Polifluentials, IPDI

The Institute for Politics, Democracy, and the Internet seems to be the leading authority on the growth and influence of Internet politics. Much of their work provides insight into this growing field from those who have worked so hard to establish it.

Polifluentials attempts to define the new inluencers in political campaigns. Much of what is brought to light through the the survey discussed in Polifluentials are hackneyed points driven home in every IPDI publication: The use of the internet in political campaigns is growing. More and more politically active people are getting their news from the internet. Blogs are becoming more powerful as agenda setting tools. Social networking utilities have become potent political organizing tools.
These truths are made clear through every IPDI publication. So what makes Polifluentials different?

Polifluentials is well discussed with another work assigned earlier this semester. Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point outlined those amongst us who act in special social capacities as bridges for social phenomenons. Those of us who help to connect and to drive new trends. Those who Gladwell calls 'connectors' and 'mavens' are welcomed into the online world in Polifluentials as 'politicals', 'influencers, and of course 'polifluentials'.

What makes the wooing of 'polifluentials' so attactive, is their ability build for a candidate or a campaign a strong online presence which will result in a stronger offline volunteer and activist base. This contribution of 'polifluentials' to the broad discussion on the influence of internet and politics is valuable. We then must ask what the emergence of such a group of activists truly means for political campaigns. This is still unclear. While it's undoubtedly true that 'polifluentials' can have a very positive effect on a candidate, it's difficult to say what kind of negative effect they can inflict on a candidate. Online organizations like MoveOn have tried to beat candidates before and failed, Joe Lieberman being the prime example.

What's important to realize is that this communiy is still growing in influence and in politicay maturity and savvy. I have no doubt that a time will come when some of the most truly inluential 'politicos' do most of their work online.

Mr. Super

There have certainly been a lot of websites popping up throughout this presidential election cycle which claim to give objective opinions on the race, or an inside scoop from a new perspective. Most of them don't live up to the billing, at least in my opinion, which I'm sure some call elitist.

One site however recently caught my eye. As the Democratic race continues with no end in sight it's become more likely that the nomination will be decided by those who hold unpledged seats at the Democratic Convention in August. Neither Hillary Clinton nor Barack Obama can win this nomination with pledged delegates, so the fact of the matter is both of them will have to garner the support of those who were elected to positions which bestow upon them an unpledged vote at the democratic convention. There are not many people who understand the party's delegate selection rules unfortunately and that goes for most of you reading this blog, which is probably nobody, but that's the unfortunate truth.

The site I'm talking about is called MrSuper.org and is allegedly a blog of an uncommitted DNC member who is keeping his or her powder dry in the lead up to the convention. What makes this site interesting, is that most of the content I've read is in fact objective. I wish this individual would share his or her insight with some other uncommitted unpledged delegates. I recommend taking a look at the sight and letting me know what you think. http://www.mrsuper.org/

The little revolution that could....or so they all thought the travails of the Ron Paul Revolution

Well, now that Congressman Paul has officially declared that his fairy tale race for the presidency is over, we can start talking more about the revolution that was, or that wanted to be.

Yes, Mr. Paul has left the building, at least the house of fiction.

I'm going to make this a running post about my thoughts on the Paul campaign. I'll probably invite my brother to do some guest blogging as well. He's the expert on this campaign.

My major criticism of the Paul campaign is in it's leadership. It's clear they never truly took advantage of the fundraising potential Congressman Paul possesed. Had they, they would have raised much more. The funny part is, that it wouldn't have mattered. Everyone who interacted with this group of clowns knows they had no strategy, no direction, and no operational skills whatsoever. So who's to blame for this? There was clearly appeal to Ron Paul's message. We can only blam one person, who ulitimately calls the shots and that's the congressman himself. If Ron Paul was serious about his message, if he was serious about actually competing in any of these states, he would have taken the initiative to hire a staff that could have have led him in a much more strategic direction. Like I said, I'll let my brother chime in on this later, but the fact is, they missed a huge opportunity.

CRM: The New Little Black Book of Politics ...The Institute for Politics, Democracy, & The Internet

After reading IPDI's CRM: The New Little Black Book of Politics you feel like you've read something tangible. As a campaign staffer, there's a great deal of information which I feel is very applicable to my daily job. When you read through the collection of pieces there's not much you'd see as controversial, but the reality is contrary to the logic.

In all political campaigns divisions exist on a variety of levels. Today, we face a new challenge when developing a strategy to elect a candidate. Over the past ten five years or so a new wave in political campaigning has risen to challenge the old guard of the campaign community. The new guard is one which is more in tune to the technology of mainstream America. They are a group who recognize the new ways which Americans are communicating and the importance of both understanding this communication and taking advantage of it. Many modern campaigns still struggle with the reality that ignoring these communication medians could prove fatal to their candidates chances. It's a battle against the old guard and the new guard and the campaigns which are able to reconcile the differences in mindset may prove to be the most succesful.

There's no doubt in my mind that all of the major presidential campaigns are using CRM technologies. I know for a fact one of them uses a number of systems. One of the major themes in this work is the difference between recognizing the need for such a system and combining the usage of such systems with real world relationship building. The point is reiterated repeatedly that simply purchasing a CRM system will not lead to a winning campaign. There's no doubt some campaigns have been dramatically more successfull in building bridges to their constituencies than have others. The ability to bridge between the old guard and new guard determines what a campaign gets out of their CRM strategy. This requires much of the staff, particularly the senior staff, in setting the standards by which the campaign will operate. A small fissure in this approach can lead to major repercussions. For instance, imagine an individual in charge of an entire region not being on board with the CRM strategy. When it comes time for critical contact, there won't be time for the campaign to reconcile rogue lists or god forbid communication which has failed to be tracked at all.

As someone with a significant amount of on the ground campaign experience, I believe some of the ideas and strategies proposed by these authors, while they would undoubtedly prove effective if achievable, are impractical in both a logistical and a political sense. For instance, the notion of arming field organizers with PDAs which would enable them to do real time data entry is logistically unrealistic. First of all, most FOs wouldn't understant how to use a PDA, their strength is in their verbal communication, not their technical know how. While they could be trained, this represents a huge obstacle to utilizing this level of technology. Also, I think you'd be hard pressed to find a field director who would feel comfortable handing over expensive pieces of electronics to his or her staff in the field. Field staff, while they should be applauded for the amazing hours they put in, are notorious for filth and forgetfullness. Another thing that struck me as unfeasible would be having a computer at an event check in to take people's names and email addresses. While I'm not sure if any campaigns actually do this, I would be skeptical of the idea. It's hard enough to get someone to sign a paper list at an event. People sitting at computers taking information would be both intimidating, and probably seen as intrusive. My solution would be to put more urgency into uploading the data into a CRM in some meaningful way.

These are small criticisms of the piece. Overall I feel this is an indispensable collection of essays which no student studying politics should go without. In fact, I'd argue that campaigns should make this required reading for many departments within their operations.

MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country

Hosting house parties, signing online petitions, and building websites are only a few of the things you can do to grab hold of your latent activism and start working effectively for the causes you believe in. MoveOn's 50 Ways to Love Your Country explains all of these and more, in what can be described as an idiot's guide to twenty first century activism .

The book's strength lies in both it's format and spirit. The MoveOn team has strung together a compilation of real life success stories which focus on using the internet as an organizing tool. The stories seldom take up more than two pages which makes them easy to read and more importantly to understand. To enhance simplicity each story is accompanied by a "MoveOn's Tips" box which highlights the lessons which should be learned.

It's weakness is however overarching. The book fails to identify the true impetus in most of the case studies, which more often than not is the ability of the given citizen to effectively capitalize on the momentum awarded by a successful internet campaign. In many of these stories, the internet campaign sets the framework for the job which must be accomplished. The ultimate success of the campaign is dependent more so on actual creative human interaction taking place, and unfortunately, the MoveOn tips don't frequently address these points. For instance, in the first account of the book the success of the campaign had much more to do with the teams' on the ground efforts than it did with the signatures collected. Admittedly, this is a classic chicken and egg dilemma. Obviously the signatures empower them to go further, but actually printing them and bringing them to the governor, and drawing the press coverage, was perhaps the tipping point in their campaign.

Overall MoveOn should be applauded for bringing so many new faces into a world of activism where they can make a difference. I must so however, that as an active Democrat I've been both impressed and annoyed at MoveOn in the past. While they've brought innovation to political campaigns which has undoubtedly provided enthusiasm for a new brand of activism, they've also focused their strengths against some members of our party. While I consider myself to be a part of the progressive wing of the Democratic party, I also understand the need for the party to appeal more broadly, for the good of the country. I understand MoveOn is user driven, but targeting fellow Democrats is not time will spent. However that's my opinion, and that's another thing that makes this country great.

Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope by Zephyr Teachout and Thomas Streeter

Through a collection of personal accounts Zephyr Teachout and Thomas Streeter give one account of the changing structure of Democratic campaign politics as evidenced through Howard Dean's presidential campaign. With each personal story the reader gains insight into the power of the internet as both an organizing and fundraising tool. The book is a must read for anyone whose worked in Democratic politics or has aspirations to do so.

While the book touches upon many of the exciting and dynamic potentials of harnessing the power and opportunity of the internet and it's use in democratic politics, it also leaves the reader questioning.

While Streeter and Teachout clearly embrace the model of campaign employed by the Dean dreamers, the harsh reality is that Dean's campaign succumbed to one of a different nature, one they would undoubtedly label as establishment prone.

While there's no doubt Dean's campaign changed future approaches to Democratic campaigns, much is still to be proven. We've yet to see a campaign won on the preachings of people like Streeter and Teachout and until that happens Internet strategy will be just another conk in the party establishment's approach to campaigning, and in fact, this may be it's ultimate home. What remains to be seen is if this conk is consumed by the said establishment or proves more resilient of previously lauded campaign strategies. The conk is certainly in a state of impressive growth and influence.

In the end, Teachout, Streeter and the gang complain about the same things other campaign strategists do, such as treatment by the mainstream media and timing of high level endorsements, and of course the power of on the ground organizing. If the games is to change it still remains to be seen.

The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell

Malcolm Gladwell's The Tipping Point explains the process of bringing a product or movement from the point of failure or success to the point of social fad or phenomenon. Only through an interconnected social web of "connectors", "mavens", and "salesmen" do the products and movements we've become so familiar with over the years reach their tipping point. The subtitle of Gladwell's book perhaps best explains the phrase "Tipping Point". "How little things can make a big difference" alludes to the argument of which Gladwell advocates, which is premised upon the idea that a small change in a product or an approach makes an enormous difference in terms of success.

The Tipping Point is about much more than why skateboard shoes are wildly popular and how crime was successfully combated in New York. The books true worth is its underlying commentary on the nature of human interaction and social systems. What motivates us as human beings is what comes in to question. Whether we choose to stop and help someone or keep walking has little to do with our level of morality and more to do with human mentality.

After reading Gladwell’s book examples of past and potential tipping points will burst into your head. So many came to my mind, but one stood out above the rest. In this case, a tipping point deficit exists and it’s something I ponder daily. Every morning I walk from the metro to my office and pass by both a trash barrel and a recycling bin. The recycling bin is specialized, as all are throughout D.C. metros, so as to allow for only newspapers to be inserted. It’s also place off to the side of the main walkway where the trash can is conveniently positioned. Each day the trash can is overflowing with newspapers and if I had to bet on it, I’d say the recycling bin is fairly empty. Why do D.C. metro riders choose to throw their newspapers away instead of recycling? It’s not because they are anti-recycling, it’s a matter of pure convenience. Not only is the trash can more conveniently placed, but the recycling bin is designed in a fashion which does not allow for many papers to be put in at once, which is not conducive to a rush of commuters. Now I’m not sure if simply positioning the recycling bin in the line of traffic would be the tipping point, but I’m certain that a chance in design combined with a change in location would do the trick.