The Coming Crackdown on Political Blogging. "In just a few months... bloggers and news organizations could risk the wrath of the federal government if they improperly link to a campaign's Web site. Even forwarding a political candidate's press release to a mailing list...could be punished by fines." CNet's engrossing interview with an FEC commissioner who predicts major turmoil ahead as the government tries to decide if a blog link is a donation. A
Brookings paper (pdf) suggest "Radical changes in modes of communication and forms of political campaigning lie not too distant on the horizon."
This guy says it's all an attempt to undermine campaign finance laws by freaking out bloggers.
posted by CunningLinguist
on Mar 3, 2005 -
20 comments
Designs on the White House --
an online design contest, judged by designers, celebrities, and activists. Winning designs will be available for resale on T-shirts and other products, and all proceeds after expenses will benefit the John Kerry Presidential campaign. Impressive list of judges, including (so far) Milton Glaser, Chip Kidd, Ed Schlossberg, Atrios, and Tom Tomorrow. Designs will be online throughout May, with your votes determining the finalists. (Kerry's
official shirts are lacking, imho)
Maybe campaign memorabilia always has been?
posted by amberglow
on Apr 22, 2004 -
9 comments
The Apparat: George W. Bush's back-door political machine -- "It's anti-democratic, anti-Constitutional, and is working to create a one-party America"
Consider this article from Media Transparency regarding how "hundreds of tax-exempt organizations of the far right have been exploiting the twilight zone of campaign and IRS regulations for three decades -- receiving billions of dollars in grants and contributions to wage ideo-political warfare for far-right ideas, causes, and Republican candidates."
Might it already be too late to stop this juggernaut?
posted by mooncrow
on Mar 19, 2004 -
34 comments
Exiting Deanspace: As one who has watched with growing nausea as the Howard Dean campaign has smacked up against primary reality and disintegrated, this lengthy article offers some useful truths. While the post mortem is far from over, this cogent analysis by Clay Shirky from "Many 2 Many" points out how so many of us could have been so blinded by the process . . . while still having reason for hope.
posted by mooncrow
on Feb 5, 2004 -
18 comments
Whatever happened to Howard Dean? "He was assassinated by Bill and Hillary with the assistance of Chris Lehane, the political hit man who first worked for Kerry and now backs Clark.
Desperate to keep control of the Democratic Party, the Clintons used their negative researchers and detectives to the ultimate and generated a story-a-day savaging Dean. The Vermont governor, not ready for prime time, cooperated by being thin-skinned, surly and combative. "
caveat: I'm not trolling, but as a democrat I find this interesting. Ok, nauseating.
posted by mecran01
on Jan 24, 2004 -
102 comments
Campaigns track voters' personal data. Ever wonder why you get mail and calls from particular political groups, and not others? Turns out the political parties are developing far richer datasets on individuals than the government is.
Aristotle International, Inc. (mentioned in the article) is the giant in the field, but there's much smaller ones all over the place (
Weave, for instance, helps with environmental activism, and
Local Victory is an example on the right).
On the one hand, with limited resources, campaigns would say they must do this. On the other hand (as the article points out) it may partially explain why fewer and fewer seem to participate in the electoral process.
posted by MidasMulligan
on Jan 20, 2004 -
22 comments
For 2004, Bush's Aides Plan Late Sprint for Re-election. Interesting piece on the Bush administration's re-election strategy. The GOP convention marking the formal launch of Bush's campaign will be Sept. 2 — the latest nominating convention in the party's history — in New York. "Mr. Bush's advisers said they chose the date so the event would flow into the commemorations of the third anniversary of the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks. The back-to-back events would complete the framework for a general election campaign that is being built around national security and Mr. Bush's role in combatting terrorism..."
[more inside]
posted by Dirjy
on Apr 22, 2003 -
74 comments
Jeb Bush delivers Florida ... to Janet Reno's opponent in the primary. Not a repost of the
trouble-at-the-polls brouhaha. Carl Hiaasen looks at the Bush team's "stupendous" backfire in targeting a second-tier candidate, eventual winner Bill McBride, in an apparently incessant string of TV ads that moved McBride from anonymity to a fearsome candidate. "Why else would the GOP buy so much TV time to slam him?" asks Hiaasen, and indeed, McBride's follow-up ads capitalized on this notoriety. By carrying the primary, the race against Bush gets more interesting: "Reno is a known quantity about whom most voters already feel strongly one way or the other," notes Hiaasen. "McBride is a fresh face with no Clinton baggage and a Bronze Star from the Vietnam War."
posted by blueshammer
on Sep 12, 2002 -
11 comments
Short films have become a pretty standard propaganda tool in modern American presidential campaigns. When Al Gore set out to make his 2000 campaign film, there was only one guy he wanted for the job --
Spike Jonze.
posted by jjg
on Aug 17, 2000 -
8 comments
Registered to vote yet? Register on-line here, it doesn't actually register you, it just sends a letter with your info to your home address that you sign and mail to your state's election office who's address is on the envelope. The transaction is also over a
https connection. Personally, I just want to show the temps in the election office how hip and wired I am.
posted by skallas
on Aug 6, 2000 -
0 comments
