ACT Like the GOP: A Winning Strategy

The most noticeable impact technology has made on political campaigning in the 21st century is the ability to individualize information. Instead of broadcasting information over television and radio, we can now narrowcast using emails, direct mail, text messages, voter databases, etc.

The concept of narrowcasting is nothing new to campaigning. Direct mail and door-to-door canvassing have been collecting information about voters' issue preferences for years, but modern technology has the ability to take narrowcasting a step further.

In Campaignadudit.org's article, the narrowcasting technologies of ACT and the GOP are compared. The biggest difference was ACT was sending volunteers, strangers essentially, door-to-door to persuade voters with targeted messages. The GOP relied on volunteers to deliver targeted messages to their social networks. ACT might have been more successful if they had loaned their videos to volunteers and asked them to host 10 friends (both decided and undecided voters) at their home for a “political party.” The volunteer could play the video and lead discussions around the issue. They then could encourage their guests to volunteer, donate money, and consider hosting their own political get-together for ACT.

This echoes a point made multiple times on mine and other blogs. Technology is not the persuader, people are. If we look at how we use modern technology in our everyday lives, we will find it is mostly used as a means of communicating with others. Campaigns are all about getting your candidate’s message out. Why not take this concept and use the technological tools available to individualize a candidate’s message?

Lawmaker Sends Email Referring to Constituents as "Idiots"

This is only further evidence that elected officials have to be extra careful with any type of online activity! File this in the "stupid politician file."

"POUGHKEEPSIE, N.Y. -- A New York state lawmaker says he's embarrassed, after he mistakenly sent out an e-mail message that referred to his constituents as "idiots."

Assemblyman Willis Stephens says he thought he was sending the e-mail to an aide. Instead, he sent the note to nearly 300 people on an online discussion group that focuses on the community of Brewster.

The message included the comment that he was "just watching the idiots pontificate."

Within an hour of sending the message Monday morning, Stephens sent another e-mail apologizing for the slip-up.

Stephens, a Republican, represents an area north of New York City." (WFTV.com )

Does the "6 Degrees of Kevin Bacon" Game Apply to Amway and all GOPers?

In Matt Bai's "The Multilevel Marketing of the President," Ken Mehlman explains the Bush campaign's successful volunteer plan by saying the volunteers "in consultation with headquarters, set their own goals for their states and counties, and thus had a sense of ownership in the campaign."

I think this point is key in differentiating between the success of the Bush campaign and the failure of the Kerry campaign. My family volunteered in CA for BC ’04. They absolutely loved the fact that they were treated as part of the GOP family. The incentives they were given kept them motivated (along with wanting to keep me employed). I’d say one of the most popular incentives I kept hearing about related to the ‘parties for the president.’ If you registered to have a party with 5 or more guests, you were able to participate in a conference call with “Republican rock stars” like Laura Bush, Dick Cheney, Ken Mehlman, etc.

I thought the article took on a presumptuous tone when describing “pressure bearing down on volunteers.” What’s wrong with a campaign expecting results out of their volunteers and checking up on them to ensure the goals they’ve set are being reached? It’s clear from the Verini article that the Kerry campaign didn’t expect much out of their volunteers. And how could they? They hardly took the time to train them much less reward them for the time they so generously gave.

The lesson to be learned from reading these articles is to always treat volunteers as an integral part of the team. Manpower is invaluable to any campaign.

P.S. Something I find interesting…Mehlman compares the GOP volunteer organization to Amway. Dick DeVos, one of the biggest GOP contributors and MI 06 gubernatorial hopeful, is son of the founder of Amway. His wife Betsy is a former MI GOP chairman. I wonder if employing the Amway success plan will work for him in 06?