Archive for December, 2008

Politics is Viral — AND Local

Cross-posted on techPresident

An online politics wrap-up article by Jose Antonio Vargas published in the Post this weekend has been working its way through the internet politics crowd over the past couple of days, being posted on Facebook, forwarded on Twitter and zapped via email. It’s a good piece, and it reflects the time that Jose has spent covering the online politics beat — he was one of the few mainstream journalists who really dug into HOW people were using the internet for politics this time around, as they created a profoundly new environment for politicians, journalists and activists alike.

I have to take my friend to task over the title, however — which in his defense, may have been written by a copyeditor rather than by Jose himself. “Politics Is No Longer Local. It’s Viral” sounds catchy, playing off the legendary observation that “all politics is local.” It’s also almost embarrassingly wrong, and a serious misunderstanding of the realities of the Obama campaign.

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4 comments December 30th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Using YouTube and Online Video for Politics — Effectively

Last article from the GW media school post-election panel discussion, I promise. We’ve already heard from Joe Rospars on the Obama campaign’s use of online video, along with NBC’s Chuck Todd on the future of corporate journalism, so let’s wrap up with what YouTube’s Steve Grove took away from two years of intimate exposure to the best and worse of online video campaigning.

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3 comments December 29th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Let Obama Smoke!

What’s the deal with Barack Obama and cigarettes? Despite a pre-campaign promise to Michelle, he still apparently relishes the occasional drag, and plenty of moralists would like to see him quit. Most recent case: CBN’s David Brody on This Week this morning, listing not-smoking as a New Year’s resolution he’d like to see the president-elect live up to.

Bah! Reminds me of what Lincoln supposedly said after critics accused Ulysses S. Grant of being a drunk and demanded his removal: “If I knew what brand of whiskey he drinks, I would send a barrel or so to some other generals.” In Obama’s case, we want the guy to save the world, but we won’t allow him an occasional self-indulgence? Let Obama smoke!

Tell you what, Barack — I live right up 16th Street from the White House, and you just give me a call when you really need that pick-me-up. I’ll hop on an S bus and pop down to help a neighbor out, all on the q/t of course (I promise not to tell the wife). I’ll even bring a six-pack and we can make an impromptu party of it — with politics off-limits and policy out of mind. And the rest of you, leave the man be!

cpd

4 comments December 28th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Quick Hits — December 25, 2008

Merry Christmas! The turkey’s still in the oven, but these links are ready to serve.

cpd

Add comment December 25th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

David Plouffe: The Obama Campaign Used Grassroots Data and Computer Modeling to Allocate Resources in Real Time

Cross-posted on techPresident

A week or two ago, I happened to catch the C-Span broadcast of a fascinating discussion at Harvard’s Kennedy School — PBS’s Gwen Ifill moderated a panel including David Axelrod and David Plouffe from the Obama campaign and Richard Davis and Bill McInturff from McCain’s operation. The entire discussion is brain-food for any political junkie, but one segment particularly jumped out at me: David Plouffe gave an extended description of how the Obama campaign used volunteer-produced data to create computer-generated models of states — down to segments of a media market — to determine how the campaign was doing at any given moment.

And it wasn’t an idle mental exercise, since they used these simulations to make essentially overnight changes in how and where to concentrate resources, including candidate and surrogate visits. On the video, the critical bit starts right around minute 57, in answer to a question from a Kennedy School grad student about how modern campaigns use data; a transcript is below.

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8 comments December 23rd, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

NBC’s Chuck Todd on the Future of Journalism and Being “OutManned” (Or, Don’t Get a Journalism Degree)

The Campaign 2008 discussion at GW’s School of New Media and Public Affairs earlier this month covered a lot more than just the importance of video in the Obama online machine: among other topics, the panel of experienced journalists couldn’t help but also consider the role and future of news outlets themselves in the political process.

NBC’s Chuck Todd put it most dramatically when he described how the press corps felt “outmanned” by the political campaigns, since they had fewer resources than before to cover more of everything — bigger campaigns, more states in play, more videos, more spin emails, more citizen activists, etc. The good news is that citizens demanded more information and better information on the political process, but the bad news is that the news organizations haven’t worked out a business model to make money off of that demand.

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2 comments December 22nd, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Quick Hits — December 21, 2008

Home for the holidays? Here’s some light reading to distract you from your “beloved” kinfolk.

cpd

Add comment December 21st, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

In TGSOT

Or, The Great State Of Texas, for those of you not familiar with the shorthand used by staff in the Texas Legislature (ah, my distant youth!) to describe that most cherished of phrases in the political lexicon of the Lone Star State. I DARE you to find a significant political speech given by a Texan on this sacred soil that does not contain those words.

You think DC has a shortage of parties? Try Palestine, Texas — unless you’re looking to party with some armadillos. Or you think that a late-night seven-hour roundtrip to the Houston airport to pick up your sister and your two (pre-school-aged) nieces is a party. Though after that trip last night (we got in at 4 a.m.), there’s one possum who lives near Grapeland who oughta be throwing a party, since he owes his life to decent brakes and better reflexes.

Anyway, E.politics World Headquarters has temporarily located to the hinterland; look me up if you’re passing through. Plenty of time to catch up on some writing, Lord willin’ and the creek don’t rise…

cpd

1 comment December 20th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

The Latest Bad Economic Indicator: Fewer DC Holiday Parties

Well, it looks as though the recession has hit even the D.C. area, which is usually immunized somewhat against bad economic times by the presence of the federal government and all who feed on it. The latest evidence — what happened to the drinks?

This December is turning up fewer and fewer companies in the online communications space willing to throw a REAL holiday party, i.e. the kind with free booze. Likewise, some of the professional organizations have canceled their annual soirées because too few people were signing up. Years of experience have taught me to sniff out an open bar up to five miles away just from the sound of the wind in the trees (a true fact), yet even I’m at a loss. Worse luck: the band’s only confirmed gig for the long Inauguration weekend (a party that Friday night) just disappeared — the event got called off for financial reasons. Now that’s hittin’ where it hurts!

cpd

Add comment December 12th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Joe Rospars and A Billion Minutes on YouTube: Content was Key (and Overlooked) Part of Obama’s Online Juggernaut

Most coverage of Barack Obama’s online campaign has focused on its scale (13 million email addresses!), the amount of money raised and its use of social networking sites, including the public sites like MySpace/Facebook and the “walled-garden” MyBarackObama. According to Obama new media director Joe Rospars, though, many observers have been missing something vital that underlies ALL of Obama’s online outreach: good content.

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11 comments December 11th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Quick Hits — December 10, 2008

Clearing the decks — the results of several weeks of random browsing.

cpd

Add comment December 10th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

Thank You, Rod Blagojevich, for Restoring My Faith in Politics

You know, all this “hope” talk lately has been getting to me. Maybe it’s my father’s roots in Louisiana, where the cash is in the freezer, or perhaps it’s my mom’s ties to Arkansas, where outsiders just don’t understand the special relationship that can exist between a building contractor and a politician. And then there’s my own time as staff in the Texas Legislature, a period highlighted by the prosecution and resignation of the fourth House Speaker in a row(!) for ethics violations.

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2 comments December 9th, 2008 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us

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