Democratic Party Launches MySpace clone.

September 5, 2006 10:04 AM

Party Builder.The Democratic party launches a suite of tools to keep in touch with politically active friends, find events near you, raise money and more.
posted by empath (18 comments total)

I wouldn't call it a "clone" -- in place of MySpace's ugly, malformed html, The Dems have put up a much cleaner site.
posted by eustacescrubb at 10:16 AM on September 5, 2006

Which is harder to use, imo. They jammed everything into a tiny column. And the 'blog' section is horrible. Just a stream of everyone's latest blog entries, which is just going to be a horrible embarassment whenever the GOP gets a hold of the worst, most paranoid, hate-filled rants that are going to inevitably be posted.
posted by empath at 10:26 AM on September 5, 2006

Can I build a nutmeg potty?
posted by Astro Zombie at 10:29 AM on September 5, 2006

whenever the GOP gets a hold of the worst, most paranoid, hate-filled rants that are going to inevitably be posted.

That is, of course, if the GOP doesn't hire lackeys to post hate-filled rants that they can then call attention to.
posted by eustacescrubb at 10:31 AM on September 5, 2006

I wonder if this project is being driven by the same folks who started CivicSpace, which was built by Dean's supporters during his campaign. They built it on top of Drupal, and then open-sourced the result. It's essentially a packaging of Drupal core with some extensions to provide Meetup functionality out-of-the-box.

Dean lost the race, but he's head of the DNC now, and he gets the Internet. I wouldn't be surprised if this originated from the same group.
posted by mkultra at 10:45 AM on September 5, 2006

Actually, looking a bit more at the site, I'm pretty sure this is the next derivation of CivicSpace.
posted by mkultra at 10:46 AM on September 5, 2006

It's all lovely and stuff but largely irrelevant to winning elections. The Dems' problem isn't a lack of organizing tools (on-line or off-) but rather the absence of an affirmative agenda that motivates the base and appeals to swing voters.
posted by twsf at 10:54 AM on September 5, 2006

The Dems' problem isn't a lack of organizing tools (on-line or off-) but rather the absence of an affirmative agenda that motivates the base and appeals to swing voters.

That and a lack of friendly voting machines.
posted by SBMike at 11:03 AM on September 5, 2006

Like the DNC, you're assuming that "swing voters" actually exist in large enough numbers to matter. Seems unlikely at this point.
posted by jdfalk at 11:03 AM on September 5, 2006

...though, I agree that this site couldn't possibly make much of a difference on the election. The number of active volunteers in need of a klunky social networking site is even smaller.
posted by jdfalk at 11:04 AM on September 5, 2006

The Dems' problem isn't a lack of organizing tools (on-line or off-) but rather the absence of an affirmative agenda that motivates the base and appeals to swing voters.

Yeah, that seems to be the easy narrative and all, but in reality -- getting whooped by the GOP in organization is a key factor in the recent electoral woes of the Democratic Party. (And say what you will about the eeeevil Karl Rove-- he's one hell of an organizer, who knows how to build a target list better than anyone in the business.) How do you think you get the base and the fence sitters to the polls in the first place? How does a party get it's message to voters?

Clearly, the strategy of relying on a non-partisan media to accurately report the isses and stances hasn't worked out so well for Dems. And while they're busy trying to explain to the chucklehead media that "it's not a debate over wiretapping terrosists, it's about getting warrants" for the umpteenth friggin time, Rove has got locals in half the precincts in this country telling their neighbors that "liberals want to ban their bibles" and such. How's that for message reach? How to counter that kind of campaigning, huh? Who do you believe, Howard Dean on Meet the Press or your neighbor in the next pew?

The party stalwarts (who've done nothing but lose, lose, lose while also blocking any meaningful changes in organization and direction) are positively scared to death over Dean's 50 state strategy -- a strategy which has already paid dividends to their electoral hopes up and down the ballot. Part of the reason Dems have been losing is due to the stalwarts "18 state strategy"...meaning zero organization in the other 32....but a steady paycheck for the stalwarts.

That's changing now.
posted by edverb at 1:03 PM on September 5, 2006

The Dems' problem isn't a lack of organizing tools (on-line or off-) but rather the absence of an affirmative agenda that motivates the base and appeals to swing voters.

That and a lack of friendly voting machines.

Not to mention lack of magical sparkle ponies. What exactly is this amazing affirmative agenda that motivates the base and appeals to swing voters?

Other then "bush sucks" Of course.
posted by delmoi at 1:55 PM on September 5, 2006

Seriously. I'd be happy to vote for, well, any politician that was able to clearly articulate sane ideas. I don't know if that makes me a swing voter or someone who has as much chance as seeing a unicorn goring the Loch Ness Monster in my lifetime.
posted by fet at 2:22 PM on September 5, 2006

You just know that Michelle Malkin's army is out there ready to fill that suite with red meat. And according to Donald Rumsfeld, isn't it unAmerican and fascist-loving to have TWO political parties?
posted by orchidthief at 2:27 PM on September 5, 2006

As the president comes close to Godwinizing the national security debate begun earlier by Donald Rumsfeld and then Keith Olberman, I can't say I have much hope for combining social networking technology with politics. The combination seems likely to hasten the ending of every discussion by equating opponents with Hitler.
posted by scottreynen at 3:55 PM on September 5, 2006

It isn't made from civicspace. Its made by These Guys
posted by cjoh at 1:33 PM on September 6, 2006

The party stalwarts (who've done nothing but lose, lose, lose while also blocking any meaningful changes in organization and direction) are positively scared to death over Dean's 50 state strategy

Scared to death that it's taking resources away from the few states that are in play. The GOP puts all of their money in the states that are actually in play -- Howard Dean has decided to spread the Dem's money all over the country. That doesn't work in a competitive, full contact sport like politics.

Kind of like sending your army to ever country on a continent when the battle is in one city.

I just hope when the pendulum swings back to the left the Deaniacs haven't cemented its path with their crazy bullshit! Cheers.
posted by tommunation at 7:29 PM on September 6, 2006

Where's the Third Party That Has More Than A Snowball's Chance In Hell Builder ?
posted by ZachsMind at 9:34 PM on September 6, 2006