While we're here in DC preparing for yet another giant snowstorm, here are some virtual tidbits to keep you warm through the weekend wherever you may be.

Bloomberg '09 Spent Over $2 Million on Digital Ads

The Bloomberg 2009 campaign has become notorious for record spending. Yet, while it probably spent the most ever for a mayoral campaign on digital media - over $2 million - that number represents just a small fraction of the amount spent on television ads, direct mail, and other traditional media buys.

The campaign - resulting in Mike Bloomberg's third New York City Mayoral win - had a digital media strategist on staff, and used a variety of innovative online tactics - even running Google search ads to promote the @mikebloomberg Twitter account. However, despite the campaign's dedication to digital media, only around 3.5 percent of its total ad spend went to the Web, totaling just under $60 million. 

Apple to Developers: No Location-Based Ads For You

Apple has posted a note to iPhone developers that sounds suspiciously like a warning against including location-based advertising in a mobile app.

The specific text reads: “If you build your application with features based on a user’s location, make sure these features provide beneficial information. If your app uses location-based information primarily to enable mobile advertisers to deliver targeted ads based on a user’s location, your app will be returned to you by the App Store Review Team for modification before it can be posted to the App Store.”

Scott Brown Used Google for Field Organizing, Not Just Advertising

Here’s one angle of the Brown campaign that hasn’t gotten much attention: Brown’s folks used free Google online tools to help organize grassroots voter outreach and to collect field data.

Candidates, You Too Can Google Like Scott Brown

The Boston Globe reports on a campaign event that sounds like it's going to put Google's Elections and Issue Advocacy division (did you know Google had that level of specialists?) in every strategist's iPhone. Duing an invitation-only event at Google's Washington office, Sen.-elect Scott Brown's new media director showed fellow Republicans how their winning Massacusetts campaign used Google tools to get Brown's name in front of voters.

How Scott Brown Won Google

Having an opponent who was asleep at the switch didn't hurt, but some of Scott Brown's key campaign aides say they couldn't have pulled off the upset GOP victory in Massachusetts last month without Google.

"The running joke in the campaign is that when you go to [President Obama's] Web site, it says, 'Powered by Hope,'" said Rob Willington, Brown's new media director, at a briefing Wednesday afternoon (hosted at Google's D.C. headquarters, perhaps not surprisingly, though the Brown people said they'd been making similar presentations to conservative think tanks and groups around town). "With how much we used Google, you could say, 'Powered by Google,' for the Brown campaign."

Check out The Foundry's exclusive interview with Rob Willington - In The Greenroom: Scott Brown Strategist Rob Willington

Begin the week by learning from the other side...

Video: Applying Obama Online Lessons to Local Campaigns

the folks at Sum of Change have posted video of Charles Lenchner and my animated discussion about online politics and local campaigns at December’s Organizing 2.0 Conference, with a particular emphasis on the lessons of the Obama campaign. We fielded a ton of great questions from the audience and got to hit on most of the really important issues involved. Check it out — a true feast for the eyes and ears alike.

Or perhaps you should be listening to this guy...

How Republicans Won the Internet

Scott Brown's supporters became fans of the candidate on Facebook, where they commented on his status updates and uploaded their own photos. The Republican Senate hopeful took to  Twitter, using the #masen hashtag to let his followers know how the race was going. His campaign powered its field operation through targeted online ads and Web-based spreadsheets, and raised $12 million from 157,000 individual donations in the last two weeks of the race. After he won last week, his team live-streamed the election-night party in Boston online.

Or this guy...

Sen. Elect's Web Guru a Hot Commodity

Sen.-elect Scott Brown’s (R-Mass.) Web guru, Rob Willington, has become one of the country’s most sought-after online political strategists overnight .

Willington's inbox was flooded with requests for his expertise before Brown's victory in the Massachusetts Senate race on Tuesday night was even official.

Senators Can Now Have Facebook Pages?

"The Senate Rules and Administration Committee has reached an agreement with Facebook that will enable Senators to set up an 'official' Facebook page that follows the chamber's rules," Roll Call reports.

Facebook Causes Falling Short

In 2007, Facebook launched the Causes application to help nonprofits raise money.  Causes were seen as an inexpensive and green way to fundraise.  However, few organizations have found success raising money through Facebook Causes, with less than 50 of 179,000 nonprofits raising $10,000.

Following the 2008 Internet + Politics conference at Harvard, I had a chance to tour the Massachusetts Republican Party HQ with executive director Rob Willington (@Willington).

Rob and his colleagues face the enormous challenge of turning a blue state red. Or, at the very least, trying unbelievably hard on a very limited budget. To get ahead, Rob uses technology, creativity, and hard work to help get a Republican message out.

Here's the interview:

[Aside: For all (three or four) of you conservative graphic artists, make sure you check out and contribute to Rob's collaborative effort to create and give away free graphics, Keep that Faith.]

There's an excellent profile in today's Boston Globe on Rob Willington, the executive director of the Massachusetts Republican Party.

Excerpt:

Before Rob Willington became executive director of the state Republican Party, activists and candidates who wanted to learn fund-raising, voter identification, and other tactics had to wait for a semiannual training session.

Now they can use the Internet to watch training videos, connect with Republicans across the state, and even access the "Voter Vault," a database of names, numbers, and addresses to use for mailing lists, phone calls, and door-to-door canvassing.

That's one of several changes made recently by Willington, a 29-year-old Reading resident who hopes technology can help rebuild the state Republican Party.

Willington, who began volunteering for Republicans in high school and became the state party's political director last year, has created a blog, worked the social-networking site Facebook to connect with young Republicans, and used his Mac laptop to create press releases for radio stations with ready-to-use audio clips, in addition to creating the online training site.

Read the full story and then share it with your state's Republican Party. Tell them to hire someone like Rob Willington ASAP. IMHO - he is the model of an effective, modern party official.

Keep up the good work Rob. It is a fight worth fighting.