Cyrus Krohn, e-Voter Institute Board Member
Posted on 03/06/2009 2:40:33 PM PST by RatherBiased.com
Two years ago I left a prominent technology company in Silicon Valley to join the Republican National Committee as e-campaign director to elect the next Republican president. We lost, but there was more than a software glitch that contributed to our November 2008 defeat. Now that I’ve submitted my resignation, I have a few things to say and people to thank.
First, the perception that the GOP is woefully behind online and can’t catch-up is the blog-flogging of political simpletons.
It’s common knowledge now that Republicans held a technological edge until the Democrats improved what the GOP initiated years earlier. Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean confirmed this when he said (at the National Press Club on Nov. 5, 2008) that he modeled his party’s 2009 comeback by copying the RNC’s sophisticated database and online outreach efforts from the Web 1.0 world.
Change comes quickly online and the tide will turn again in favor of the GOP, once we hone our message and harness emerging technologies. To do that, we must match Democrats, programmer-for-programmer. Regrettably, we’re in terribly short supply of professionals focused solely on building platforms and applications. This is where we got dot bombed in 2006 and 2008. Maybe we should start providing computer science scholarships in exchange for a commitment to serve our party?
Yes, we have generational and geographical hurdles stunting our digital spurt. The former will be solved actuarially and the latter the Democrats will solve for us by upgrading the grid. Thanks for the help Sen. Mark Warner! Where the GOP can boast is that we have tweeters and bloggers in droves–although their impact remains unclear.
The RNC made some notable gains during the past election cycle. I soon realized our online network was fragmented, our list of e-mail addresses was minimal and we lacked innovation. Today, we host 31 state parties on our website platform, and our e-mail universe has grown from 1.8 million to 12 million addresses. Based on our voter file matches with major web publishers’ databases, we can advertise online directly to 40 million-plus voters. We outperformed the DNC in several areas, accruing twice as many Facebook friends and producing our 2008 Party Platform using the internet. There is a lot more work to do, but the foundation has been laid for new faces to build upon.
The community of online political activists has grown considerably since 1998 when the e-Voter Institute conducted the ground-breaking study on the effectiveness of the internet. The study documented how Peter Vallone used online advertising against then-Gov. George Pataki. The George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet also produced invaluable research. In 2004, IPDI’s study, “Putting Online Influentials to Work” served as a precursor to the role Web 2.0 would play in the 2008 presidential election cycle.
Cyrus Krohn, e-Voter Institute Board Member
Full Disclosure: I’m on the Board of Advisors of the e-Voter Institute and George Washington University’s Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet.
I’d like to express appreciation to my former colleagues and others who had the greatest impact on my tour.
Former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and Chief of Staff Anne Hathaway hired me and I’m forever grateful. Chairman Duncan’s appreciation and understanding of the importance of technology allowed our staff to flourish under difficult circumstances.
Collaborating with Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Kevin McCarthy to create an interactive 2008 Republican Party Platform using the internet was a first for the nation and my proudest moment.
Karl Rove helped me architect an online strategy that contributed to victories, including those of Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Rep. Dave Reichert. Rep. John Boehner was kind enough to offer me the floor at the 2009 House Republican Leadership Conference where we set the stage for a technology revival with valuable input from Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers.
My staff was one of the most creative and dedicated teams I’ve worked with. Brian, Todd, Liz, James & Eric - you all have bright futures and I’d be honored to work with you—or for you—again. We all miss the late Mike Connell.
It wasn’t all work and partisan partying. President and Mrs. Bush were gracious hosts to my family. I don’t know how I made the invitation list for so many of President Obama’s inaugural parties but I must be in competition for the Democrat’s favorite Republican. Thanks to my long-time friend Arianna Huffington for inviting me to the Huffington Post Inaugural Ball where I met Bob Weir, one of my musical idols. Jerry Rafshoon’s party for my mentor Michael Kinsley’s new book was an intoxicating evening.
I wish RNC Chairman Steele and his new crew the best in 2010.
After taking some time off and relocating my family to the GOP safe-haven of Seattle, I plan to build new online applications for the person best positioned to win in 2012.
Onward & Upward,
@cyrusk
Cyrus Krohn is former e-Campaign Director of the Republican National Committee. Contact him by visiting http://cyruskrohn.com
It's all about reaching out and being bi-partisan. You know, going for the left to get elected. McCainlike.
Now that I've submitted my resignation, I have a few things to say and people to thank.
First, the perception that the GOP is woefully behind online and can't catch-up is the blog-flogging of political simpletons. It's common knowledge now that Republicans held a technological edge until the Democrats improved what the GOP initiated years earlier. Former DNC Chairman Howard Dean confirmed this when he said (at the National Press Club on Nov. 5, 2008) that he modeled his party's 2009 comeback by copying the RNC's sophisticated database and online outreach efforts from the Web 1.0 world. Change comes quickly online and the tide will turn again in favor of the GOP, once we hone our message and harness emerging technologies. To do that, we must match Democrats, programmer-for-programmer. Regrettably, we're in terribly short supply of professionals focused solely on building platforms and applications. This is where we got dot bombed in 2006 and 2008. Maybe we should start providing computer science scholarships in exchange for a commitment to serve our party? Yes, we have generational and geographical hurdles stunting our digital spurt. The former will be solved actuarially and the latter the Democrats will solve for us by upgrading the grid...
We outperformed the DNC in several areas, accruing twice as many Facebook friends and producing our 2008 Party Platform using the internet...
Former RNC Chairman Mike Duncan and Chief of Staff Anne Hathaway hired me and I'm forever grateful. Chairman Duncan's appreciation and understanding of the importance of technology allowed our staff to flourish under difficult circumstances. Collaborating with Sen. Richard Burr and Rep. Kevin McCarthy to create an interactive 2008 Republican Party Platform using the internet was a first for the nation and my proudest moment. Karl Rove helped me architect an online strategy that contributed to victories, including those of Gov. Bobby Jindal, Sen. Saxby Chambliss and Rep. Dave Reichert. Rep. John Boehner was kind enough to offer me the floor at the 2009 House Republican Leadership Conference where we set the stage for a technology revival with valuable input from Rep. Eric Cantor and Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers...
Thanks to my long-time friend Arianna Huffington for inviting me to the Huffington Post Inaugural Ball where I met Bob Weir, one of my musical idols. Jerry Rafshoon's party for my mentor Michael Kinsley's new book was an intoxicating evening...
I plan to build new online applications for the person best positioned to win in 2012.
Other economic leaders -- George Soros? Hugo Chavez? Vlad Putin?
Creative Capitalism:
A Conversation with Bill Gates,
Warren Buffett, and
Other Economic Leaders
by Michael Kinsley
with Conor Clarke
That’s what I believe also.
The press and the dems voting in our primaries gave us a candidate that couldn’t win. It’s just that simple.
ROFLMAO!
Wow! That was on the mark.
All this high teckie stuff is great but if your message sucks and alienates your base you will not have a chance in hell of ever winning again.
where did you read this about tweeter?
Who is Michael Kinsley?
This sounds oddly like the same excuse Big Ed gives for their failure to teach children.
“Need! More! Technologyyyy!”
Good, now hopefully the retard Steele will follow suit.
Michael is one of the most foul leftists you can find. He was at Slate and then went to the LATimes and is no longer there.
No one can stand him.
Barack Obama has 5.8 million supporters on Facebook. McCain has 5.8 hundred thousand supporters. 10 times fewer supporters! Who cares if The Republican National Committee has 63,937 members? That's small change compared to McCain's or Obama's numbers on Facebook and people on Facebook are going to choose individual politicians to express themselves politically online-- not official party groups.
Full of shocking red flags. No wonder the GOP is in trouble when it has been run by Leftists:
“Thanks to my long-time friend Arianna Huffington”
“Jerry Rafshoon’s party for my mentor Michael Kinsley’s new book was an intoxicating evening.”
Oh, gee, I have more friends on Facebook than you do, are you on Twitter?
(kidding)
Like that’s all there is.
Not really. Not when you dig in the numbers. Beat us yes, killed us, no. Obama’s campaign did some neat things computer wise, but the contribution it made to the campaign is way overblown.
Last night I put in the yahoo search engine Genos steaks in Philly He dedicated his entire days take to the FOP for the 7 families who dads died in the line of duty! Upon requesting printout directions it switched the final point to Pats steaks not genos... Pat’s is a democrat as well as Yahoo’s political slant and Geno a RNC friend made International fame with his Speak english sign when serving!Last Year!
Thats how it works!!
I’ve got some ideas for similar services.
SpaceBook — a personal networking site for people interested in space, astronomy, and spaceflight.
MaceBook — another personal networking site, marketed to A) people interested in cooking, or B) people interested in self-defense products and techniques.
AceBook — still another site, maybe for World Series of Poker fans, or perhaps old Jim Carrey movies.
TraceBook — another one, could be for genealogists, or for snoops who like to be able to follow phone traffic and origination, or perhaps even for NSA retirees.
CaseBook — obviously for fans of Court TV (whatever it’s called now).
Basebook — for fans of the national pastime.
A while ago, last year, one of our fellow FReepers tried to start a FR Digg movement or whatever, but that really requires embedding by the server here in order to make it practical.
Even the reprehensible partisan shills on Google haven’t blocked FR from the web search, and topics have been known to get listed within a few minutes (I’ve seen that with GGG topics, for example, as I plaster together a Google search link as an afterthought in a brand-new topic — top hit is the topic itself). Google doesn’t read FR as a news search site, but of course every leftist POS op-ed site is used. I’ve been trying to use Dogpile instead of late, but then DP uses Google as one of its engines.
Due to my bein’ a bit of a fogey about some things, I continue to use my mid-90s PowerMac 7600 (juiced a bit) running OS 9.2.2, which means never having to say I have no problems loading newfangled web gizmos. :’) I don’t see a lot of use to MySpace et al, other than trying to track down people I’m missing (not even stalking), but it’s of little help if I have to join the freakin’ site just to send them a message. That kind of thing is a big pain in my hindq.
I don’t like instant messaging, has generally seemed like a trivial waste of time (as opposed to a non-trivial waste of time I suppose). I don’t go for so-called smart phones, and as my eyesight ages, I’ll no doubt have even less use for those. I would like a laptop, but unless it’s my primary machine — and I would need a good reason to get a new primary machine — and there’s useful wireless broadband where I tend to go, I won’t be doing that.
Wow, I guess that’s one of those TMI posts... ;’)
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