Ralph Benko, author of The Websters' Dictionary and self-proclaimed "Webster," was on C-SPAN's Washington Journal this morning where he discussed politics and online activism.

Of note, when asked what organizations "get it" on the right he said TeamSarah.org (which Ralph helped build up and disclosed as such on the show) and Americans for Prosperity. In particular, he tipped his hat to AFP's Erik Telford.

Countless federal and local policies, especially the health care legislation, are being proposed and debated in Washington and across the country on an almost daily basis. Power players in these debates -- including Members of Congress, think-tanks and other organizations that have a stake in the legislation being debated -- must rely heavily on facts and figure to provide support for their stance on a piece of legislation. Ultimately, using these numbers serves to convince the American public of the stance being taken by the organization or individual.

While citing statistics -- like the anticipated cost of a bill or how it would impact an individual's federal income tax -- in a message adds credibility to an argument, it is often difficult for members of the public to fully grasp the meaning of these numbers because of a lack of context or background information. And, unless an individual is already adequately knowledgeable on a certain issue, referring to numbers can do more harm than good by adding even more confusion to already heavily academic subject.

The key to disseminating facts and figures that are vital to building support for an argument is through data visualization. Graphs and other types of charts can be very effective because, if they are done properly, they allow people to visualize the data being cited which makes the information presented more real and understandable.

But it's not enough to just produce the data visualization. There needs to be a coordinated, multi-channel distribution approach that focuses on persuading the audience to not only side with the position being promoted, but also to spread the information to their networks. This is the most effective way to use data visualization to have a real and effective impact on the debate at hand.

This type of approach was recently exemplified by Organizing for America's (OFA) in its efforts to build up support for President Obama around the one-year anniversary of the $787 billion stimulus.

While Republicans in Congress and conservatives across the country pointed to the nearly 10 percent national unemployment rate as proof that the stimulus had failed to create jobs and stimulate the economy, OFA -- an arm of the Democratic National Committee -- launched a coordinated campaign to persuade Americans that President Obama's administration had put the country back on a "Road to Recovery."

The first - and main - aspect of OFA's efforts was a chart showing U.S. job loss statistics between December 2007 and January 2010. This allowed people to compare the number of jobs lost during President Obama's first year in office with the number of job lost during President Bush's last year in office.

Instead of spreading the chart as a PDF that a user would have to download to view, the chart was placed on a landing page on My.BarackObama.com. The page featured share buttons which enabled individuals to spread the chart through their networks on Facebook and Twitter and with their contacts via email with the click of a button.

Organizing for America also launched a web video which really took advantage of the easy-to-comprehend chart and explained the meaning of the numbers in a more engaging and compelling way.

The video convincingly portrayed the nation's economic situation under President Obama as much improved compared to the economic situation under President Bush. The ultimate point of the video was to convince the American public that small businesses and the unemployed are now receiving help from the government -- because of the stimulus package. This, in turn, was successful in stopping even more Americans from losing jobs -- in other words, it "saved" these jobs. If the chart itself didn't do enough to make the case for OFA, the video certainly helped to convince more people of the stance being presented.

Republicans have also taken advantage of the power of strong data visualization to get a point across. One of the best examples is the House GOP's Health Care Maze. This graphic illustrated the bureaucratic complexity inherent in the House Democrats' proposed health care legislation. While this chart effectively portrayed the message that the House Democrat's health care plan would create a confusing bureaucratic nightmare for America, Organizing for America's multi-channel execution and deployment of its one-year stimulus anniversary chart took the campaign to the next level. Not only did it succeed in spreading the information in multiple channels, it also succeeded in engaging its supporters to help spread the content even further and show strong support for President Obama.

Any organization -- whether it is political in nature or not -- that seeks to convince the public to take a certain stance on a piece of pending legislation can benefit from strong data visualization. But it's not enough to merely produce a chart -- there needs to be a strategic, dedicated, multi-channel approach to spread the information and engage individuals in the debate.

This article first appeared at the Huffington Post.

This morning Michigan Republican Congressman Vern Ehlers (wiki entry) announced his retirement from Congress. While I'll leave the reasons for that retirement to The Fix, I want to reflect a bit on why those of us in the bipartisan/non-partisan technology, politics + transparency space will always tip our hat to the good work of Congressman Ehlers.

Long-time readers of this blog will remember that I was a part of The Open House Project. Specifically, I co-authored with the Sunlight Foundation's Paul Blumental, the chapter on how out-of-date, out-of-touch and restricting Member Rules were regarding their web-use. This chapter helped facilitate much-needed Franking Rule reform a year later.

In drafting our chapter, Paul and I led with a dissenting quote from Congressman Vern Ehlers that he stated when House Franking Rules governing mailings were applied to a Members' use of the Internet to communicate with constituents:

A new medium like [the Internet] that makes it possible to send thousands of messages at virtually no additional cost should not be governed by the same rules as snail mail. I think there's no reason we should not be able to communicate nationwide or even planetwide for that matter.
--Rep. Vern Ehlers, July 1, 2000

Nearly a decade later, when the Franking Rules were finally reformed, as ranking member of the committee of jurisdiction, Ehlers said in a statement:

"[House Administration Committee Chairman] Brady recognized the need to allow enhanced constituent communication, and demonstrated outstanding leadership that enabled this Committee to adopt a long-overdue change. It is imperative that Members have the ability to use whichever web services they feel will best inform their constituents about the important issues facing this country."

Congressman Ehlers' understanding of the Internet and how it should apply to Congress is no surprise given his scientific background. Indeed, before coming to Congress in 1993 after winning a Special Election, Dr. Ehlers had a career in scientific research and teaching and was the first research physicist to serve in Congress.

But he wasn't just smart. He was, in fact, the "Smartest Congressman Ever" as labeled by Congressman Jack Kingston when Rep. Ehlers faced off with Ben Stein to "Win Jack Kingston's Onions."

So cheers to Congressman Ehlers for being a humble, visionary champion of a smarter usage of the Internet by Members of Congress.

After President Barack Obama's historic election, the political pundits were quick to declare that the Democratic Party had an enduring hold on online organizing. Much was made of the Obama campaign's use of social networks - especially My.BarackObama.com which was built with the help of Chris Hughes, one of Facebook's cofounders. Countless newspaper articles, blog posts and segments on television news programs were dedicated to deconstructing what the Democrats had accomplished online, and coincidentally what the Republicans failed to accomplish.

But since the 2008 election, Republicans have surpassed the Democrats online, raking in millions of dollars in a span of only a few days, strongly winning statewide elections in Democratic strongholds and responding to the President's first State of the Union address with innovative direct media techniques.

This shift began in September with Congressman Joe Wilson's rapid online response after his outburst during a speech given to Congress by President Obama. Rather than booking television interviews with hostile mainstream media reporters to explain his case, Congressman Wilson utilized direct media to speak directly with millions of Americans nationwide. He used Facebook and Twitter to fight back against the attack of his critics, and took time to film short videos to keep his supporters up to speed and thank them for their encouragement. His campaign also executed the fastest Google advertising campaign to target the millions of people who took to Google to find out more about the Congressman. This allowed him to get his message out to the people without the traditional media's negative spin. Because of this, Wilson was transformed from a little-known Congressman from South Carolina into a nationally known and popular conservative figure.

Perhaps the most impressive aspect of Wilson's online response was his tremendous fundraising success. Through the use of strong fundraising solicitations and an up-to-the-minute "Truth Money Bomb" widget that helped supporters visualize how their money was helping the Congressman reach an important goal, Wilson was able to raise more money in one quarter than he had raised throughout his entire reelection campaign in 2008. While many believed that Rob Miller - Wilson's Democratic opponent - would ultimately raise more money than Wilson through ActBlue, in the end Wilson outraised Miller by nearly one million dollars. And, just like Obama in 2008, a large majority of Wilson's $2.7 million fundraising haul came from small-donors who gave $200 or less.

Two months after Joe Wilson's successful rapid online response, Republican Bob McDonnell pulled out a 17-point victory over Democrat Creigh Deeds in Virginia's gubernatorial election - just a year after President Obama handily won the state by 6 points. While McDonnell had the executive experience and qualities of a great candidate, his comprehensive online campaign allowed him to win in an electoral landslide and helped the Republicans sweep the down-ballot races.

The culmination of the GOP's ability to out-organize the Democrats online was Republican Scott Brown's upset victory in the special election for the Massachusetts Senate seat formerly held by the late Edward Kennedy. Brown was ultimately able to win this difficult election because of his campaign's successful and dedicated use of direct media.

The Brown campaign utilized a committed approach to text messaging and direct media outlets like Facebook and Twitter to get his message out - unfiltered by the mainstream media. The campaign's use of the hashtag #41stvote - which refers to his promise to be the crucial 41st vote that would stop the health care legislation - helped him gain national attention and support. This, in turn, lead to an extremely successful money bomb which raised more than $1.3 million in a single day.

As I wrote on techRepublican.com the day after the election, Scott Brown's election proves that Republicans have surpassed the Democrats when it comes to online organizing and harnessing the power of direct media. It confirms a record of success we saw in Congressman Joe Wilson's effective response and Governor Bob McDonnell's comprehensive online campaign.

These electoral successes are strong indicators of the Republican Party's command of the Internet, but the GOP's online achievements go further than political campaigns. The GOP's response to yesterday's State of the Union address showcased the innovative ways Republicans are using direct media to include the people in the conversation about policies that will affect their lives.

During the address, GOP Leader John Boehner's blog provided real-time fact-checking of the President's speech. Also during the speech, the NRCC hosted a text2chat program which allowed people from across the country to join the discussion about the policies being presented. This technology has never been used before on this scale and allowed anyone with an Internet-enabled mobile phone to participate from anywhere by simply sending a text message.

Following the State of the Union, Congressman Joe Wilson gave the first-ever live response via Facebook, and answered questions submitted by Facebook users. The NRCC also hosted a streaming video Q&A session after the speech, where users submitted questions that were answered by Republican Members of Congress.

Governor Bob McDonnell's official Republican response to the speech was streamed live where users submitted questions for the Governor and could tweet their thoughts about his speech using the hash tag #SOTUresponse.

There are multiple reasons for the Wilson-McDonnell-Brown trifecta of Republican success and the popularity of Congressional Republicans on direct media sites like Twitter, including Americans' frustration with big government policies like the health care bill. Nevertheless, these victories combined with the GOP's innovative and interactive response to the State of the Union is more proof that the GOP has surpassed the Democrats online.

[This article first ran at The Huffington Post]