MySpace is for tools. That's always been my opinion, and it always will be.

:)

going to finally take a look at John Hall, running in NY-19??

Just curious.

Worrying about what the generals are doing is a total waste of time. They always screw up campaigns, but it's a recipe for heartburn to worry about it.

Close races are decided by one, two, or a handful of voters per precinct. Divide the margin of victory by the number of precincts and you'll be surprised how small the number is.

If your target is to get seven votes (rock-solid) in  your precinct, go do it. Trust that others are doing the same. There is still time to register voters who would be with you if they were registered--esp. students and renters.

Many voters, for many reasons, have better things to do than vote on election day. By better things, I mean pull an extra shift to pay some bills, bail a kid of jail, take a relative to the emergency room, or just crap out on the couch and watch a couple of mean 24-year-olds try to knock each other unconscious on ESPN.

Whatever the reason, get these folks to vote early (and often, if you dare).

Then there's persuasion. Many, many people are simply not tuned into the congressional elections. If you've worked off-year elections, you are used to comments such as "didn't I just vote for John Kerry?" Just showing up at the door is a powerful act of persuasion.

For others who are genuinely worried about terrorism and the war in Iraq--number one and two issues in many polls--show them the Clinton interview with asshole Chris Wallace.

The key points: Iraq is not seven times more important than Afghanistan. Bin Laden will die of old age before Bush catches him. We were safer under the Democrats.

People want to vote for the Democrats but they're afraid we'll be serving the terrorists lattes instead of steel-jacketed NATO rounds.

On election day, you should have a list of 1s in your precinct. If you need a computer to keep track of them, great; you've been busy! Chances are, though, you can write their names and addresses on the back on envelope.  Remember, seven votes is probably going to be plenty if the race is close enough to swing with field ops.

The biggest waste of time on the Internet is trying to write commercials and figure out grand strategy. The way to win elections is to talk to a lot of people, and get a few of them to the polls.

I think the Dem candidates need to emphasize more than they currently do absentee voting. This avoids the crush of election day and the logistics and tracking if voters have got to the polls.

Absentee ballots means a paper trail - so no not counting. It allows campaigns to influence the voter  during their key decision making process and allows much easier tabulations who voted and when. Enabling more focused targeting on election day.

It may surprise a few people, but Phil Angelides has  done a great job on myspace with 6,729 friends.  It is most impressive.  He has his daughter running youth outreach.

I am playing around w/myspace myself and just launched OneTerminator. last week.

I've sent in an application to be a pollworker. Should be interesting, to say the least, and I have the time.

You may be interested in a diary I wrote a week ago called "Steal This Idea! Fast!":

http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/9/19/1537 36/588

It is about an interesting approach the California Republican Assembly (CRA), a social conservative faction of the GOPigs, are using in California to find volunteers, distribute campaign literature, and provide a list of voters for volunteers to contact.  Here is a direct link to their site:  

http://www.CRAVictoryTeam.com

I suspect that the site has access to all the voting records in California, screens volunteers to be sure they are GOPigs, and provides the names of less than likely voters ahead of other voters to volunteers so the less likely voters can be contacted early and often.

Also note that the CRA is not pushing Governor Schwarzenegger.  

Going after new voters is good thing to do -- after the regular Democratic voters have been secured by giving them hard evidence of fealty.

That's something that most Republicans have understood in recent years and too many Democrats haven't. Sherrod Brown is the latest example of a Democrat abandoning his base voters in order to impress those who aren't. I'm no prognosticator, but I'll guess that the next polls from OH will show him losing support after his vote for Bush's torture law and against Democratic Party principles.

Right on, Matt. I teach the old tools of field -- doorknocking and phoning, and lots of etc. and I think these will continue to matter, but there are always new ways of creating the personal connection that really moves a voter to your cause -- and we need to explore all tools.

Field operators like me view the endless desire of many folks to chew on finding the right message as a way of avoiding work.. :-)

Hi Matt -- when you say "best candidates using these tools" and include Friedman -- is that an endorsement of his candidacy or are you just pointing to an interesting use of MySpace by a candidate. I assume it's the latter. Check it out.

First of all, candidates and campaign managers should attend training seminars like the one's done by Wellstone Action.  They teach the fundamentals of progressive campaigning.  

If Democrats are going to improve at GOTV, they need to build their entire campaigns around it.  A candidate will need tons of volunteers out doorknocking starting in June.  He/she will need a phone bank running every day starting in August (if not earlier).  The canvassing and phoning will be to identify (ID) voters.  

However, there are several factors that are critical:

1.  Expand the voter universe
2.  Recruit a massive amount of volunteers.

Expand the voter universe
Most campaigns have contacted the people who have voted in 4 of the last 6 elections.  Nowadays, this is a pretty small pool.  I am a proponent of expanding the pool to increase voter turnout.  A good example of this is the Keith Ellison Campaign for MN-05.  I blogged about their strategy here and here.  Basically, they targeted the disenfranchised, lower turnout Wards in Minneapolis.  They did the standard stuff in the high turnout Wards.

Recruit a massive amount of volunteers
To talk to the voters in an expanded pool, you need to expand your volunteer pool.  You need a dedicated volunteer recruiting team and a really good Volunteer Coordinator.  This is an absolutely critical part of progressive campaigning and separates successful and unsuccesful campaigns.  It also helps if you've got a strong candidate.

I'm intrigued about improving niche campaigning.  Like targeting specific minority groups, people who travel for business, environmentalists, the outdoors/ATV/snowmobile crew and etc. and especially how to increase Democrat absentee voting.

Looks like MyLeftNutmeg just started a massive project for turnout and voter targeting, which you might find interesting. (link)