This is a sophisticated piece of code, which begs the question, was all the work done since Martha announced her candidacy or has she been campaigning using state funds for months before that? We should hearing soon from the FEC soon whether that is the case or not.
That said, the other candidates surely ought to be sitting up and taking notes.
December 8, 2009, or 12.8, is the day that you can help us take the next big step toward making history by electing Martha Coakley the Democratic nominee for United States Senator from Massachusetts. By taking the 12.08 challenge, you are agreeing to help us work toward our goal of 1,208 new grassroots supporters by December 8th – 1,208 by 12.8. With your help, we can run the strongest grassroots campaign Massachusetts has ever seen.
Do any of the other candidates have an online program whereby they engage their supporters to help deliver on fund raising and ground game goals?
when is Martha or her campaign manager going to take notice of influential MA political blogs like BMG, and come around?
I’ve been pretty impressed with Capuano’s online outreach. It seems to me his campaign is running a pretty extensive web operation. From what I’ve seen, he’s done a good job harnessing social media as a tool for voter engagement. I get regular campaign updates through Facebook and have gotten several friends to volunteer and attend events through the various Capuano Facebook groups, events, and fan pages. The e-lawnsigns are a great idea too: in fact, I’m staring at one right now (good choice, Jason!), in the “Blue Mass Group on Facebook” ad to the left.
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p>Mike’s also been great about engaging the online blogging community. He’s held a blogger round table, has done interviews with several different blogs, and came to BMG to post, explain his positions, and answer our questions. I think this is where his approach most differs from Coakley’s. She appeals to supporters to come to her, but has yet to engage the online community or reach out to answer any of our questions. Mike (through his Open Mikes, Tele-town Halls, and BMG posts) is actively responding to voters and answering our questions, whether we’re supporters or not.
The Capuano campaign also has an online tool called “MyMike” that allows supporters to ID friends and family, as well as phone bank, right from home. From experience, it has been an excellent way to not only show my support by contacting undecided voters, but to help grow the grassroots support for Mike’s campaign right from home.
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p>It’s very easy to use, check it out here.
It seems the debate here is among Capuano supporters…is this a complex piece of code that would have taken months–and therefore state campaign funds–to develop, or is Martha a Johnny-come-lately who is implementing some of Capuano’s best tactics?
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p>While that debate rages, the rest of our lives continue.
to pass up an opportunity to take a shot at Coakley while drawing attention to this fine web-enabled effort, do you?
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Thanks for posting this Neil…as a Coakley supporter must admit I was not even aware that I could share my address list with the campaign or do an on-line fundraiser for her…guess I am behind the website campaign times ( I like the old-fashioned campaign stuff better)…I will check it out though because putting a fundraiser together is such a pain and is in itself expensive…I think I will invite my friends to an on-line Coakley event and there will be no dress code or pretzels or commute to get there…but a great satisfaction in supporting a great candidate. 9 days and counting….it’s time.
It’s pretty cool stuff and it’s created a conversation here about how the campaigns are enlisting their supporters using on-line tools and traditional methods.
I did some digging on the Coakley Web site, and they actually announced this initiative on November 5, so basically right after the municipal elections. They’ve had a 12.08 graphic on their homepage and Facebook pretty much since then.
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p>Before that, going back to September, they’ve let supporters create personal fundraising pages to help them reach out to their friends and hold events for the campaign. So maybe the 12.08 thing was a way to build on that personal fundraising infrastructure and drive some more supporters to it?
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p>I also found a blog post about their neighbor-to-neighbor program, which lets folks make phone calls from home – maybe similar to the MyMike program?
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p>Re: the e-lawn signs, Coakley just put out Facebook icons for their support for the home stretch. I don’t think that’s a case of copying Capuano so much as waiting for the final days of the campaign so that folks don’t become too used to the images.
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p>So I think both Coakley and Capuano have been pretty effective in using social media. As for BMG, I’m not sure how much it’s the Capuano campaign’s use of it as the fact that the most active denizens here seem to be – at least in my limited experience – in the Capuano camp. Perhaps the question to ask is: Would Capuano have posted directly on BMG if it weren’t such a friendly venue for him already? Just a thought.
YES.
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p>I offer the following as evidence:
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p>Next you’ll say Coalley and her campaign manager don’t post directly on BMG becuase it isn’t a friendly venue. Don’t you want a leader who is happy to have conversations with people they disagree with and see it as an opportunity to develop mutual respect even if they cannot convince them to change their minds? That’s what I want in Senator. Coakley doesn’t have it. Mike Capuano does.
Very exciting to see the Coakley Campaign utilizing a similar grassroots mobilization strategy that won the presidential election. Coakley to date has been able to raise $4.1 million through more than 11,800 individual contributors, with more than 8,000 contributors donating $100 or less. This because of efforts like her 12.08 challenge.
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how much she’s raised from the 12.08 challenge as opposed to other mechanisms?