Remember last at year at this time when all the buzz was around Howard Dean and his internet-based campaign? I remember, because I ran the Republicans for Dean blog. We also remember that Dean lost-bigtime.
Then there was all the talk about Move On.org and how well it was working. Well, now we find that Zach Exley, the technical guru behind Move On and the Dean and Kerry campaigns thinks that this emphasis on the Internet was a losing strategy for Dems. As noted in Politics1 Exley sees that simply using technology doesn't translate into a successful campaign. It was worked wonders as a fundraising tool, but not to mobilize the grass roots. He says:
"The difference between the approach of the left in general, and the Republicans, is that the left was more interested in just putting cool software up. The idea was to put up the tools and let people use them ... The belief was 'let's get 5,000 people out there and they'll talk to each other. But, to put a President in office, we need to get people organized and trained."
People did talk to each other, but in the end they only talked to each other and didn't persuade others.
I noticed this happened in some Republican circles as well. The Republicans for Kerry site was mostly about how bad Bush was and not about trying to build an effective moderate movement. The same goes to Come Back to the Mainstream. This group started with big with a full page ad in the New York Times, several articles and a snazzy website. But in the end, it was nothing more than a place for people to vent and to rally around Kerry instead of actually doing the groundwork for a movement.
What a waste of $10.
People can get as mad as they want about the far right, but the fact is, they know how to organize people. Liberals and moderates don't. We know how to bitch and moan and how to best move to Canada, but we don't know how to reach the hearts and minds of the American people.
Until we do that, we will lose to the far right no matter how cute our blog looks.
Posted by Dennis at December 24, 2004 12:31 AMliberals know how to organize. they do it very well. how else do you explain a nut-job like kerry being nominated. once they got him no amount of ogranization was goign to repair him though.
i agree that moderate republicans cant organize themselves. it took perot to come in from the outside to do that in recent history.
Posted by: mike at December 29, 2004 07:10 AMA few thoughts on further reflection:
1. The internet shouldn't be overly discounted--it is true that it connects the converted and helps raise money. Those strengths should be played up by plugging the newly converted into the existing communications framework as quickly and thoroughly as possible.
2. Look at the opposition for their successful operating methods. In particular, the Club for Growth has used a strategy of bundling campaign contributions to great effect. Moderate organizations like REP, Republican Majority for Choice, and the Republican Mainstreet Partnership should become their competition.
3. Address one of the main weakness of the moderate wing: lack of an easily defined constituency. This population of "moderate" voters is vast, but being difficult to describe under an easy label (eg NASCAR dad or Northeast Liberal) they aren't talked about much in the press or by political strategists, losing influence. A few possibilities: defined as supporters of a specific leader like McCain (in the past we were called "Rockefeller Republicans" but that seems anachronistic now, and there's no clear leader of the wing today), using a wedge issue (although "pro-Choice Republicans" doesn't really capture the difference with the conservative wing), or political axis oriented (eg "fiscally conservative, socially liberal Republicans" though this is cumbersome and not quite accurate). Clearly I don't have an answer on this one but it deserves some debate.
4. Encourage moderate Republican activity on college campuses. I was certainly put off by the extreme social conservative makeup of my college's Young Republicans. If the only alternative to that is the Democrats, many people who originally considered themselves moderates will give up on the Republicans altogether.
And I certainly concur with previously voiced ideas about Moderates becoming more politically active in various ways, but without smart political strategy these efforts may not be placed for optimum effect.
Posted by: Jeff at December 27, 2004 04:49 PM"It was worked wonders as a fundraising tool, but not to mobilize the grass roots"
"People did talk to each other, but in the end they only talked to each other and didn't persuade others. "
These seem to contradict each other. If people ended up talking to each other, they were mobilized. Perhaps your more accurate criticism is that the Internet didn't mobilize people in the right way. Or that it's an interest tool, but some confused it as an end in itself. The grass roots WERE mobilized. It's just that such official blogs tend to preach to the converted, rather than do the converting.
Any ideas out there on better ways to organize then?
Posted by: Jeff at December 24, 2004 06:07 AM