Barack 2.0, Deaniacs, ActBlue, “Macaca” – all widely touted examples (sometimes by their own accord) of using the internet for political activism.
What’s missing from these well-known examples? Anything Republican. These are all examples of how the left has used the Web to raise money and awareness for their candidate of choice, and, yet, they largely went unanswered.
Until this year.
The traditional GOP model has been databases and direct mail. But after losing four straight election cycles in Virginia, the GOP is finally waking up. And leading the charge are two unique on-line efforts – ProjectVirginia and Red Storm PAC.
Red Storm PAC is the brain-child of Bearing Drift contributor Jason Kenney. The beauty of RSPAC is that it’s widget-based, so bloggers can place the donation button easily on their websites for their candidate of choice.
“We’ve seen a huge increase in interest in online contributions and activism since 2007,” says Kenney. “Not only have more delegates sought to become more engaged, but local candidates for board of supervisors, district committees and more are all realizing that online components are a must have to their campaign.”
RSPAC also has the unique business model in that 100% of a donation goes to the candidate.
Think about that for a second.
Basically, RSPAC saves candidates thousands of dollars in processing fees. However, those processing fees are absorbed by RSPAC. This presents a challenge for the organization in that it relies on donations to exist, but it very much helps the candidate.
Therefore candidates rightly love RSPAC.
D.J. McGuire who is running for Supervisor in Lee Hill, wrote that, “Thanks to Red Storm PAC, I was able to raise funds within days of my announcement for Supervisor in Spotsylvania County. The account they set up for me was responsible for nearly half the funds I raised in the first two months or so of my campaign.”
But fundraising has only been part of the resurgence.
ProjectVirginia has diligently brought a la carte services in web design, social networking, and, yes, online fundraising, also into the Commonwealth.
According to the ProjectVirginia developers, they’re specifically working with over a dozen Virginia House of Delegate candidates to implement social media tools that they would not otherwise have incorporated into their campaign plans.
The services they provide are, like RSPAC, mutually supported by dedicated donors and by those vendors who are interested in providing the technology at competitive prices.
“We saw the gap between the Democrats’ execution of social media technology to support their campaigns and the disjointed and tentative efforts of Republicans to use Web 2.0 technology (or even Web 1.0 technology) [in 2008],” said Ford O’Connell of ProjectVirginia. “We’re committed to closing this gap, starting with the 2009 Virginia campaigns.”
And closing it they are.
John Jackson, campaign manager for Tag Greason in the 32nd is definitely pleased.
“Campaigns are always faced with two finite items time and money. The great thing about ProjectVirginia is they help to maximize both,” said Jackson. “They do not cost a thing for us to use. They built our website, Twitter, and Facebook page for free. They will also set up these social media tools for you. This means I can spend my time focusing on voter contact, fundraising, and volunteer recruitment. Working with ProjectVirginia is like walking into a custom car shop, they hand you a menu of options you select what you want and then they build it for you. Then they train you on how to get the maximum performance out of the new social media tools.”
Jackson feels that the services provided by ProjectVirginia are giving his candidate the advantage he needs to win this election.
Reece Collins of Rich Anderson’s campaign in the 51st feels the same:
“Our opponent has very little presence on the web. His billboard website, lack of updates, little use of Facebook and over-reliance on raising funds through events, puts him at a serious disadvantage to us when it comes to communicating with supporters online and driving small donations via the web,” he said. “We have 384 donors to our opponents 267. This is pretty impressive considering that we are running against an incumbent, and Rich has never run for political office before. In NOVA, we think that it is imperative to have an active and aggressive online operation, and ProjectVirginia has helped us to have an edge on our opponent in this crucial area.”
And this message of success, and the utility of the tools, is only spreading.
Unlike years ago, Speaker William Howell sees the advantage of online campaigning and is supporting the efforts of organizations like RSPAC and ProjectVirginia.
“The Speaker has been completely behind this effort. He’s been very pleased that we have a broader exposure to technology/New Media then the Democrats,” said Scott Hirons, New Media Director for the House Republican Caucus. “What we are finding is Republicans get it and we are doing as much as we can to use technology and New Media to spread our message. I think we’ve seen it pay off too. Many of our members and candidates are finding plenty of success with recruiting volunteers, reaching out to voters, and generally getting their message out using websites, blogs, Facebook and Twitter.”
Kenney is quick to point out that having a strong conservative message and generating energy and enthusiasm for the messenger is important too.
“[Republicans have] been behind the curve for years in online activity, but also from a level of enthusiasm across the board that has not been felt in years,” he said. “As Republicans are more energized offline it translates into greater activity online, whether more blogs, increased interest in online contributions, social networking and more.”
The bottom-line is that now conservative political energy and enthusiasm can now be turned into tactical campaigning. Where once very little existed online, now, thanks in large part to the efforts of RSPAC and ProjectVirginia, there is a venue to connect directly with voters.
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While this post is mainly about how campaigns are using online tools to campaign, I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention sites that help spread the conservative message, specifically: the House Republican Caucus, RPV Network (a very interactive site for grassroots activists), RPV, and, of course, ODBA and the Jeffersoniad.
