Jeff Wartman

On Feburary 13th, newly minted Chairman Michael Steele brought together activists for a GOP Tech Summit.  It’s long overdue — we were beaten badly in the technological realm in the last election, and if we are going to be competitive moving forward, we need to be able to be effective at using technology for activism and support.

First, a few thoughts:  using technology for political purposes is nothing new, nor is it a magic wand that will bring success.  Instead, technology makes it easier and quicker to do the things we are already trying to do — convey our message, reach voters on both a wholesale and retail level, and organize an effective grassroots movement.

Now, on to some reactions…

Patrick Ruffini over at The Next Right (an excellent new blog.  If you aren’t reading TNR daily, you’re missing out) illustrates some challenges we will face…

With guys like Cyrus and Saul at the helm, we can be pretty confident that the RNC will “get it.” Right now, I am less confident that consultants at the state and local level — who are usually themselves at least 10 years removed from their formative campaign and thus working off yesterday’s technology — will “get it.” Many of these consultants have never known a media mix that isn’t 80% TV, or are path-dependent on mail and phones. To the extent they engage online, it’s in hiring a low-level blogger to handle the Internets for them — and paying zero attention to it themselves.

It’s all well and good to suggest we’ll simply train these folks. In many ways, there are financial incentives against “getting it” — namely hefty commissions for TV and mail. It won’t be as easy as just explaining the benefits of new media. We face powerful obstacles to change.

and discusses reminders…

• First, we need to be very specific about what we mean by these goals. 5,000 e-mail addresses is very easy to get if you simply buy names or enter into a list exchange agreement with the RNC, the state party, or other group. We need to be clear that we mean organic online (or volunteer) signups ONLY. Campaigns may already have access to these other lists (though buying new lists should be a no-no) and can recruit off of them, but they shouldn’t count towards the goal.
• With hard goals it’s incumbent on the RNC to share best practices on organic list acquisition, including sharing conversion data on specific landing page designs, best practices for e-mail collection out in the field, and developing a list of techniques campaigns can use to grow their lists (e.g. petitions, polls & surveys, pledges of support, etc.)
• It’s possible these goals can be modified district per district. For instance, a senior-heavy district might only have to recruit 4,300 online activists while a suburban tech-heavy area might have to recruit 5,700.

And from a presentation by Sendhil Panchadsaram and David All:

The Internet has revolutionized politics forever – most profoundly by changing the definition of an activist:

• The 20-minute a day activist who sends emails while waiting in traffic during a commute to and from work.
• The in-between-a coffee break activist who sends tips to bloggers.
• The activist willing to give their candidate access to his Facebook status update once a day to spread a message.
• The stay-at-home mommyblogger who calls voters in targeted Congressional districts via Skype.

The challenges of technology and the Republican Party…

The challenge for the GOP isn’t so much a lack of activism, but the inability to harness it. There are plenty of people out there willing and yearning to help — the Long Tail of political activism — they just aren’t tapped as a resource effectively. And if they are tapped, they are not exposed to other causes or candidates of interest so when it’s over – it’s over.

We believe the immediate challenge our party must address if it is to win again is to develop a tool to facilitate and empower massive, distributed activism. With the right formula, the power and stickiness of the network will keep our activists engaged.

We must tap the Long Tail of activism by enlarging the pie through a system we refer to as Trickle Up Activism.

Unlike MyBO which only serves Obama, we see the Republican infrastructure as being a decentralized social network available to all GOP candidates which must be embraced by every campaign, from candidates for dog catcher all the way up to candidates for POTUS.

And illustrates that we can use an activist’s energy for one candidate and match them up with others that may need help…

The ideal goal is for the ability of the social network to recommend to people different networks they might like based on the composition and activity of those networks as they relate to their own, e.g., the “Republican Reformers for Sarah Palin” might like Senators Jim DeMint and Tom Coburn or Local Candidate X. Or based on the issue networks you are a part of, the network will identify candidates/networks in your area that match what you identify with.

By using technology to make smart recommendations to users we can better harness activism because we are exposing activists to more choices and greater increase their activism. Most activists tend to have tunnel vision and focus only on a certain level or just aren’t aware of what else is out there. For the platform to succeed and grow, we must expose activists to more networks and causes.

To close, two videos of notable speakers at the RNC Tech Summit…

Michael Steele

and Newt Gingrich…