Boogie Man Premiere
A couple weeks ago I mentioned that we politicos should get together for the Boogie Man premiere tomorrow night. Unfortunately I have been completely SLAMMED and forgot about it.
So, here it is. Tomorrow night we are going to the 8:30 pm premiere at the Nickelodeon Theatre right across from the Statehouse on the Pendleton St side. We are meeting for beers across the street at Hunter Gatherer at 7:30.
I just called the Nickelodeon Theatre and they recommend that you buy tickets online today.
Hope to see you there.
DeMint Helps Video Go Viral
Last week I posted a video that was forwarded to voters by Senator DeMint. It seems that Senator DeMint’s efforts have helped the video go viral. Check out this post by Rob Bluey:
It seems like everyone in Washington is focused on one thing: the financial bailout. Over the course of the past week, conservatives and liberals have done battle to shape the message. Think tanks, non-profits and other interest groups have debated policy proposals in hopes of finding a solution — or preventing one.
Then yesterday came a 10-minute YouTube video called “What Caused Our Economic Crisis?” posted by TheMouthPeace. It quickly found its way onto right-leaning blogs, including the popular Hot Air and Power Line. Even the Drudge Report linked to it yesterday.
But it was the effort of one politician, Sen. Jim DeMint (R-SC), who is using it to reinforce his policy message. Yesterday an e-mail arrived in my inbox from DeMint’s campaign:
Dear Friend –
Senator DeMint wanted to share this video on the federal bailout with you. Thanks for your support.
Sincerely,
Team DeMintDeMint currently has about 40 comments on his blog, but even more impressive are the 5,038 clicks YouTube has registered from his website, making DeMint the No. 1 site linking to the video.
This is reminiscent of another policy debate that prompted some clever YouTube videos last year. In that case, an anonymous user put together two short and funny videos mocking liberal plans to expand the State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP). Conservatives who were fighting against this — and successfully sustained President Bush’s veto — said the videos were a very helpful in explaining a complicated issue.
Much like this new video on the economic crisis.
The stats of the video are a little misleading because it was removed by YouTube for a music copyright violation and reposted to fit the law. Senator DeMint now has 99 comments on his blog post.
I Learned a New Word Today: Astroturfing
According to The State, astroturfing is “any PR effort to try to create a false sense of grassroots support for an issue.” Nice.
Check out this rather funny clip from Sunday’s The Buzz:
The Buzz would like to issue a lifetime achievement award in astroturfing to the SC Policy Council and its allies this week.
Astroturfing is any PR effort to try to create a false sense of grassroots support for an issue. This week, it was calls to require roll call voting for the state Legislature.
Supporters called a press conference Wednesday and talked about the widespread public support for the idea. Then those same people spent the day filling blogs with comments in support of the idea to simulate said widespread support.
Well, The Buzz has been on the campaign trail a little bit this year. And with a cratering financial system, inflation eating away at paychecks, two wars overseas, illegal immigration and roughly 50 million people with no health insurance, we cant tell you how many people have bent The Buzz’s ear about the need for state lawmakers to take a roll call vote on bills governing how and when to remove a mobile home.
Actually, we can. It’s none.
The Buzz is all for the transparency roll call votes provide (we’re asking for unanimous consent from y’all in the Senate). But so far the issue is more heat than light.
SC Democrat Bloggers Join Forces
I agree with about 0.08% of what they write, but Not Very Bright, Elonkey, and Crack The Bell do a great job for Democrats in the blogosphere. Now they are joining forces with Indigo Journal.
The content may make you throw up in your mouth, but it’s definately a blog you should be reading daily. Just stock up on the mints.
Who Is Stepping Up?
And how many times can I say “stepping up” in one video?
In my new video I talk about how the SCGOP, John McCain, and SCHotline are stepping up their web game and doing some cool stuff on the web.
Want to Play Demolition Derby?
Just do it in a private parking lot.
That’s right. We just learned that you can go and hit as many cars as you want and as long as you are in a private parking lot and not on a public road, you can go and screw up cars all day long without fear of legal reprecussions.
Elizabeth’s car just got nailed at a gas station and the cop told the jackass who hit her “I could give you six tickets if your car were out there” pointing to the road. After my wonderful week in jury duty and now this, I’ve learned that the City of Columbia legal system is completly full of crap.
PAGING KIRKMAN FINLAY. PAGING KIRKMAN FINLAY. Want to jump on this one for us?
What Caused The Economic Crisis? Watch This!
Senator DeMint just posted this on his blog. You should take 10 minutes out of your day and watch it.
Btw, this is not my work.
DeMint says Thank You for making Oct 1st Energy Freedom Day
Senator DeMint Fighting The Bailout
In case you haven’t noticed, Senator DeMint is leading the national fight against the bailout plan. Here are a few of his television appearances:
PNN: How It Works
And how you can aggregate news too.
Best viewed in full screen mode.
Use The Internet To Target Opinion Leaders
Last week I told you about that elected official who wanted me to help him with Internet strategy. Unfortunately he doesn’t have a site adequate enough to implement a strategy. Here’s what I told him about new media and communications strategy:
New media is an interactive way of spreading your message using web activity and the keys to success are simple: update and target opinion leaders.
If your website is updated frequently, people will keep coming back. Just image if cnn.com, foxnews.com, or drudgereport.com had the same news stories every single time you visited. Every day, every week…the same old stories. You would quit visiting the sites and that’s why many political sites fail.
There are a lot of web consultants out there who completely ignore traditional campaign strategies and advise candidates to concentrate fully on the web. That’s stupid. We like to make fun of those guys because they obviously don’t know what they’re talking about. Or, they might be trying to take all your money.
We believe that one day every voter will get the majority of their news from the web and maybe one day those guys will be right. But that’s not going to happen in the next few cycles and it certainly isn’t going to happen today. Regular voters still get their political news from the opinion leaders.
We label opinion leaders as those who disseminate information to others. Mainstream media, activists, elected officials, uber-informed voters are all opinion leaders.
New media is important because most opinion leaders get a large chunk of their news from the web. That in turn is disseminated down to regular voters.
It’s called the two-step flow of communication. “The people with most access to media, and having a more literate understanding of media content, explain and diffuse the content to others.” Here’s how it works:
Joe lives in Columbia. He is 63 years olds, votes in every Republican primary, but doesn’t own a computer and wouldn’t know what to do with it if he did.
Bill (our opinion leader) is a reporter for the Associated Press who reads blogs every day. Today he read an interesting story on a SC blog, investigated it a little deeper, and wrote his own story. After posting his story on the wire, it was picked up by WIS and The State newspaper. Joe saw the story on the 11:00 news last night and read about it again in The State this morning. The story was written on a blog, read by a reporter, and disseminated down to the regular voter.
How often does that happen? Every single day. Remember Adam Fogle’s “So Gay” post?
New media is more than just posting press releases on the web. It’s using the latest technology like blogs, videos, and podcasts to get people interacting with your message and wanting to come back for more.
Potential Light Blogging This Week
Oh yeah baby! You know I’m pumped about this.
It could be worse. I could live in Cuba.
Get Drop Box
State Rep-Elect Dan Hamilton twittered last week about the new storage application Drop Box and I have to tell you folks, I’m seriously freakin’ pumped about it.
Get hooked up with Drop Box and throw away that key chain thumb drive. Just like this:
Drop Box is a storage application that allows you to securely backup your documents and retrieve them from a different location. Instead of carrying around that stupid thumb drive, you can just upload your document to getdropbox.com and get it from any computer with Internet access.
That’s cool and all, but I’m more pumped about the ability to help transfer documents. Lauren, our badass designer, likes to send me massive image files that clog up my inbox and slow down my computer. With Drop Box Lauren can just upload the image file and let me know it’s there. I can download it without slowing down everything else I’m doing.
Do yourself a favor and get Drop Box. You will be pumped too!
Jim DeMint Asks “Should We Drill?”
Senator Jim DeMint wants to know your opinion. Should Congress renew the twenty-five year ban on offshore drilling or should they let it expire so that we can become less dependent on foreign oil? Here’s the email from Senator DeMint:
Friends -
I know you are very busy, but I need your immediate help.
As you know, the twenty-five year ban on offshore drilling will expire on October 1st. In the coming days the Senate will be debating on whether or not to renew the ban. I believe that we should not renew the ban and begin drilling in our territories to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, but I need to know what you think.
Should we let the twenty-five year ban on offshore drilling expire?
Should we stop frivolous lawsuits from left-wing environmental groups that have delayed energy production for years?
Please click here and answer these two quick questions today.
Thank you for taking the time out of your busy day to give me your opinion on this very important topic.
Sincerely,
Jim DeMint
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