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Thursday, December 16, 2004
State Party Blog Project: Day 1
Posted by Tim TagarisTwenty-four hours ago I sent out an email to the 34 states absent a blog from their party web page. The note discussed the implications netroots outreach have in organizing, informing, involving, and fundraising (the language they speak). I even offered to help those without blogs get off the ground; setting them up and tips for outreach based on the successes from the last election cycle.
By the time I woke up, Wednesday morning, I already had several replies.
Was your state one of them, and what were the specific replies? Find out in the extended entry....
Vermont
We are interested.
Short and sweet, but that's alright. They will get a phone call and will hopefully be on-line within the next few days.
North Carolina
Thank you for your message. You're right about the blog and we are currently in the process of revamping our website to include one.
Kentucky
Thank you for contacting us about having a blog on our Web site. We switched to a new Web site recently and it does have built-in blog capabilities. We do plan to turn that feature "on" soon.
Again, thank you for bringing the importance of using blogs to our attention--more precisely, thanks for reminding us that we need to further explore how we will use ours.
That was my favorite response, until...
Alabama!
i have been wanting to do this. not sure exactly how to go about it. any insight would be greatly appreciated.
Finally, Florida (an excerpt -- was a long email)
I've gone so far as to walk through the blog creation process at blogspot.com and to download movable type for potentially hosting a blog on our webserver. We also wrote a very simplistic web diary for use by our delegation during the convention. One reason I'm not hosting a blog is maintenance. [...]
I love blogs. I read several regularly. We already run a yahoo group that allows some members to carry on discussions. What more will a blog do for us?
I emailed him back, talking about how much a blog could have done in 2000 for Florida. I also noted the potential for 2006, since they have a Gubernatorial and Senate race up for grabs.
Even tonight, I got an email from someone in Rhode Island who heard about the project and wants to help locally, to get his state party set up despite a lack of manpower.
Oh, I forgot one.
New York
Thank you for contacting us. Because of the volume of email we receive daily...
Yeah, it was a form letter directing me to other links on their page. But that's OK! We got responses from "red states," "blue states," and "swing states." As Jerome and Matt discussed in their coverage of the Orlando meetings, many of the "less competitive" states were very upset about getting scraps from the national party. If our goal is to turn elections into 50 state contests, that is a legitimate beef.
Putting a blog on your web page is only one small step. However, if taken seriously, the ability to communicate, inform, recruit, and solicit are powerful byproducts of the technology. By moving themselves one step closer to two-way mass communication with the grassroots, they will be making progress toward putting the power back into their own hands, regardless of who is elected DNC Chair.
Posted at 03:08 AM in Activism, Netroots, Netroots | Technorati
Comments
The Texas Democratic Party had a blog last year called the Yellow Dog Blog (http://www.yellowdogblog.com/mt/). It is currently offline, but I have been told by the person who was mainly responsible for its content that it will be back soon.
Posted by: Charles Kuffner at December 16, 2004 09:55 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
You should get a personal reply from NY soon. When I queried them on the same topic a year ago, I first got an auto-responder and then a day or two later I got a real e-mail. (The actual response wasn't what I hoped for, but...) In any case, I think having an auto-responder is a good idea, if you know it'll take a few days before a real human can respond. (But in the height of the campaign season, hopefully you have enough bodies to work the lines.)
Posted by: DavidNYC at December 16, 2004 09:59 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
AZDems just put up their new blog ... and are asking for advice from their locals about what they want on it.
We should swing over there and give some tips.
The link is http://azdem.org/?s=Blog ....
Language on the site right now seems like they really get it -- or at least are trying VERY hard to learn.
Posted by: MisterTinAZ at December 16, 2004 05:36 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Good going Tim!
I remember the first time I got up the guts to ask somebody "what's a blog?"
Posted by: Pamela at December 17, 2004 09:30 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
How do you define blog? I didn't see anything on the Colorado state party site that looked like a blog, but it wasn't on your list of shame.
Posted by: Jim at December 17, 2004 03:00 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
I will put $100 on any state you feel is best. As I am currently unemployed, I am really putting something on the table. Maybe someone else will do the same. Thanks!
eric@buzzbait.com ---chicago
Posted by: eric wolf at December 18, 2004 01:43 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Eric,
I'll tell you what would be more valuable than 100 dollars.
Adopting a state to get in touch with to get on-line. If they are aware of the implications and educated, most are willing to fund it themselves.
Tim
Posted by: Tim T. at December 18, 2004 02:09 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment