Unseating David Dreier: Suggestions For a Blog to Cover CA-26?

A few things (0.00 / 0)

1) Cross-post.  You'll find some interested and interesting people.  Here, dKos, MyDD, MyLeftWing, etc...  I see that you already crossposted this.  Good! Traffic is the name of the game.  As you can see, we have a lot of stuff on CA congressional races.  Post some stuff here, and people will get interested.  Words Have Power, a user on this site, has his own blog, and cross posts as a front-pager here.  If you're interested in that, let me know and we can talk.  We'll put a link in the big blogroll too.

2) Talk to the Warner people, see what role they would like you to play.  I don't see a blog on the site, perhaps they could link to your site.

3) Post lots of material.  Consistency is important in getting and keeping readers.

4) Promote the RSS feed.

Let me know if I can be of any assistance.  Send me an email at brian AT calitics DOT com

I'm proud to work for Kamala Harris for AG.

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Wed May 31, 2006 at 13:01:35 PM CDT

RE: CA-26 Blog and you (0.00 / 0)

Senor Brian:

I made a LONG post over at MyDD on this same topic. I think our fledging blogger could use some help starting a community blog.

CA-26 was a target for me since the day I found the election stats in 2004. (Like the next day). I wasn't the only one motivated. We sort of got marginalized.

Take a look at my post which is more District specfic and see if you can help him...IF the Candidate actually 100% agree's to support the blog by mailing his list etc. He needs that for sure.

I think it's a great idea...but he needs something like SoapBlox and you have the experience of setting it up etc.

Maybe too much to ask since you are running your own but....see what I had to say OK?

Just a thought....

Political Dogfight

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by: BigDog04 @ Wed May 31, 2006 at 16:48:14 PM CDT

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I'm not convinced that a community blog (0.00 / 0)

is quite the right model for a district-level blog.  Seems like overkill.  One to five strong voices, with a comment section would seem to work pretty well.

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by: jsw @ Wed May 31, 2006 at 19:37:37 PM CDT

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yeah... (0.00 / 0)

I'd tend to agree (see my comment at MyDD on the same topic); although I have the technical expertise and would love to make use of it (see harvarddems.com) I just can't see it really paying off.

Have others made good use of a community model for a district-level blog? Should it be something I should try to get the campaign to do?

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by: sethinca @ Wed May 31, 2006 at 20:10:29 PM CDT

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Say No to Pombo is probably the best model (0.00 / 0)

It's been quite successful in terms of traffic.  It's technically nonpartisan, but it's more like multi-partisan.  Each of the posters has a slightly different viewpoint.

On the other hand, I think Words Have Power has done a great job in reference to CA-50 as more of an outsider with a viewpoint. 

I think the BigDog was suggesting actually becoming part of the candidate's organization.  I suppose that would get you better access, but you would surrender some independence.  Personally I prefer the independence.

I guess it depends on how you want to play it and how much effort you want to put into it. 

I'm proud to work for Kamala Harris for AG.

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by: Brian Leubitz @ Wed May 31, 2006 at 21:49:12 PM CDT

[ Parent ]

I've not seen a community blog @ this level (0.00 / 0)

Have others made good use of a community model for a district-level blog? Should it be something I should try to get the campaign to do?

There's a critical mass of people who need to be involved (particularly if you're expecting diarists), and I really don't think that most district races will be enough to create that community.  It's possible that over time, one could evolve a community in the district, and that the blog could evolve in that direction.

BUT, I think you could do pretty much the same thing community-wise with something like Say No To Pombo where there are eventually multiple bloggers and you can invite a smart commenter or two to become a blogger.  I don't think the campaign will do it.  Allowing diaries would be WAY too much message risk, and they probably wouldn't be interested in investing the resources for anything except a more standard campaign blog -- See, e.g., Corzi in NJ, and to some extent Westly and McNerney here in CA.

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by: jsw @ Wed May 31, 2006 at 23:36:59 PM CDT

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