Joe and I attended a lunch-time discussion of the book Netroots Rising forthcoming from Nate Wilcox and Lowell Feld at the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet. Like the title would suggest, the book is about the up-turning of the traditional political order (top-down campaigns) for the tumultuous rabble-rousing democratic square of the blogosphere.

The event itself was a good cross-section of the people you'd hope to lure in with this topic--old and young, men and women, suits and jeans. Although I do strongly suspect Joe and I were among the few from the right side of the aisle. Not surprising for a book written by two Democratic consultants with an introduction from the DailyKos founder.

What I Didn't Know: Perhaps this is my own lack of schoolin', but I had never paid much attention to the foggy genesis of the "Netroots" movement. The first six-figure internet campaign was in 2002, a race for the Texas governorship. The 2004 campaigns of Howard Dean and Wesley Clark were early pioneers in harnessing the power of the internet--and the blogosphere. Clark's campaign "imploded" over this issue, while Dean's attempted an early in-house social networking system, much like the 2008 candidates are all using.

That means none of the 2008 candidates are doing anything "conceptually" new and different, as Wilcox and Feld were both quick to point out. (Which helps put their efforts into better context.) They're just utilizing more people who are more adept at using technology. And, one would presume, it's better technology, period. I've at least been playing with web design long enough to know the websites of today are much prettier and more powerful than the ones from four and six years ago.

What I Thought Was Useful: Political campaigns need to continue to figure out the best ways to integrate an organic grassroots online movement within the traditional campaign framework. I believe it was Wilcox who suggested that many politicians seem to be using the Netroots community without being in it. The example he used was of campaigns sending out blast emails--but the emails are written by staffers, not the politician. Internet technology is supposed to help people connect to other people. How truly and genuinely connected do we expect our politicians to be? Does it matter?

What I Didn't Agree With: There was, of course, a brief discussion of why Republicans seem to be lagging in their use of technology. One suggestion was that Republicans are inherently "hierarchical" older people. Since I don't consider myself hierarchical or older, I was confused. Especially because I wasn't quite sure what a hierarchical person would be like. Fond of fitting oneself into hierarchies?

Anyway, the explanation I like better is that the use of technology has been due to Party circumstances rather than personal shortcomings. Democrats were out of power and disenchanted with the party elite in the early 2000s; they were looking for new avenues to organize. In contrast, Republicans were riding a swell of victory. So now that the swell has crashed upon the shore, Republicans are scrambling to catch up. It makes sense. I think it matches reality, too.

What I'd Still Like to Know: A suggested 90% of blog readers are lurkers, people who read posts but never comment, never email, never take any action. Who are these unknown they? How do we reach out to them? How much do they have to offer? I'd bet it's a lot, and also I bet figuring out how to expand the "e-base" will be the next big thing.

Episode one of my new vlog, "Hit or Miss," which identifies some positive "Hits" and "Misses" for Republicans.

It took House Speaker Nancy Pelosi less than 100 hours to prove to voters across the country what the consequences of a Democrat majority really were - and the poll numbers prove it. Americans across the country are fed up with the failed leadership of the Democrats, while Republicans in the U.S. House have every intention of making our stay in the minority as brief as possible.

With 202 members, the largest Republican minority in over 50 years, we are within striking distance of the majority. And we are playing to win. And so are our candidates.

Two candidates in particular have already hit the web running. Both Andrew Saul and Greg Goode have wasted little time getting out front online.

Saul, who will be challenging freshman John Hall (NY-19), is a successful business man who's already done himself a favor by hiring Patrick Ruffini's company (Engage) to build his site. Saul's site is a great example of how other Republican challengers can utilize the web effectively. It's smart, attractive and an easy site to navigate. Be sure to check back soon as Ruffini and his team continue to expand on capabilities and lead the way for Republican challengers.

Goode, an Indiana State University official, is challenging freshman Brad Ellsworth (IN-08) in a district that gave President Bush 62% of the vote in 2004. Goode has also stepped out in front and launched phase one of what looks to be an excellent online presence. Goode, who already has his socnets in place, has also tapped into the YouTube community and has launched a blog.

Other challengers who have stepped up online include Maj. General Rick Goddard, State Senator David Cappiello, and Steve Greenberg.

The game has changed, and it's refreshing to see our Republican challengers taking the right steps - right now.

In addition to writing for TechRepublican, I also write the ElephantBiz.com blog and, of course, my own blog, BillHobbs.com. After noticing that the latter is listed on the blogroll of Fred Thompson's pre-campaign website, among several conservative blogs, I decided to check the blogrolls on the websites of the other 10 Republicans currently running for president, and found something interesting:

Not all of them have blogrolls. Not all of them even have blogs. And some of them have a very different view of how to interact with the world of new media, grassroots media and social media than do others.

That led me to write a series of posts surveying the websites of the 11 candidates for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination to report on how they interface with the "new media," a/k/a/ the "social media" world of blogs, MySpace, YouTube and such.

What I found was a rather wide disparity. Some candidates had the requisite links to official campaign pages on social media platforms like Facebook, MySpace and YouTube, while others actively court the independent conservative blogosphere with "Bloggers For ____" lists and other ways to reach out the the grassroots media.

I also found that money, or the lack thereoff, bears little correlation to how a campaign is able to incorporate the social media into its efforts.

I presented the survey in a series of 11 posts at ElephantBiz.com on Monday, giving each a grade.

Below are links to the 11 reviews. Your comments are welcomed.

Sam Brownback Web Review
Jim Gilmore Web Review
Rudy Giuliani Web Review
Duncan Hunter Web Review
Mike Huckabee Web Review
John McCain Web Review
Mitt Romney Web Review
Tom Tancredo Web Review
Fred Thompson Web Review
Tommy Thompson Web Review
Ron Paul Web Review