Ask any politician what the best way to get a donation from a supporter is and they'll begrudgingly admit that it's when the politician looks that supporter in the eye (or via a phone call) and makes the "ask." Begrudgingly admitted because all politicians hate to fundraise.

So how do we modernize this concept and capitalize on what we know about effectively campaigning? Common sense, my friends. Let's add an "ask" from the candidate right before someone makes a donation.

As a political consultant, one of the services we provide our clients is the deployment of what I've termed DonationTubes. DonationTubes, quite simply are a short, elevator pitch video message from the candidate to their supporters that can be viewed right before someone enters their credit card information.

You can see how we've incorporated a DonationTube for Lt. Governor Peter Kinder's website here:

A few key things to note when thinking about adding a DonationTube:
* Keep the message short and hit on key action items like giving "recurring/monthly donations." You will only receive if you ask.
* You'll note that Kinder's donation page, of course, is secured with an SSL certificate which gives donors the confidence they need to input their credit card information.
* You can not use a third-party flash video provider (like YouTube or Blip.TV) on secure websites which is why we are hosting this video, and only this video, on our servers.
* Just because we can't use YouTube on this page, we still upload the video to our YouTube channel so that supporters can find it and add it to their website.

The donation page is our last opportunity to connect with our most valuable and committed supporters. Use what you have and succeed online by thinking creatively about the nuts and bolts of the process.

GOP Hub was launched by Jonathan Cornwell at the beginning of July 2007, and earned the label "Revolutionary" from techRepublican founder David All. Since then we have done what we could to build a small community among conservative bloggers, but our growth was limited by the fact that we were just a niche alternative to Digg and Reddit and did not offer anything unique. Our recent partnership with Evanston, IL-based startup Neokast, provider of HD-quality live video streaming without buffering, allows us to assert quite confidently that GOP Hub now offers the Republican Party a truly disruptive technology.

Neokast's technology operates on the most sophisticated P2P software in the world, which was developed by a Northwestern Ph.D. candidate. It made its public debut at the Video on the Internet conference and was greeted with rave reviews from some of the internet's most respected enthusiasts (see links to reviews below). Neokast describes itself as,

The Neokast Stream Server is a professional solution for creating
broadcast channels of real-time live multimedia or scheduled content
from file. It is ideal for broadcasting live events and supporting one
or more channels of continuously streamed video.

Neokast is a technology enabler. The unrivalled scalability of
the Neokast technology combined with its professional-grade
functionality and ease of use can turn creative ideas into profitable
business models.

Essentially YouTube on steroids, GOP Hub's streaming video network will offer GOP candidates across the country the opportunity to utilize our consulting services to build their own channels of 24/7 content on their own campaign website for a very reasonable cost, especially considering what they pay for a few seconds of time on the local news. We hope to use the revenue generated by this highly personalized campaign consulting to build a truly advanced production platform that will empower conservative activists and bloggers around the country to build their own channels hosted on GOP Hub free of charge. We are currently seeking to establish relationships with content producers, whether bloggers, journalists, students or campaign managers nationwide who would provide live, on-site streams of each candidate as they make speeches, kiss babies and "press the flesh", as they say.

At the moment we are trying to wrap our heads around the technology to ensure that we package the content in the most effective way possible. We hope to use the primaries as a Beta phase for the general election, so please send your questions, comments and proposals for new channels. UStream is a useful tool, as noted on techRepublican a few days ago, and for those in the blogosphere who do not
have access to a digital video camera or a high-speed broadband
connection, we strongly recommend utilizing UStream's livecast
technology to broadcast their opinion.

You will notice that we have included a Slatecard widget with all of the GOP presidential candidates, as we agree wholeheartedly with David All that he too has a "Revolutionary" technology to offer GOP candidates in the 21st century. Another fun new widget that I encountered recently is from circaVie, an application that makes it quick and easy to create a dynamic and multimedia rich timeline, which I used to plot the post-primary victory and concession speeches from the candidates in both parties. Other widgets used in this Beta experiment include Twitter and Google's Election 2008 gadget, which includes tabbed feeds from YouTube, Google News, Google Blog Search and Google Maps, on all of the candidates.

Neokast Links

I Cringley, The Pulpit (PBS.com)- The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses

The Red Ferret: Neokast- set up your own internet television station in minutes

Neokast on the Technology Evangelist

NewTeeVee: Neokast, emerging from the shell

Although I rarely watch TV (Joost doesn't count, right?), I've been keeping an eye on the writers strike. Everyone's been predicting that the strike will drive more and more eyeballs from TV to the Internet. Well I think the first evidence is in that this is starting to happen.

Exhibit A:

From the NY Times:

NBC has concluded a first-of-its-kind deal to acquire the talked-about new Internet and social network series “Quarterlife” for distribution as an hourlong drama series on the NBC network after it has first played in eight-minute segments on several Web sites.

Ben Silverman, the co-chairman of NBC Entertainment, and Marshall Herskovitz, one of the show’s creators, described the deal yesterday as a revolutionary step in the creation of television entertainment.

NBC will begin broadcasting the series, which will not be affected by the current writers’ strike because of its ownership structure, probably in February. By then it will have completed a run of eight-minute episodes on MySpace.com as well as on the “Quarterlife” site itself. That site, beyond being a home for streaming video of the series, is intended to be a destination and social networking location for what it calls “artists, thinkers, and doers.”

I watched the trailer for quarterlife, not bad. It's professionally produced, although it seems a bit too melodramatic for my tastes. However, I really like how the site itself has a number of social networking tools build into it, I think that'll really help them build a community around the series.

Exhibit B:

Also courtesy of the Old Gray Lady:

Examples of online video programming include “The Burg,” about the Brooklyn neighborhood of Williamsburg, which can be watched at theburg.tv; “Meth Minute 39,” a cartoon series, found on channelfrederator.com, a Web site that is part of Next New Networks; and “Roommates,” the first original Web series on MySpace, which is owned by the News Corporation.

The popularity of online video is beginning to draw familiar names. For instance, the producers Marshall Herskovitz and Edward Zwick of “Thirtysomething” fame are creating “Quarterlife,” which can be watched on its own Web site (quarterlife.com) or on myspace.com. Tom Green, the former MTV personality, is now the host of “Tom Green Live” on ManiaTV.com and tomgreen.com.

And comic actors like Michael Cera and Bob Odenkirk are involved in video ventures like “Clark and Michael,” found at clarkandmichael.com, and “Derek and Simon,” available at superdeluxe.com respectively.

Online video is taking off, it's becoming professionalized, and advertisers are moving in.

We can see this phenomena in the political space with the Obama Girl enterprise, where one guy is making money on professionally done YouTube videos that sell T & A to politicos.

What do you think, is the writers guild strike going to break traditional TV? After all, the strike is all about the writers getting a cut from Internet and mobile distribution of their shows.

If this does causes a major decline in TV viewers, then are political advertising dollars going to flow in larger quatities to online advertising? When are we going to see the first political ad in a YouTube video?

The greatest opportunity for a campaign/committee to make a difference on the trail is with online video. That's just commonsense, but there is at least one study out there on the subject which now confirms the importance of video.

With the rise of available and accessible distribution mechanisms, e.g., YouTube, blip.tv, etc. there's no longer an excuse for a candidate not to appear early and often on our desktops talking about all of the issues we care about.

School choice. Broadband accessibility. Stem cell research. All the "long tail" issues we care about. Our Republican candidates need to be on camera, somewhere, talking about these issues. Why? Because someone, somewhere, cares about these issues. And when we're losing elections by less than 1 percent, we need the long tail voters now more than ever.

Enter people like me to the modern campaign. The rise of the "preditor," a term coined by my Democratic friend Phil de Vellis, a.k.a. ParkRidge47, the guy behind the famous, "Vote Different," anti-Hillary Clinton spot which made waves earlier this year on YouTube.

Quite simply, a preditor is an operative who is not only the producer/creative mind behind an ad, but also the editor. We produce and edit online videos. Some of it may go viral. Most of it won't. But who cares? The investment is worth it.

The tools of a preditor are widely available on our Macs and PCs: iMovie, Final Cut Express/Pro, and Windows MovieMaker. You can pick up an affordable camera at BestBuy which shoots well enough for YouTube quality. We understand the importance of good audio and lighting. We get it.

We're armed with cameras, macs, and a clever eye for creative messaging. And perhaps most importantly, we know how to use all the tools in our tool box which means a quick turnaround when time matters.

Now, I'm not saying that a candidate should replace their paid media message, their 30-second spots which run at the end of the campign on network TV. But while the media firms are focusing on the top "messaging hits" from the benchmark poll which will move a lot of voters at once, we, the preditors, can start earlier...at the bottom of the messaging pyramid...and talk to the people who have never had their issues addressed in a medium which is easy to digest.

We'll help win the campaign by winning one voter at a time.

Want to make a difference on the campaign trail? Set down your door-knocker pamphlets and pick up a MacBook Pro and a camera. You'll be a preditor before you know it.

For those of you who don't frequent the New York Times, I found this article from today's NY Times in an e-mail that was forwarded to me.

MySpace, Chasing YouTube, Upgrades Its Offerings

By BRAD STONE

SAN FRANCISCO, June 26 — Two years ago, millions of MySpace users began adding video clips to their profile pages, helping to give rise to YouTube, which Google bought last October for $1.65 billion.

This week, MySpace, a division of the News Corporation, will show that it is serious about challenging YouTube in the booming world of online video.

On Thursday, MySpace plans to rename and refurbish the video-sharing service on its popular social network. The new service, called MySpace TV, will be set up as an independent Web site (www.myspacetv.com) that people can visit to share and watch video, even if they have not signed up for MySpace. The site will also offer some new ways for members of MySpace, which attracts 110 million users a month, to more easily integrate the videos they create and watch into their personal profiles.

Complete article posted here.

You do need an account with the NY Times to read the entire article.