Remember the halcyon days of 2007, when presidential campaigns competed for the honor of Most Creative Campaign Kick-Off Announcement? Hillary did her business on YouTube, while Barack promoted his video announcement via email, and several of the other candidates chose late-night talk/comedy shows to heighten their common touch. Special bonus round: don’t forget the legendary Joe-Biden-for-veep text message.
This time around, all of these choices are old hat, and it’s hard to imagine a venue that would attract anyone’s attention in and of itself. “Glee?” “Dancing with the Stars?” (Hey, if DeLay could shake his hips pre-conviction, why not Huckabee?). Though perhaps the standards at “American Idol” might hit a little close to home….
In any case, The Hill’s Shane D’Aprile took a good look at the question today, and e.politics got a few choice quotes in toward the end of the piece. My guess? The substance and the candidate will matter much more than the chosen channel, and I bet we’ll see campaigns unveiled via multi-outlet blasts designed to attract every shred of attention possible. Good luck, kids! Have fun storming the castle.
– cpd
December 29th, 2010
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So the new Census numbers are out, and the Rs look to benefit mightily. One of the most revealing takes was Dave Weigel’s breakdown of the states destined to gain Congressional seats vs. the party in control of the redistricting process — not so pretty for Dems.
At least for now. But remember, the Sun Belt states that gained population are doing so in part because of an increase in the number of people of Hispanic descent living within their borders, which may portend a political change down the road. As more Latinos move to Texas, Arizona, Florida, Nevada and similar states, the entire electoral math may shift, particularly if Republicans keep doing things like killing the DREAM Act — seats that are comfortably Republican after this year’s round of redistricting may be much more competitive a few years down the road. But that’s cold comfort for Democrats today — and don’t say you weren’t warned, again and again.
– cpd
December 21st, 2010
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The return of Quick Hits! NOW you know it’s serious…
- Chris Hughes’ Jumo: A Social Network for the Social Sector, which generated A Lot of skepticism among those of us who, like, do this for a living. See First Reflections on Jumo, What is JUMO and why should you care? and Early Thoughts About Jumo. C.f. Daschle Leaving DGA to Start (Yet Another) Social Platform. Relevant Dave Lowry/Cracker lyric: “What the world needs now/is another folk singer/like I need a hole in my head.”
- With Sanders Filibuster, C-SPAN Has a Hit on Its Hands, which it shamelessly markets online.
- E.J Nails It: “No Labels” is really moderate Republicanism looking for a home. Bonus: An interesting (for once) David Brooks thesis on “cluster” v “network” liberals on the tax cut deal.
- The Liberal Thorn in Obama’s Side, starring friends-of-e.politics, natch.
- When Animated Bears Explain: Can Viral Video Save the Economy? Wasn’t “viral” animation all 2004 and stuff?
- Engagement Ladders: Building Supporter Power.
- Children’s Crusade: A Primer on How Britain’s Students Are Organising Using Social Media.
- Video: Mobile Year in Review 2010.
- State Department To Columbia University Students: DO NOT Discuss WikiLeaks On Facebook, Twitter, and Library of Congress Blinds Hill’s Researchers to Wikileaks. Meanwhile, MasterCard.com, Swiss Bank, Lawyer’s Site Hacked By WikiLeaks Supporters With DDOS Attack, but is that a legitimate form of civil disobedience? More perspective: The Oldest Hack in the Book: How WikiLeaks supporters tried to take down Visa and MasterCard and Ten Ways to Think About DDoS Attacks and “Legitimate Civil Disobedience”. A bigger point: WikiLeaks’ resilience shows strength of Internet-age lifelines. Finally, and not surprisingly, Glenn Beck Doesn’t Understand Operation Payback.
- In a Week of Internet Takedowns, Apple Yanks Anti-Same-Sex App from the iTunes Store.
- Shadow Wars: Debating Cyber ‘Disarmament.’
- Tea Party Patriots distribute new Congressmembers’ personal emails and phone numbers, via email. Careful with that “send” button, Eugene! Back-channel emails in favor of “Christian conservatives” in Texas politics (no Jews needed).
- Cong. Dana Rohrabacher in Twitter war with own constituents.
- Chris Christie, the Justin Bieber of Political Media, aka The right’s favorite 300-pound (plus) porn star.
- Palin dominates other Rs on Google, but she has competition, as (Nikki) Haley rockets up the Google charts in 2010 (via Shaun Dakin). C.f. Palin’s Facebook: All bark, no bite?
- NPR outsources comment-filtering on its site, to much rejoicing. Long interview with friend-of-e.politics Andy Carvin.
- Interesting calendar-style view of the Congress-soon-to-be-gone.
- Media Advocacy: Amplifying Your Argument. By one of Rosenblatt’s minions.
- Online Advocacy and Campaign Cheat Sheet (a report from RootsCamp).
- Trend To Watch In 2012 — The Rise Of Mobile.
- Hitting Jim DeMint via Twitter, via War Room Soon to be a national sport! C.f. Pray for Jim DeMint!
- The Mitt Romney Charm Offensive, in part conducted via Facebook ads.
- Republicans want your help destroying science.
- Tory councillor arrested over Alibhai-Brown ‘stoning’ tweet.
- The Medium Is the Medium: Enter the Twitter Blog.
- Storytelling 2.0: The epic poet of Twitter. C.f. Reinventing literature for the digital age, and making it pay.
- Pew: Twitter’s Your Place for News.
- Coca-Cola, Pillsbury Embrace Organic Trends — and Risks — on Twitter.
- A Marketer’s Guide to the Next Congress.
- NASA Ranks as Most Social Media-Savvy in U.S., Study Says.
- U.S. Retailers Show How To Use Twitter. Hold on a second: Black Friday For Geo-Location (Foursquare not quite as transformative as hoped).
- Not so splashy, but actually practical: How LED light bulbs will transform the Third World.
- What would happen if Facebook made its data available for research?
- Tools to Help Companies Manage Their Social Media.
- What is Chipotle’s Social Media/PR Team THINKING? Or, The Great Facebook Cat Fiasco.
- Kim Jong-il Says the Darnedest Things. The extra-large propaganda machine (and bizarre language) of the DPRK.
- And finally, Great Moments In Boobies: Rupert Murdoch Changes The Face Of Journalism Again. Here’s a new subscriber: Mr. Smut Goes to Washington (reading Playboy for the policy analysis, no doubt).
– cpd
December 16th, 2010
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Also published on The Huffington Post
John Boehner’s tears may have overshadowed the substance of his 60 Minutes appearance last Sunday, but he did mention some “serious” policy options in his time on screen. I put “serious” in quotes for a good reason, because looking below the surface of one at least one of his ideas suggests just how un-serious he is about the job of governing.
Talking with Leslie Stahl, The Speaker-to-be made the following grand proposition:
Well, how about we start with cutting Congress? I’m going to cut my budget, my leadership budget five percent. I’m going to cut all the leadership budgets by five percent. I’m gonna cut every committee’s budget by five percent. And every member is gonna see a five percent reduction in their allowance. All together that’s $25-$30 million and it likely would be one of the first votes we cast.
(more…)
December 14th, 2010
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This past Saturday saw the latest running of the lefty online organizing bulls — the New Organizing Institute’s regular post-election RootsCamp, which brings Democratic and progressive field organizers and online staff from around the country in for a mass de-brief. It’s an “unconference,” meaning that the agenda is written on the spot as people propose discussion sessions and the organizers assign rooms. This year’s event drew roughly 1000 of us, many fresh off campaigns, and it was a true joy to get to learn from people who are applying online orgnizing principles in the Real World (i.e., we got to listen to actual practitioners rather than the usual loud voices that hog the stage at these things). Kudos all around — besides meeting some great folks, I learned a ton, the best parts of which you Loyal Readers will get to share in the coming weeks.
BTW, NOI also used the weekend to unveil their new Organizing Toolbox. More on that here shortly, but be sure to check it out for yourself.
– cpd
December 14th, 2010
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Despite all evidence to the contrary. Welcome to the longest sustained publishing interruption in the modern history of Epolitics.com! What with Your Loyal Editor gallivanting through European capitals and finishing one job while finding another, writing’s had to move to the back of the bus for the past few weeks. But never fear! Online politics never stops, and neither should a good website (or this one, for that matter). Listen closely and you’ll hear those mental gears grinding into place, sloughing off weeks of rust, dust, tarnish and corrosion — a blog is a harsh mistress, and this one’s due to start her whip a-crackin’ right about…now.
– cpd
December 10th, 2010
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