Tuesday, November 18, 2003

Notes on the Dean case study: I have not made up my mind about Dean as a candidate -- I've spent relatively little time considering him as someone I might support. This stuff won't work for everyone -- you've got to have a viable candidate in the first place. I don't think Kucinich or Moseley-Braun could replicate Dean's success. My requests to the Edwards campaign to visit and discuss their technology in depth drew no response. None of this means Dean is going to win, and none of it can make him win on its own -- message, tone, and external factors are critical -- but it's a huge part of his success so far. When I get the chance, I'll post some quotes that didn't make the cut. 11:05:10 AM    comment []

My case study on the Dean campaign's online strategy is up at the Baseline site. It weighs in at almost 6,000 words, with more to come -- the print version will include our usual smorgasbord of charts and sidebars. Some quotes from the article: Zephyr Teachout, Dean's director of online organizing: "I'm obsessed with offline." "I can imagine the campaign without the blog, but not without Meetup." Joe Trippi, campaign manager: "We want to let [grassroots volunteers] have control, let them help the campaign how they want to help the campaign." Staff blogger Joe Rospars: "The blog itself is not about getting votes, it's about activating people to get votes." Campaign consultant and Cluetrain Manifesto co-author David Weinberger: "They are as close as I've seen to structuring a political campaign around the Cluetrain themes."  Blogger-in-chief Matt Gross: "The more you see of the technology, the more stifled the conversation becomes." 10:49:17 AM    comment []