The Obama team of 2008 built a reputation on fiendishly and religiously capturing email addresses at every opportunity possible when interested persons were interacting with the campaign. It simply became a standard component of their operations, above and beyond their "be the first to hear about Barack's VP pick" ploy for collecting cell numbers.
Now, former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe's first TV ad in his run for Virginia Governor encourages viewers to sign-up via text message, both in the ad itself, and in a tag that online viewers can see after the ad as well.
An emphasis on promoting new media tools has to infuse every aspect of campaign communications.
Posted by Eric Earling at January 31, 2009 02:12 PM | Email ThisI suggest we also examine our "mental software" -- what is often poo-poo'd as ideology. I suggest that Republicans lost because of too much contradictory and weak ideology. What did we really stand for? It seems like John McCain wanted to be one thing...but kept having to pander to various factions. The public saw a man "flip flopping" on every issue trying to keep up with Barack Obama.
I suggest that rather than run off and buying a lot of Blackberries, people also take the time to sit and think and strategize about the core issues.
For example, I was impressed with the short, but sweet, list of values presented by Laurie Sotello at our 47th meeting to elect Ryan Ulrich last week. I think she ran down 3 or 4 items that were just about right for what a political party should be about.
In the future, less is more.
Posted by: John Bailo on January 31, 2009 03:21 PMI agree with that statement totally. Was it the prime reason for the Republican loss...No, the four (4) main reasons were:
1. Barack Obama
2. George Bush
3. John McCain
4. Sarah Palin
[And..not so far down the list w/be Ophra Winfrey...who was vastly underestimated and discounted...]
However being technology savvy and astute played a part and parcel to it. Republicans need to step into the 21st Century both in terms of 'technology' and 'psychology'. The 'good-ol-boy' days just may be a thing of the past. Even Dems, as in the case of Blago are realizing that.
Onward! :)
It's much more important for smaller races, and that is where the Obama strategy could really pay off. Those email addresses did not help him win, but they could help other Democrats down the ticket win in the future.
The big problem that social networking solves is disseminating information and getting people in touch with each other when that is difficult to do by other means. This was EASY to do in Obama's campaign; they had no need for it. But it is not easy to do in races for state legislature, county council, and sometimes even U.S. Congress.