UPDATE II -- Everyone, thanks so much! It looks as thought I've gotten enough volunteers to help cover at least one full precinct, or close to 200 voters. That's outstanding, especially considering I posted this on the Friday before Labor Day. You all are to be commended...
I'll post more info as we get feedback from our volunteers to see how this "experiment" works out. Again, thank you so much!
I've been blogging here for about two years now, and I've ruminated over the purpose and effectiveness of this concept we call the "netroots" several times. Like many, I've come to the conclusion that the "netroots" is very good at two things:
1. Raising money for candidates and causes -- fast.
2. Exposing stories that the main stream media refuses to touch.
Point one is well taken. We're so good at raising money, candidates come popping by here all the time. Heck, I'm one of them. I raised $500 from the Kossack faithful. (I'm actually jealous of Mike Stark this morning, who has some sort of project in mind he needed 3K for, and without so much as a hint, Kossacks willingly supported another fellow Kossack...to the tune of three grand).
Point two is well taken as well. I can't count how many times I have seen stories here that did not otherwise make the light of day but for our investigative bloggers exposing those stories.
But here's where I always saw the sort of macro-potential of the "netroots" that has yet to see it's full potential:
3. Mobilizing a base of volunteers and/or activists for quickly and cheaply for a given cause or candidate, utilitizing available technology to make the task easier.
This third purpose that I've seen has a spotty record at best. We've tried to mobilize for purposes of contacting our Congresscritters on given issues, with varied success. We were successful in getting Dr. Dean elected DNC Chair. But our batting average isn't all that great in terms of truly living up to the idea behind the "grassroots" component of the "netroots".
So, I've got a proposal for you. As many of you know, I'm running for Democratic Central Committee in Anne Arundel County, Maryland.
As I've said before, this is probably the purest form of a netroots candidacy you can find. My candidacy is born of the netroots. Most of my start up funds came from here, and most of my inspriation has come from here. If I didn't spend two years blogging, I wouldn't have entered the race. I've always been politically active, but this forum, along with other blogs, inspired me to give it a shot, to find a better way. I ran because my party needs help.
And I'm not the only one running for change. I've got some friends, too, all looking to organize and make our party better on the local level. You can find them here, here, and here. In fact, since I've begun this quest I've heard from candidates for Central Committee statewide , some of whom are Kossacks, who are running in Maryland to revive and energize this party in every county. In fact, there could be a very large sweep of in the statewide Central Committee of reform-minded candidates.
I've been running hard since day one. I've raised the money, printed my literature, and hit the doors. I've attended meet-and-greets. I'm particularly grateful for the Kossack funds, because they helped finance the postcard of mine that goes out today to over 2,000 homes in my district.
When I tell people that the netroots has helped me immensely, they are skeptical. When I tell people how much I raised from this blog alone, I get wide-eyed looks of shock. Regardless of what we think, there are still many, many people out there who don't think the netroots really do anything except, well, blog.
I'm helping to prove that theory wrong. And now I'm asking you to take it to the next step...this experiment in the netroots, purpose #3 as cited above.
My race ends on September 12th, the date of the Maryland Democratic Primary. On the weekend before, September 9th and 10th, I plan a phone banking effort to reach those voters who live in more rural areas and are harder to get to with a door hanger or a meet and greet. All told, there are about 1500 homes I'd like to contact.
So in this volunteer project, it really doesn't matter where you live.
Got a cell phone with free minutes on the weekends? Got VOIP with free long distance? You can make calls.
I figure if I can get a core group here at my home base, as well as from my volunteer core, we can do this right. I'd like everyone to do 50 calls for me, but even as little as 10 calls per person helps. . All of you are volunteers, after all. Any little bit will help at this point.
I'll provide the script and the call list. All you have to do is volunteer your time and cell phone minutes. To do that, e-mail me at steve at votethibodeau dot com.
You have the opportunity to put your efforts behind a netroots born candidate at the very base level of our political system. You have a chance to stand for party building. And you have the ability to prove that the netroots do work beyond raising money and awareness.
I hope you'll join me. Thanks for listening.
UPDATE: I've gotten 3 volunteers so far...which is just great! But it occurred to me that a friend once told me that if people can't volunteer their time, make sure to ask them for money, too, because they may help with their checkbook.
So, OK, I lied. I will ask for cash. But when you give me money, you are actually going to give it to FOUR candidates, myself and the three others I listed above who are running on a slate. I will give every dollar raised today to our slate committee to help defray costs of the other candidates in the race. You can donate by clicking here and going to my donations page and hitting the Pay Pal button. Only give if you can afford it, and only give if you can't phonebank. I'd rather have the volunteers. Thanks.