Facts are facts: the GOP is falling behind online. Before we approach anything resembling an autopsy let’s get hip to the “scholarship” preceding this conversation. Read these pieces first:

• Robert Bluey: Online Fundraising: Advantage Dems
• David All: If Republicans Don't Get Online, They'll Miss the Show
• Mike Turk's response
• Patrick Ruffini response

OK, scalpel in hand… Let’s proceed: I'm of the mindset that there are numerous issues at play holding us back from full online GOP potential:

1. No Bugbear for the Right - (at least not in the Primaries) - If Hillary pulls it off (and there's every reason to believe she will) the generative animus of the Right will be there. But can we wait that long before the ship is lost??
2. No Umbrella Strategy - (at least not at the national RNC level) - With the recent changes in RNC leadership it seems there's a bit of catch-up to do. Since the election I've received all of 4 emails from the RNC. Howard Dean sends me something almost every week.
3. In-fighting - (all this Primary fighting is fairly new ground for us) - The disadvantage of having a 2-term President with no VP successor is that we now have a new generation of political advocates to educate on what Primaries are all about. Couple this with the 2-year breakneck sprint to 2008 and we have some natural built-in problems.
4. Failure to Grasp Web 2.0 – (not to mention Web 1.0!) - This isn't just a plea for technology. It's a plea for usability. For instance, take a gander at the page that the DNC utilized in January the night of the State of the Union Address. All of the elements of campaign success are evident. In the email that I received from Howard Dean there was a dynamic graphic that reflected the number of donations they had received to date (interactivity, sociability). The donation landing page has the entire contribution form above the fold - quite the feat for those of you who have worked with these things before - (usability). The code words for the Left, the belittling of the "other", the timeframe, the goals. Everything was in sync. I have yet to see this from the GOP.
5. Ignoring Randian Self-aggrandizement – (“greed is good?!) - One of the advantages that the left has is that there are SIGNIFICANT hubs that foster mass movement forces. Compare the top right-leaning sites to the top lefty sites. With the exception of Talking Points Memo, the lefty blogs are massive group blogs. RedState is a good focal point, Townhall is a great hub, Rob is ramping up the Victory Caucus... but they just don't have the same impact as Daily Kos when it comes to pure numbers.

So, what's to do? FIRST: Know your customer. Let's take advantage of point #5 and plug into Right Wing bloggers desire for recognition. The Victory Caucus pledge against the NRSC (which garnered almost 40,000 sigs) was great. Imagine how many more sigs they could have gotten if they had a recognition policy for "referrals" to the petition! Let's harness our Randian desires! SECOND: Experiment. The best ad agencies in the world run ads that they think will fail just to test them out. Let's set our expectations that we are not going to get this right the first time out. But we need to try and test different ways to approach this. THIRD: Deliver the Primal Code. Some people tout Seth Godin, others are big Bezos fans... I like Patrick Hanlon. In his book: Primal Branding, Hanlon defines the seven aspects of a good brand: "the creation story"; "the creed"; "the icons"; "the rituals"; "the pagans"; "the sacred words"; and "the leader". The GOP is seriously deficient on many of these. (More on this later)If we can steel ourselves to face the brutal facts, curb our egos enough to foster genuine momentum, and prep our troops for the General election without dividing the base in the Primaries… we have a real chance to turn this around.