Some thoughts for future campaigns

Already we are seeing the power of YouTube in the current presidential campaign. Last year Indiana saw an attempt to use YouTube against Brad Ellsworth. While I suspect the blogosphere's influence fails to match the belief of its influence, I do think that the Internet has the potential to create access for those candidates and parties who would otherwise lack access. Behind my assertion there lies the premise that the Internet continues to be a source of wonderment, bafflement and general oddness for the majority of the world and the traditional media will focus on the oddness of an Internet campaign but necessarily the message. I am not thinking exactly of viral marketing. What I am thinking is more akin to an Ebola outbreak than a virus.

The advantage lies with the underdog, the minority in the sort of campaign I am thinking of for that outsider status gives the campaign the very cachet that makes it worth a look by the traditional media. Some may object with great earnestness that such a focus detracts from the message. I would counter that such earnestness falls close to foolishness. An unheard message means nothing. Such a campaign must have the message clearly stated but look for any method of getting the message out - even if it means that the message is not the focus of the means by which it is disseminated.

Getting Sir Sean Connery to broadcast a message gets the attention of the traditional media that increases the audience for the message. From today's Sunday Herald (Scotland):

AN ONLINE television station will be launched tomorrow by legendary actor Sir Sean Connery on behalf of the Scottish National Party.

The Hollywood star will introduce the first programme on SNP TV, which is the latest attempt by the Nationalists to fuse campaigning with the digital revolution. Party strategists hope the venture - the first of its kind in Scotland - will help connect the SNP to younger voters.

The channel will go live at 9pm tomorrow with an exclusive film by Connery, in which he outlines his"hopes and aspirations" for Scotland. It will also feature interviews with SNP-supporting artists, including pop star Sandi Thom and actor Martin Compston.

Political figures such as former Nationalist president Winnie Ewing and trade unionist Jimmy Reid will also have slots on the channel, which is expected to broadcast around three hours of footage every night until the end of the campaign.

It will be fronted by Hannah Bardell, who joined the Nationalists from GMTV, and will include behind-the-scenes interviews with SNP candidates in constituencies around the country. Voters will be able to access the station from the SNP's website and will also be able to supply their own footage.

The project is far removed from the party's last attempt to bypass the mainstream media during an election campaign. In 1999, when the party was receiving daily humiliations from the print media, SNP leader Alex Salmond chose to launch a pro-independence newspaper, which was widely ridiculed.

However, the party seems to have given up on alternative newspapers and has instead chosen to embrace other means of contacting the electorate.

Considering how the Anderson Herald-Bulletin treated Robert Rock in the last mayoral race, I do not expect that Anderson Democrats, in particular, or Indiana Democrats, generally, can expect favorable treatment by most of our traditional media. Rather than have another interpret the ideas of our Democratic Party, the means exist for speaking directly with the public.

The Internet does not take kindly to fakers. Bill O'Reilly gets away with his no-spin zone while whirling like a dervish on speed. The Internet has less patience and more cruelty for this kind of nonsense. This means that more honesty than propaganda, humanity more than talking points, needs to be at the heart of the Internet campaign outlined above.

Locally, I would have added a blog to the website for the local party. Blogging provides a means to interact between the public and the party and/or candidate. Yes, expect trolls but that may not be such a bad thing. Reading the trolls leaving comments behind at Taking Down Words and I often wonder (among other things like some people's mental health) how they do their side no favors influencing any reader who is an independent voter.

I would also add video. We have the technology even if we do not have Lee Majors. (Okay, I am showing my age with that allusion). Here lies the chance to humanize the candidate and the party, to bring the ideas down to the public. I strongly believe that we have let others define the Democratic Party to the point that no one really knows what we stand for and we need to educate the public about the Democratic Party. We need to put a human face to the party instead of talking points and campaign rhetoric. The means exist for this kind of educational effort. We need to be using them.