The last weeks' upheavals around statements by Dean and Durbin give us an opportunity to address the whole process of Dem communications.
We need clear, consistent, coordinated communication that builds the Dem brand
Does this mean a fascist-lite neo-con total-thought-control strategy? No!!
We just need to be aware of what each other are putting out there, give people a heads up if you will and make some attempt at coordinating the timing of things.
If people know to some degree what is coming down the pike, they can be better prepared for the ensuing media frenzy
I think a simple way to do this would be for the
DNC (party); DSCC and Senate Leadership; DCCC and House Leadership; to set up a joint 'war room' / 'message center' which would also publish a joint daily e-zine: The Dem Daily
more below the jump ...
The Dem Daily would coordinate Senate, House and Party messaging, framing, media communication, etc
It would not dictate to members what they should say (top-down), but would be a gathering/dissemination space, for Dem messaging.
So, if so-and-so is about to give a big speech and rip some stuff to shreds, they give a heads up to Dem Daily
If somebody else is doing a press conference, doing a major event, etc, they do the same
This gives other friendly folks the ability to incorporate what is being put out there, figure out what they want to do with it, rather than being blindsided, assaulted by a media frenzy, saying reactive-defensive stuff and slamming their fellow Dems in the process
You'd have to have a two-part agreement to make this work
1
No Pre-emption People provide heads-up info about what they are about to put out to the public, in return for assurances that they will not be pre-empted or pre-undermined
2
Neutrality The Dem Daily team should be policy and message neutral and serve purely to help coordinate and promote the release of messages/frames
The Dem Daily would put out a daily edition on a web site (or emailed out to subscribers)
It should be short, to the point, fun and graphically entertaining ... fit on one page with little scrolling, readable, brief
Let's say it had just 6 things in it:
1 News Summary, including suggested frames
2 Frame of the Day backed up by a particularly eloquent short quote expressing it
3 Punch of the Day A cartoon, flash animation, short video clip or sound clip
4 Editorial of the Day ... Short piece written by any progressive leader, elected or not, selected so as to give, over time, a voice to the full spectrum of opinions out there
5 Action of the day for activists (sign a petition, call somebody, go to an event, etc)
6 District of the day - a brief look at a selected District, precinct, region or demographic and how Dems are doing there
The team and location that would put this out would simultaneously be a message/frame exchange, networking center
They would keep a finger on the pulse of the news and messages being put out by Dem leaders, and be available for talking with leaders, activists, etc about how the message flow and battle is going
They again would not dictate to anybody, but be a coordination space
The operation would be overseen by a joint team assembled from the leadership of the contributing organizations
You might object that the DNC, DSCC and DCCC already have web sites, email, message centers, but I don't think any of these have the reach and prominence in the public's eye that is needed ... and each of them works separately
Most regular non-political people might never go to one of those sites ... we instead need something that is more fun, glamorous, exciting, more like a fun media site, including a catchy name, fun content, etc
Dem Daily shoud be a fun site, that you might go to even if you never contributed money, never went to a rally or volunteered for a campaign or even knew who your representatives were or what the issues were
It needs at the same time to have the real authority that comes from being the 'official' site
A simple, short, sweet place to get a sense of where the Dem pulse is, right now, up to the minute
This idea needs fleshing out, but I think we will need something like this ongoing
It will be a great addition during election cycles as well, and should be able to continue without interruption as long it remains candidate-neutral and policy-neutral