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Wednesday, December 15, 2004

Red State Party Domination

Posted by Bob Brigham

Until today, much of the focus of my little crusade for State Party modernization has been focused on the negative. The fact that 75% of state Parties don't even have blogs suggests many states suffered opportunity cost losses by not taking advantage of modern tools. But today is a day to be positive.

Democratic State Parties must modernize, sooner or later. While in the short time the early adapters will have a tactical advantage in organizing, in the long term most thorough modernizers will be the strongest.

Seeing Micah Sifry pile-on made me think of his recent article in The Nation. If you are a State Party considering modernization, you would be smart to read this article.

Also, when it comes to my little crusade for modernization, some have argued that there is no point in setting up a blog for the reddest states. I would disagree 100%. The internet is a leveling force which means the most important places to embrace netroots technology are the reddest of the red states. The internet allows the willing to leverage, meaning the greatest potential gains are in the reddest of states. For example, is it going to be easier to double the number of precinct captains in Oregon or Alabama? For those readers new to the netroots, the internet is more powerful as an organizing tool than it is as a fundraising tool. But overall, it is about gettting more people involved, something every State Party in America needs.

As we continue to plan modernization of State Parties, I would like to think how we can focus on the reddest states. As we do modernize I suggest we focus on where we need to be in 20 years instead of where we should have been this year. Let's do it right, especially in the red states.

Today is Day 4 of my crusade to help our State Parties. Even in the Red States. Especially in the Red States. See the List of Shame and contact your leadership if your State Party needs to modernize.

Posted at 01:55 PM in Activism | Technorati

Comments

Bob,

I already have some interesting results from the emails I sent out last night. Will post more later. Trying to organize all of these thoughts.

There are about to be 4-6 new blogs on state party webpages. And that is only from people who responded within 12 hours.

Tim

Posted by: Tim T. at December 15, 2004 02:25 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

Bob - maybe we should rename the list into something more positive? Perhaps those states which do have blogs should be listed on a "good" list, and we should ask those states which do not to "join" their peers on that list.

Posted by: DavidNYC at December 15, 2004 05:42 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment

We're all grown-ups here. Tell those on the "wall-of-shame" you have put all of this time and effort into this in the hopes of pulling them off the wall.

Posted by: Dan Hogan at December 15, 2004 06:53 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment