Partisan Density Makes GOTV More Difficult For The GOP

New strategies for mobilizing Latinos NDN Blog: "In a major break from traditional get-out-the-vote strategy, the party did not rely solely on contacting voters at home, but took their efforts to the workplaces of Latinos. The party did not focus only on door-to-door outreach trying, to make contact at times people might be at home- instead they went to where they work. They went to Latino businesses, such as construction sites and restaurants, and talked to employees and customers. They posted information in the mercados and supermercados. They worked with employers to get information to and make contact with the employees.
Staff and volunteers placed 1,657 posters and distributed 8,963 brochures in all types of businesses that were Latino-owned or had a large Latino customer or client base, including taco shops, tienditas, beauty salons, and swap meets."

Democrats have a huge advantage in campaigns like this based on the frequent density of their voters. I don't know that I have ever heard of a precinct that is actually, baseline, 90% Republican yet it is very common in some cities to have multiple precincts that are over 90% Democratic.

Our challenge is to seek out GOP voters no matter where they are and contact them no matter how many barriers they put up.

Don't Wait For Election Day

South Bend Tribune: Ballot shortages a continuing problem: "For one, even the best-made plans have gone awry; officials in state after state have ordered more ballots, only to see turnouts exceed their most ambitious estimates.
Some states — California, for example — extended registration deadlines, in part to give would-be voters more time to sign up for the first Democratic presidential nomination race between a black man and a woman.
But some election officials say those extensions have necessitated a form of fortune telling when it comes to deciding how many ballots to order."

In Indiana we have
- 30 Days to vote absentee
- 14 Days to vote early

If you wait until election day you are making your own problems. Vote early.

P.S. Another helpful tip, if you vote early (and the campaign/party does a good job) you can avoid all those pesky Get-Out-The-Vote calls.

Why I Get Paid BEFORE Mail Goes Out

Cash-strapped Clinton fails to pay bills - Kenneth P. Vogel - Politico.com: "Some of Clinton’s biggest debts are to pollster and chief strategist Mark Penn, who’s owed $2.5 million; direct mail company MSHC Partners, which is owed $807,000; phone-banking firm Spoken Hub, which is waiting for $771,000; and ad maker Mandy Grunwald, who’s owed $467,000."

To all my clients out there who wonder why I require payment for mail up front.

The 30 And Under Vote Does Not Watch The News.

hat tip to Tech Republican

The Second Cup - Thursday, March 27 TechRepublican.com: "Fully two-thirds of Web users under 30 say they use social networking sites, while fewer than 20 percent of older users do. MySpace and Facebook create a sense of connection to the candidates.

Between the two sites, Mr. Obama has about one million “friends,” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, has roughly 330,000, and Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, has more than 140,000. Four out of 10 young people have watched candidate speeches, interviews, commercials or debates online, according to Pew, substantially more than people 30 and older.

Fully two-thirds of Web users under 30 say they use social networking sites, while fewer than 20 percent of older users do. MySpace and Facebook create a sense of connection to the candidates. Between the two sites, Mr. Obama has about one million “friends,” Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, his rival for the Democratic nomination, has roughly 330,000, and Senator John McCain, the presumed Republican nominee, has more than 140,000.

Four out of 10 young people have watched candidate speeches, interviews, commercials or debates online, according to Pew, substantially more than people 30 and older."

If you are looking to talk to to anyone under 30 don't obsess about the evening news.

A little sneak peek for all you crackberry addicts.

BlackBerry 9000 in the wild - Engadget: "Today, Engadget answers the singular question on the mind of everyone out there who's sitting at a solid oak desk in a glass office wearing a suit as they read this: what's up with the next BlackBerry? The rumored BlackBerry 8xxx / 9000 series is getting a lot clearer today, and we're happy to report that RIM's cooking up a beauty to keep its legion of devotees loyal -- and maybe even win a few converts along the way. Head on over to Engadget Mobile for pictures and video of the little beast in action!"

Build a bigger audience for your RSS feed

11 Ways to Find New RSS Subscribers for Your Blog: "11 Ways to Find New RSS Subscribers for Your Blog
RSS 102 comments This past two weeks I’ve been talking about how to make your RSS feed ‘Pop’ - to stand out from the crowd a little - however covering this topic has caused a few readers to ask RSS related questions that don’t necessarily relate to improving your feed but which are worth covering.
One of the questions I’ve been asked numerous times this week is:
How do I get People to Subscribe to my RSS feed?"

Great tips on building your audience for your blog.

I probably should actually take some of this guy's advice.

$350 Million For Leftist Organizations To Take Over Our Government

One of the greatest myths in politics is that Republicans spend more on campaigns than Democrats. Don't get me wrong, we have some fabulous capitalists in our party who spend a lot of money but when you add up the totals...especially on the race for President, we usually get outspent.

In 2004 if you add up the campaigns, Party Committees and 3rd party groups expenditures the GOP got outspent by more than 120 million and that is just the money we can track.

The following is from CNSN News

"A coalition of liberal organizations announced plans Tuesday to move "the most expensive mobilization in history this election season."MoveOn.org, Rock the Vote, Acorn, National Council of La Raza, Women's Voices Women Vote Action Fund, and the AFL-CIO announced plans for a $350 million initiative for the 2008 elections at the Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C., sponsored by the liberal Campaign for America's Future."

The part that really honks me off about this is take a look at these partners in crime...

• Moveon.org - started to deflect attention from perjury and sex scandal
• Rock the Vote - MTV dabbles in politics
• ACORN - subsidized by YOUR tax dollars whose mission of "community engagement" is really a Hugo Chavez-like socialist organization
• Council of La Raza - largest Latino rights organization in the country, not a bad thing but is Democratic controlled White House part of that mission statement?
• Women's Voices Women Vote Action Fund - credit to this group that they are actually doing something akin to their actual mission statement
• AFL CIO - yeah, kind of enough said there

The aim of these groups?

"Hogue said they would be highlighting Republicans' "wrong priorities" through paid advertisements and their field networks.Due to various tax statuses within the coalition, Hogue noted that "to the extent that we are legally able to coordinate, we will" on efforts targeting different demographics."

So am I surprised? Not really, but I am frustrated that these "not-for profit" organizations are nothing more than thinly veiled front organizations for the Democratic National Committee. Most of them take union dues or contributions from donors on one premise and then seem to spend it on another.

Does anyone think La Raza or ACORN goes to it's donors and says "We need to defeat Republicans at every level of government!" If they are then they are lying to the public by pretending to be "community organizations" if they are not saying that then they are lying to their donors.

Then the media will get a brain cramp and somehow not see these clowns for what they are - tax shelters for blatant partisan activity.

Ugh...it is not easy being right.

Geeking out with Micromedia

I will be the first to admit I don't understand all of this but it sounds pretty cool. h/t to my man Jeremiah Owyang .

How Traditional Media Experiments with MicroMedia (Twitter, Kyte, Utterz): "How Traditional Media Experiments with MicroMedia (Twitter, Kyte, Utterz)
March 18th, 2008 Category: MicroMedia

I met Jemima Kiss (embed above), a technology journalist for the UK Guardian at the SXSW bloghaus. I asked her about her use of Micromedia, and most importantly if she’s using these tools to find breaking stories. I know a handful of reporters that are watching Twitter to see what folks are saying. Listen in to the

In the above audio embed, I also interviewed Joe Ruiz, of San Antonio’s KSAT news who is trying to figure out how Twitter can be used for his local TV Station."

Does it get more ironic than this?

White Men Will Likely Swing Democratic Race -- Political Wire: "In the fierce campaign between Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, 'a battle dominated by questions of race and gender, white men have emerged as perhaps the single critical swing constituency,' according to the Washington Post."

Congratulations to my WASP brothers on the Democrat side, you are relevant! You are the root of all evil, responsible for all our nations problems and way too privileged (dripping with sarcasm) but HRC and Obama still want to talk to you anyway.

Angela Faulkner is powerful and famous.

South Bend Tribune: BUSINESS PEOPLE: "GRANGER -- Angela Faulkner, president of Granger based Faulkner Strategies, has been selected to sit on the board of the newly formed Indiana Women Business Owners PAC. Established in 2007, the IWBO PAC's goal is to support the economic development of women-owned businesses within the state.

The nonpartisan PAC committee will target and talk with state legislators about several initiatives, including the possible MBE/WBE designation of nonprofit organizations and affordable health care for small businesses."

Obama's team reinvents Democrat Field Operations

techPresident – Power to the Edge: Obama's California Field Operation from the Future

I have slobbered on Obama's Field Operation on my blog before...and yes I will do it again.

In 2004 and 2006 the GOP utilized a system we called the Extranet, in a nutshell it sucked and seemed to have been designed by desk warriors and not Field guys. I am sure all the intentions were great but there was little if any practical application for it. In 2004 BC04 ran laps around Kerry and his allies because we used MS Excel and concrete goals and results.

Obama's team is taking it to the next level with mybarackobama.com (I admit I have an account just to check out the functionality).

"The Obama campaign is distributed and bottom-up in a way that is the clearest example of what a post-broadcast, distributed and participatory democracy is going to look like. The evolution in campaign tactics happening right now closely parallels what's happening in the military, corporations, government and other large organizations. The dropping costs and increasing reliability and flexibility of information technology is having profound effects on how these organizations make things happen."

I read Wikinomics last year and it really caused me to ask myself -- why we do some of the things we do on campaigns the way we do? Usually it always comes back to control. We love to have it. Embracing a true decentralized campaign is tough for any experienced campaigner to accept but it is necessary to evolve and win.

Some of the organic stuff that Ron Paul, Obama and Huckabee have done this year is truly ground breaking. I look forward to seeing how Campaign 08 will change and progress from 04.

Thanks to Ruffini for getting my brain moving on this. I am going to digest this article on McCain's 10 regions and blog on it later.

Dyngus Day...all the things you need to know.

So the Democratic primary is coming to Indiana. HRC and Obama will come to the Hoosier state and learn all about us.

Part of our proud primary tradition is Dyngus Day.

Dynga-what?

"Dyngus Day, celebrated the day after Easter, will be March 24. Although it has its roots in Polish religious history, Dyngus Day has evolved into a political holiday locally. Solidarity Day is a more recent holiday started in the black community on the same day to celebrate black heritage and promote political activism.

One of the most noted Dyngus Day visits occurred in 1968, when presidential candidate Robert Kennedy stumped through the city (you can already hear the Obama comparisons).The primary election schedules were different then, without all of the early primaries and caucuses. Indiana was viewed as a key state in the contest for delegates.Kennedy was involved in a close race with Eugene McCarthy, and favorite son Gov. Roger D. Branigan also was on the ballot. All three visited South Bend at some point during the campaign."

It has pretty much devolved into a political sausage/beer campaignapalooza. The highlight of the day will be when we all gather at the Westside Democratic and Civic Club for lunch. You pay $7 to get in and that entitles you to a plate of kraut, hard boiled egg, fresh sausage and a cold beverage of your choice.

Then the real fun starts.

By around 12:30PM the club chairman takes the stage and welcomes everyone (including the Republicans...even though they won't let you touch the microphone). Then he introduces the candidates one by one. Inevitably at least one of the local ones will be half smashed and will slur insults at the President and Republicans in general. Good times.

Because of the tradition the media will ALL be there. Tradition? Oh yeah, it was actually a religious holiday at one time.

"Dyngus Day or Wet Monday (Polish Śmigus-dyngus, Lany Poniedziałek, Polewanka or Oblewanka) is the name for Easter Monday in Poland. In the Czech Republic it is called Velikonoční pondělí or Pomlázka. Both countries practice a peculiar custom on this day.
In Poland, traditionally, early in the morning boys awake girls by pouring a bucket of water on their head and strike them about the legs with long thin twigs or switches made from willow, birch or decorated tree branches (palmy wielkanocne); however, the earliest documented[citation needed] records of Dyngus Day in Poland are from the 15th century, almost half a millennium after Poland adopted Christianity."

If you are lucky you might still see a local Democrat chasing young girls with cold beer intent on, well something.

Lazy voters, we will cater to you...

As I write this Barack Obama’s campaign is filing suit in Federal Court to hold polls open in Cuyahoga and Franklin Counties in Ohio.

Apparently it rained kind of hard in some areas of Ohio today and some people may have not made it.

I preface my rant with the fact that I think voting is vital and everyone should do it…once per election.

In Ohio you can cast a ballot up to 25 days prior to election day. On election day you have 12 hours to vote.

Every month people plan and schedule to pay their bills, attend worship services, buy groceries, pick up their kids and record their favorite TV shows. Don’t you think they could make a little time to plan on voting…even if it rains.

I personally have worked on campaigns in other places and countries where people travel for days to go vote. Countries where people wait in line under threat of violence for 6 or more hours to vote. Countries where people get killed on election day. And I am not just talking about Lake County Indiana.

It is completely stupid that we coddle some of our fellow Americans who need parental supervision and, apparently, a court order to go and play on the field of our American Democracy. It is shameful and insulting to the millions around the world who would risk their lives every day for just a taste of American democracy when we have some who were born here who don’t participate because they can not get it super sized or through a drive thru.

Obama's self organizing grassroots.

Campaigns will look more and more like this in the future. Less central control and more organic and self organizing.

Groundswell (Incorporating Charlene Li's Blog): Could the Social Network Create An Obama Win?: "There's lots of talk in politics about 'energizing the base.' my.barackobama.com is the base for Barack Obama. I still feel there's a flaw in this social network of Obama supporters -- I've seen no evidence that Obama is listening to anything they say. But terms of taking a base of supporters and turning them into a force to accomplish your goals, this may be the most powerful example there is."

I am going to be sick...

H/T to Ruffini.

Obama now over 1 million individual donors. Someone get me some Tums.

Patrick Ruffini :: Obama $70M?: "Remember this graphic? The one we used to power the crowdsourced spreadsheet?"

How the sausage gets made.

A must read on modern campaign communications.

How the sausage gets made - John F. Harris - Politico.com: "The exchanges show the speed and ferocity with which operatives inside presidential campaigns argue even the slightest nuances of stories they believe could be damaging. They also show the hectic, on-the-fly judgments that journalists make as they try to abide by standards of fairness while pushing back against dubious spin.

Among a volley of staff members and surrogates for Obama’s campaign to call Mahtesian, the most combative was deputy communications director Dan Pfeiffer.

Mahtesian, who has written about national politics for nearly two decades, said Sunday he was taken aback by Pfeiffer’s bellicose tone.

'Who are you? I've never heard of you. What's your background?' Pfeiffer demanded to know, Mahtesian recalled."