTube “Yubito,” which quickly appeared on T-shirts and had the nation in laughs.
Kirin went on to investigate and claimed his party “discovered” that the SDP was behind the online attacks, sparking a quarrel that has gone on to reach parliament. According to local newspapers, the SDP wonders, "Who signed the warrant and over suspicion in what criminal act?" Were their privacy rights being violated by investigating their YouTube identities?” The SDP demanded an explanation of the remarks before Parliament, and when Kirin's schedule didn't permit it, the entire SDP party walked out of Parliament — about 22% of all legislators. They demanded his resignation, and in a press conference said "Kirin's statement was a publicly spoken direct threat… The Minister abused his position to settle the score with his political opponents."
Kirin then backtracked, saying, “Why would I do that? There are no elements of any act that the police usually deal with. Some kind of affair is trying to be made out of this… I think all of this is part of the election campaign."
The online political attacks have not solely pointed at the HDZ. Zoran Milanovic, leader of the opposing Social Democrat Party, got his share of abuse after answering several questions on a popular talk show with a simple “I have no idea.” Video clips coining him Zoran ‘No Idea” Milanovic appeared on YouTube the next day.
Croatia is preparing for a national election, due in November, and the amount of online political warfare is expected to increase. The latest opinion polls have given an edge to the SDP over the HDZ.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:52 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 13, 2007
Edwards Goes Low $$$
The Edwards team sees big value in low dollar fundraising.
Many campaigns have pushed low dollar fundraisers, but Sen. Edwards seems to be making it a theme over the past month. One explanation for this new effort could be the success of the Barack Obama to raise money in increments of $100 or less. Edwards, like Obama, will be able to turn back to these new donors month after month and appeal for an additional contribution.
This past Sunday was John Edwards’s birthday, and the campaign used the milestone to focus on smaller contributions. 10,000 contributors by last Sunday was the goal, and according the campaign a total of 10,646 people gave more than $271,000.
“Small Change for Big Change” is another example of the Edwards’ campaign strategy of low dollar fundraising, spending yesterday in Austin and moving on to Chicago tonight for a dinner party. While events like these are normally priced at least $1,000, tickets for Edwards’ “Change” functions are a mere $15 a head, making him easily accessible to his supporters. More than 800 people turned out to see the presidential contender.
The key link between these events is technology. Team Edwards has adeptly used technology to promote these low dollar fundraisers. YouTube videos are on the campaign website from the Miami and Texas events along with the birthday celebration. The staff utilizes the campaign Web site and email announcements in conjunction with local medial to notify the community of the campaign visit. Without the technology raising large amounts of money in small increments becomes nearly impossible.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:35 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 11, 2007
Obama Parlays Internet Strength into 'Walk for Change'
This weekend the Obama campaign hit the streets in a "Walk for Change," which may have been the largest canvassing effort this early in the cycle.
This effort was made possible because of the strength of Obama's Internet presence. Obama far and away leads the GOP and Democratic field of presidential contenders in all tangible indicators on the Web. More than 100,000 people are signed up on the Obama MySpace page, and more than 2 million people have viewed an Obama video via YouTube. In addition, to these statistics, Obama also raised millions of dollars online particularly in small donations.
The "Walk for Change" canvassing effort is the continuation of the online strategy to engage the grassroots, and it shows that this powerful Internet organization can be parlayed into real world results. The total number of canvassers was 1,500, and they spent the weekend knocking on doors in 38 cities across the nation. Iowa saw many of these supporters with 150 in Waterloo and 250 in Iowa City.
The campaign believes because of their active online community that they will be able to reach out to Democratic activists in the early primary states i.e. Iowa and New Hampshire. These types of massive grassroots outreach efforts combined with the Internet organization are changing the way many look at presidential campaigns. Obama sees this type of campaign as en effort to spark serious discussion among Americans. The campaign is not going to focus on typical sound bytes or 30 second advertisements, but instead use thier time, money, and talent to engage voters.
While in Iowa on Saturday, Obama promised similar grass roots events in the coming months of the campaign.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 04:39 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 08, 2007
Thompson Forms Internet Team
Earlier this week, Fmr. Senator Fred Thompson officially began “testing the presidential waters” by forming the Friends of Fred Exploratory Committee.
This legal step allows the newest contender for the Republican nomination to raise money, hire campaign staff, and organize in the early primary states.
According to the rumor mill, Thompson is not a hard campaigner and may not have the “fire in the belly.” However, he did come from behind in his bid to win Al Gore’s vacated Senate seat in Tennessee in 1994. The laziness label has again been used against Thompson because of his insistence to run an internet driven campaign that may not demand as much time on the ground in Iowa and New Hampshire. Thompson is putting together an all-star Internet team, and he hopes the utilization of technology will push him to stand out from the pack.
Mike Turk is Thompson’s choice as “chief architect” for internet strategy, and is credited for the strength of the Bush-Cheney 04 internet operation. Joining Turk is Todd Zeigler and John Henke. Zeigler is known for finding practical purposes for the newest technology, and Henke will lead the blog outreach effort. This foundation for team Thompson should provide the frame work for the campaign that Thompson wants to run. A campaign understanding of the Web and one that will take advantage of blogs, YouTube, social networking, etc.
David All, a Republican tech consultant believes this team will “be right on the money and will be an asset as they provide counsel to Thompson”. Evidence of the campaign’s tech savvy is the personal information asked for on the Thompson website includes cell number, cell provider, IM Screenname, along with the usual information. TechRepublican asserts “This is very cool. And very, very important. This is the first glimpse of how they will use technology differently”.
Thompson is expected to declare his full fledged candidacy for the Republican nomination around the Fourth of July.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 03:27 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
June 05, 2007
Tracking Ron Paul's Internet Boom
Congressman Ron Paul's surprising second place finish in Fox News' debate watchers text message poll was just the start of his increasing popularity.
Paul had received little mention as a true contender for the GOP nomination, yet he earned 25% of the vote and is leaving political analysts scratching their heads.
It is not just the Fox News poll that shows a jump in support for Paul since the second Republican Debate last month in South Carolina. According to TechPresident.com, Paul's MySpace support has jumped over 20% to 15,000 "friends." Moreover, Paul's YouTube stats have increased 621.2% with 533,314 video downloads. Nearly one million people have visited the Ron Paul YouTube Channel, which is second only to Barrack Obama. Earlier in the week, he appeared on the popular YouTube channel DomeNation, speaking about his recent quarrel with fellow Republican Rudy Giluiani.
Paul's online support is beginning to translate into tangible results offline. Last Friday, the congressman was hailed as Bill Maher's "new favorite person" on his HBO show Real Time with Bill Maher. A rally was held shortly before the taping of the show, completely organized by supporters unaffiliated with the campaign through Eventful.com. His campaign is hiring staff in the early primary states, and the campaign claims to see a spike in fundraising. So why is Paul conquering the web, yet barely registering in the minds of the established media?
Paul's anti interventionist message combined with the utilization of internet-based technology has made him arguably the Internet's most popular Republican politician. Because of the Web he is able to reach millions of voters without raising or spending millions of dollars. How far will this internet boom carry the Republican dark horse in his quest for the presidency?
Ron Paul on DomeNation Paul Campaign Comm. Dir. on DomeNation techPresident Ron Paul on Real Time with Bill Maher
Posted by Buzz Webster at 11:54 AM | Permalink | Comments (1)
