Attention South Carolina Bloggers
I have been asked to build a South Carolina blogger contact list for press releases and such. The list will be sent to any South Carolina official office or campaign office that asks for it. And yes, it will be available to folks on both sides of the aisle. If you would like to start receiving releases, please email the following to me at wesleydonehue@gmail.com:
1. Blog/website name
2. Blog/website url
3. Your name (if not anonymous)
4. Email address
Example:
Political Net News
www.politicalnetnews.com
Wesley Donehue
wesleydonehue@gmail.com
Thanks!
Should You Get Personal?
“Why Harbison Chickfila better than Main Street? Drive thru and cheaper!”
- SC Representative Nathan Ballentine, 5:40 AM Nov 21st, via Twitter
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
I’ve been trading emails with a South Carolina State Representative for the past week about a new website and social networking. He’s a little hesitant because he wants to increase his presence on the Internet, but he’s worried about the time commitment.
You know, we often forget that our legislators are citizen-legislators. Most of them have full time jobs and full time families. Truthfully I don’t see how they can balance their family and professional lives with serving in Columbia, constituent services, and community projects. I believe that when going out and attacking them as “status quo politicians” as many bloggers do, we should remember the commitment they have made and the extremely small return on their personal investment.
While trading emails, this State Representative asked, “if I go forward, should I blog and twitter about my personal life or just my political endeavors?”
The answer – 100% absolutely without a doubt blog and twitter about your personal life.
I believe that elections are only 40% about issues. 60% is about the candidate…the person. It’s about trust, honesty, hard work, and all those personal traits that connect you with the voter. You can’t even get to the issues if you don’t first gain their trust.
Take a look at John McCain and Mitt Romney. Poll after poll showed that Republican primary voters were much more in line with Mitt Romney than John McCain. Many Republicans had issue with McCain’s stances on immigration, values, campaign finance reform, and taxes. But Mitt Romney was labeled as the flip-flopper. Voters didn’t trust him and John McCain was the known commodity. McCain was the straight talking candidate who told you what he believed, whether you liked it or not. In the end Republican voters went with the guy they trusted, not the guy they agreed with.
Now take a look at Representative Nathan Ballentine. Sure, he talks a lot about issues, but he also talks about his kids, his wife, and how much he just paid for gas. He talks about those things that connect us with Nathan the man and not just Nathan the legislator. Agree with him or not, you can’t help but feel some sort of a connection to the guy who talks about how much he craves Chic-Fil-A every morning but knows he shouldn’t eat it.
Besides, talking about personal stuff is a lot more fun and much easier. No, people might not care that you just ate the best hamburger of your life at Five Guys, but they eat at Five Guys too. That’s just one more connection and it took you 15 seconds to post it on Twitter. Getting back to my second paragraph rant, that’s how you balance a new web presence with everything else you are doing.
A quick warning - obviously some things aren’t meant for the web and you should discuss it with your spouse before you start posting personal stuff. It might not be a good idea to post pictures of your children or to talk about where they go to school. That’s between y’all. My wife is extremely cautious about what pictures we post on the web. For example, pictures of me funneling beers while tailgating before a Gamecocks football game are a big no-no.
Oh, and don’t worry about the dumb anonymous comments. They do sting a little more when they’re about personal posts rather than issue based ones. Just realize that idiots will be idiots. Ignore or respond and then move on.
So get personal. It saves time. It connects you to voters. It works.
The Enterprise is no match for The Force
Should I Run For Office?
Well, should I?
Okay, not me. Obviously I mean you. Although, when I tell people what I do they always ask if I’ll ever run for office. Well, we all know that ain’t going to happen. But heck…if Al Franken can run with all the crazy crap he’s said, my dumb antics in the past might not be that bad afterall.
Enough about me. Let’s get back to you. Should you run for office? How should you decide?
I started a series of blog posts back in October and then got slammed up with the election. I’m going to try my best to finish it up this week so be looking out if you’re considering a 2010 run.
And if you are considering it, give me a buzz at 843.460.7990.
I’m Thankful
I have to admit. I’m pretty pumped about life right now and I’m extremely thankful for many things. Seeing that it’s Thanksgiving, Elizabeth is in the kitchen with her mother cooking up a strong feast, and I have the time to play on the computer, I figured I’d make a quick list of some of the things I’m thankful for this year.
So today, I’m thankful for…
Elizabeth. I never dreamed I’d have such an amazing wife. I’m more thankful than anything else that God sent her my way.
my in-laws. They aren’t the nightmare I heard they’d be. In fact, they’re pretty darn cool.
my Sunday school class. A lot of people don’t like to talk about their faith, but I’m not ashamed of what I believe. My Sunday school class has become an integral part of my life and they are helping me be the person I want to be.
The Book Club…my college crew. We called ourselves “The Book Club” because we were a bunch of nerds. If we weren’t drinking, we were studying or playing politics. I’m thankful that we remain tight.
201. Named after our University Commons apartment number, this was my pre-“The Book Club” crew. Years later, they are always there when I need them and for that I’m very thankful.
the beach. I love the beach. Nothing makes me happier than playing bocci ball on Folly Beach all day before hitting Taco Boy for nachos and frozen screwdrivers.
Gucci. The coolest little dog ever. She even twitters.
Starbucks. Call it my creativity. Or maybe it’s my energy. Either way, its what keeps me moving so that I can straight rock it!
technology. I love my iPhone, my iPod, my MacBook Pro, my Garmin, and my HDTV. I wish I could be thankful to have enough money to always have the new thing. Maybe next year. Or maybe the year after.
Under The Power Lines. I love the little web company we’ve built. I’m having a blast working with Senator Jim DeMint, Representative Nathan Ballentine, and others who are eager to take over the Internets. I’m also thankful that we have such a creative and fun staff.
my job. (gotta love that definition =) ) I still can’t believe that I get to run campaigns for a living. I’m looking forward to progressing my knowledge by officially joining the SC Senate Republican Caucus and working with Senator Harvey Peeler this year.
those who have taught me so much. My political mentors have been there to teach me, yell at me, and to jerk a knot in my butt when I come up with a stupid idea. I’m very thankful for their advice.
our clients. I wish I could name them all, but from Senator Shane Massey to Representative Keith Kelly, our campaign clients are a blast to work with. They make life enjoyable…and interesting.
getting close to my step-father before he passed away this year. My stepfather practically raised me, but we always had that rocky stepfather/stepson relationship. I’m very thankful that we became close over the last four years, before he was diagnosed with a fatal brain tumor.
bacardi and diet coke. Far less calories than beer with all the fun benefits.
the Gamecocks. We will beat Clemson this year.
Barack Obama. Because we needed Jimmy Carter to get Ronald Reagan.
Heroes. I needed something after the West Wing and Star Trek left me hanging and Heroes is getting the job done.
my house. I love my house, the way Elizabeth has decorated it, and how close it is to everything. I’m thankful that God has given me the chance to own such a cool pad.
you. I’m thankful to all my old friends and the new ones I made this year. In the end, life isn’t about professional success, money, or any of those material things I just mentioned. Life is about good friends and relationships.
In case of rapture…
And now for something completely random.
My Mom put this picture on my fridge when I was about 7 years old and it stayed there until I was 24. It always freaked me out real good. Reading the Senate rules isn’t something I do for fun, but today I was looking up some info on a State Rep, when I stumbled upon a rule stating:
The President Pro Tempore or his designee, when, in his opinion, it is impractical or dangerous to hold a regularly scheduled session(s) of the Senate, may declare the body adjourned to some other time. Such actions are to be taken only in times of great emergency including, but not limited to, natural disasters, severe weather, and acts of God.
“Acts of God,” heh? Awesome.
E-Pending Works
This morning I ran across yet another article about how cool Patrick Ruffini and Mandy Finn are, which forced me to finally read their Rebuild The Party platform.
I have to admit – I just don’t get Patrick’s distaste with e-pending. Mostly because it absolutely works or maybe I’m just more concerned with action than philosophy.
I detailed my reasons here, but I felt moved to comment further after reading these two comments back-to-back from the Rebuild The Party platform:
“The next Chairman must undertake a crash program to grow the RNC’s email file organically — no spam and no “e-pending” from voter files.”
Next sentence:
“…integrating e-mail signups into everything we do at the grassroots level, ensuring that everyone who goes to an event and or is contacted by a volunteer is given the opportunity to join our network.”
Ok, let me get this straight. Debbie is a 3 of 3 Republican primary voter and only 30 years old. We have the ability to capture her email address, but we should ignore it. Instead we should go sit outside of Wal-Mart of three hours like a panhandler and beg for email addresses?
With that same line of thought, we should also stop running television ads except on specialized channels that a voter can tune into when he/she is in the mood to check out some hot political commercials. We should also stop sending direct mail unless someone specifically requests them. I guess we should also stop all robocalls.
Patrick’s philosophy is a nice one…a real nice one. I wish we lived in some perfect world where everyone wants to hear every word a candidate spits out. But we don’t live in that world. We live in a world where ONLY a rock star celebrity candidate like Barack Obama can make those methods work. If you think for one second that a typical Republican Congressional candidate can pull off what Barack Obama has been able to accomplish, you are absolutely 100% crazy.
Patrick is right when he writes “winning the technology war with the Democrats must be the RNC’s number one priority in the next four years.” But we aren’t going to win that war by stealing their game plan because we don’t have the candidate that can make it happen. Yes, the Barack Obama campaign ran the most technologically advanced campaign in the history of our nation and even Republicans should commend their web team. More impressive is that they are continuing their Internet push as Obama transitions into office. What we have to understand is that those Internet strategies and tactics would have been impossible with nearly any other candidate.
I’d argue that Mitt Romney had a far superior Internet strategy than John McCain, but Romney wasn’t the rock star candidate that Barack Obama was. Romney couldn’t pull it off, as much as I prayed he would.
Trying to take Obama’s methods and applying them to our party will not work unless we find that kind of rock star candidate. In the mean time we have to move forward in a direction that will promote our kind of candidates online. Those aren’t the kind of candidates who can grow massive organic lists without prospecting.
Patrick’s philosophy that SPAM backfires is correct. However, you don’t have to SPAM with e-pending. I use it for email prospecting, which grows my organic lists.
This year I used e-pending for South Carolina State Senator Shane Massey. Through an email/voter list match, we acquired 1,932 emails. Because it was matched to a voter list, we were able to target specific messages to individual groups of voters. We sparingly sent emails to each group and in each email we requested that they join our “Team Shane” email list. Within three weeks we had 467 organic emails that we later used to build our phone banks.
Sure, we may have been able to acquire 467 emails if we sat outside of Wal-Mart every day for two weeks, but we didn’t have that kind of time. We did it the productive way… isn’t that the goal of technology anyway?
E-pending works. So do a lot of other annoying tactics like direct mail and robocalls. We should not be releasing plans that restrict our activities if we are going to “rebuild” our party. Every single possible strategy and tactic should be on the table.
Today’s Geek Links
- All Things Digital: When Twitter Met Facebook: The Acquisition Deal That Fail-Whaled
- TC: Google, It Wasn’t Broke
- Scobleizer: The Twitterization of Conversations
- Tech Republican: Tips for Politicians from Seth Godin
- GQ: Men of the Year
- Hubspot: 4 Components of a Successful Internet Marketing Strategy
- Mashable: 40 Great Resources for Making Lists
- Mashable: Since Twitter Won’t Sell, Who Should Facebook Buy?
- RWW: Poll: Internet Now Considered More Reliable Than TV, Radio News
- Newsweek: How Will Obama Now Use the Internet Army He Built?
- VB: Google stock rains on the tech rally parade
- VB: Apple releases the iPhone 2.2 update. It’s a big one
- VB: Political news site The Huffington Post may or may not have raised $15 million
- Problogger: Want a Popular Blog? Put Your Ego Aside
- Problogger: The Power of Blogging with A Long Term View
- K Street Cafe: Should You Advertise Online?
- VB: Facebook awarded $873 million in lawsuit against spammer
- VB: Amid iPhone success, rumors of a Microsoft phone
- Marketing Profs: Want to Figure Out Your Social Media ROI? Consider a Plan.
- The State: World Beer Festival event coming to town
- CNET: Daily Debrief: Twitter this–why do a Facebook deal?
- The Daily Best: Technology Gap
A New Opportunity
I just couldn’t turn down Warren Tompkins and Terry Sullivan in 2005 when they asked me to help them grow their new political consulting firm, now called First Tuesday Strategies.
After a lot of prayer and consideration, I have decided that a new opportunity has arisen that I just can’t turn down. Senator Harvey Peeler has asked me to officially join the South Carolina Senate Republican Caucus. I will handle media relations, policy development, and I’ll implement a new level of Internet activity. I’m very excited because I’ll be allowed to experiment with new media in a way that no other legislative caucus in the nation is doing.
I’ve enjoyed every second, even the stressful ones, while working with Warren and Terry. They have served as my mentors and taught me more than I ever thought possible. However, it’s time to move on to new things. I’m one of those guys who always wants to be learning and building on my experiences. I enjoyed leading the Caucus’ political efforts this year. I know that officially joining the Caucus will give me the behind the scenes legislative experience I need to be the political operative I want to be.
So that’s that. I’ll keep you updated on how it’s going right here.
Should I Laugh or Cry?
Pretty funny shiz. (h/t Matthew Mei)
Become an Information Drug Dealer
(cross-posted at politicalnetroots.com)
A few weeks ago, SC House member said to me:
“You know what really gets to me Wesley? We cut taxes by $850 Million in the past four years and nobody cares. Voters demanded property tax cuts and we slashed them by half a billion. They didn’t care. We cut income taxes and eliminated the grocery tax. And still, nobody cared. In response they tossed out a bunch of our guys.”
Yup. That about sums it up.
The voters tossed out a bunch of incumbents because they lost trust in them and felt the need for change. That’s because you aren’t sharing your accomplishments.
In The Blogging Church, Brian Bailey writes:
“Information is a drug. Want proof? How else do you explain our insatiable desire to stay informed? No matter how much news and information we have, we’re constantly searching for more.”
You know the feeling too. It’s why you watch the news. It why the 24-hour news cycle became the 24-hour news cycle. It’s why you always look at those trash magazines in the grocery store line and why you listen to gossip around the Statehouse (or whatever your state capital is called). And it’s why you get up and read the blogs everyday. You want to know everything that’s happening.
Well, so do voters. They want to know what you’re doing – the good and the bad. The problem is that you’re not talking to them and telling them the good stuff you’re doing. You’re letting gossip blogs and the MSM tell the story for you! Big mistake! You just expect the voters to read through the voting records and understand what they’re reading. That’s freakin’ ridiculous!
If you don’t give voters the information you want them to know, they will go get it someone else.
And chances are that somewhere else is going to be an outlet extremely biased against you.
The Internet is cheap, simple, personal, and immediate. At a very low cost you can spread all your positive news minutes after it happens.
Information is a drug and most folks are addicted. It’s your job to feed the addiction. If you don’t, someone else will.
Word of Mouth is Changing Everything
(cross-posted at www.politicalnetroots.com)
As I write his post I sit in a hammock in Tulum, Mexico. I didn’t come here because I read about it in a magazine or saw an ad on TV. I didn’t even find it in a Google search for “awesome vacations on the beach.” I came here because my buddy Jay Hicks recommended it. When I wrote about my trip a few weeks ago on this blog, another buddy, Matt Robinson, emailed me saying that he just went to Tulum. He then sent me a bunch of recommendations, nearly all of which I tried.
When I got to Tulum, Jay was actually down here for the first night and I showed him Matt’s email. Jay just laughed and told me that he’s the one who told Matt about Tulum. I didn’t even know that the two of them knew each other.
That shows the amazing impact of “word of mouth” and combined with new technologies and connectivity, it’s killing, or rather changing, traditional marketing and advertising.
In The Blogging Church, Brian Bailey writes:
“We love to tune things out. So much so, in fact, that we’ve turned the ability to tune things out into a skill that we home with enthusiasm, admire in others, and gladly spend money on to make it as easy as possible. We fast-forward through commercials using the latest DVRs, flip past ads in magazines, turn the station when an ad comes on the radio, and pay for satellite radio to avoid as many commercials as possible. Our culture has become adept at ignoring traditional “interruption” advertising.
We listen to our friends, though. Whether it’s a restaurant recommendation, a movie critique, or a tip on a great place to take the kids, we’re eager to hear from people we trust. They know what we like, have similar tastes, and are motivated only by enthusiasm and as desire to share…
Ten years ago, your friends were largely people you knew personally – neighbors, coworkers, former classmates, and your church family. Today, many relationships are formed online; some of our most trusted voices are people whom we’ve never met.”
I agree. People have always talked. Now we are talking around the clock, from nearly everywhere. We are always connected. Because of blogs, social networking sites, and the latest and greatest handheld gadgets, word of mouth is dominating communication and the importance of advertising is diminishing rapidly.
In South Carolina Sweet Tea vodka was all the rage this year. They may have advertised, but I never saw one ad. I just heard my friends talking about it over and over again. I can’t tell you how many times I read about it on Facebook. The liquor sold out in stores across the state because of word of mouth.
Will word of mouth end political advertising? Will direct mail and television ads fall to online connectivity in the coming years?
We will see.
Da Bomb!
Elizabeth and I just ravaged our attic looking for an old license plate I used to showcase on the front of my first car…a 1986 Buick Summerset.
Back in high school I had a real identity crisis. I was a huge Star Trek / Star Wars sci-fi nerd, but I also thought I was a straight thug. I mean, wearing Wu Wear and size 38 jeans on my 30 in. waist thug. I acted like a thug too…dumb, just dumb.
Anyway, I had a license plate on my car that pictured Boba Fett holding a huge bomb. The smoke coming off the bomb spelled “Da Bomb!”
Come on…Boba Fett and Da Bomb! You know you love it.
Unfortunately I couldn’t find the license plate, but I did find ton of old Star Trek action figures, my Cub Scout pinewood derby car, and Straight Outta Compton on vinyl.
Some things shouldn’t be shared on the Internets. This is probably one of them.
Richard Eckstrom Is The Man
Richard Eckstrom is helping lead the way in to make South Carolina the most transparent state in the nation?
And Wesley Donehue doesn’t know the difference between the Comptroller General and the Treasurer. Oh, and he’s also too lazy to reshoot this video.
(UPDATE) Curtis Loftis just sent me this note - “FYI…The Comptroller General sends a warrant…or order, to the treasure’s office…and the treasure’s office simply writes the check.”
-
Connect
-
Recent Projects by UTPL
-
Recent Posts
-
Categories
-
Archives
-
Recent Reads You Should Read Too
