The Scarlet Letter
Campaign Insider
A crash course in digital strategy
by Jake Williams / Jun 18 2013
Finding your voters online is one thing, but what’s the best way to motivate those voters to engage with your candidate and cause? No matter the size of your race, it all starts with a solid digital game plan.
Julie Germany, the vice president of digital strategy at DCI Group, and Tim Cameron, the director of digital media for the House Republican Conference, gave a crash course in digital strategy at C&E’s annual Art
The future of the integrated campaign
by Jake Williams / Jun 17 2013
For all of the digital hype surrounding the use of data and technology on President Obama’s reelection effort, it was the campaign’s building and nurturing of personal relationships that truly paved the way for success.
“One thing that’s really important about digital engagement is to realize it’s actually a conversation,” Delacey Skinner of GMMB said on a panel discussion at C&E’s annual Art of Political Campaigning Conference on Monday. “You’re not talking at someone.”
Did Ted Cruz show us how to launch a presidential campaign?
by Brian Jodice / Jun 14 2013
During a recent FreedomWorks event in Texas, Sen. Ted Cruz (R) let fly a teleprompter-free speech that quickly grabbed national attention. Cruz, fresh off leading the effort to block the Democrats’ gun control legislation, turned the conversation back to his GOP colleagues and called a handful of them (who remained nameless) “squishes.”
Who was there to capture the moment? Not the mainstream media, not a gaggle of press cohorts, not Cruz’s campaign media team –
Gibbs, LaBolt form new communications firm
by Jake Williams / Jun 13 2013
Two Obama campaign veterans are launching a new strategic communications firm—the Incite Agency.
Former White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Obama campaign vet Ben LaBolt will head the new venture, which is affiliated with New Partners, the Democratic firm that formed following the 2008 election cycle.
Gibbs and LaBolt are founding partners of the new venture, which will work with New Partners to “give clients access to a comprehensive range of services while
Nevada passes on federal bet law
by Sean J. Miller / Jun 13 2013
Staff and consultants are always trying to pick the winning candidate but they’ll have to wait another couple years before they can literally put their money where their work is.
Nevada legislators killed a bill that would’ve allowed betting on federal elections. State Sen. Richard Tick Segerblom, a Las Vegas Democrat, shepherded the bill through the state Senate but couldn’t maneuver it through the House before the Legislature adjourned earlier this month.
Nevada is one
Tributes pour in for Doug Bailey, campaign consultant and media entrepreneur
by Sean J. Miller / Jun 12 2013
The consulting world is mourning the death of Doug Bailey, a former political adviser to Gerald Ford and media pioneer.
The Hotline, which was founded by Bailey and Democratic strategist Roger Craver in 1979, reported he passed away Sunday night at the age of 79. As news spread through the political world, consultants remembered an experienced tactician who left his mark on campaigns.
"One of the first things I learned from Dr. Bailey, in
4 reasons to shun in-kind contributions
by Erik Nilsson / Jun 07 2013
While bartering may be making an Internet-powered comeback, it still doesn’t make sense for modern political committees to use an exchange of goods or services, known as in-kind contributions, as a form of fundraising.
In-kinds are one of the most common campaign compliance infractions so it’s difficult to understand why campaigns would accept this form of contributions. Just last month, the Federal Election Commission fined former Sen. John Ensign’s (R-Nev.) campaign committee $32,000 for accepting
NationBuilder raises $8 million in Series B funding
by Jake Williams / Jun 06 2013
Just over two years since its launch, the software company NationBuilder has announced an $8 million round of Series B venture funding. The round was led by Omidyar Network with some of the funding coming from Andreessen Horowitz.
Jim Gilliam, founder and CEO of NationBuilder, announced the $8 million in a blog post on the company’s website Thursday. With the funding, NationBuilder plans to add resources and further its presence in the hyper-competitive political
Why your candidate might need a NASCAR media plan
by Mandie Suits / Jun 05 2013
NASCAR races are the ideal venue for political advertising. First, it’s widely known that many NASCAR fans are politically conservative, which means the races present right-leaning campaigns with a great outreach opportunity. This could also be true for left-leaning campaigns that want to sway conservatives.
Secondly, it’s a sport built on the same principles nearly all candidates tout while on the campaign trail: Patriotism and traditional family values. Just watch a race’s opening ceremony. It’s
Can Twitter help you raise money?
by Erik Nilsson / May 31 2013
Fundraising through social media is now a mandatory part of any political digital initiative. It’s a magical button that is easy to install, provides instant access to new political supporters and totally disrupts traditional political fundraising, right? Maybe not.
According to a new study published in Ecommerce Quarterly, social commerce is almost non-existent. Social media generated only 1.55 percent of traffic to e-commerce sites. To make matters worse, only 0.71 percent
Harrington joins Conservative Connector
by Sean J. Miller / May 30 2013
Conservative Connector has joined the Republican digital space as an email list rental company, with a top staffer from the Prosper Group moving over to lead the growing company.
Jen Harrington had been the Prosper Group’s director of special projects, managing Conservative Connector's business operations. She'll now be Conservative Connector's director of operations.
After working with several major campaigns last cycle, Harrington tells C&E, “we've gotten big enough that we've got to hire staff directly
State parties looking for services on the cheap?
by Lillian D. Cavalieri / May 30 2013
With the GOP’s campaign funding increasingly concentrated in Washington, a culture of entitled frugality is gripping the state parties.
In California, some within the state GOP and its affiliates routinely approach consulting firms to inquire about their services only to make the not-so-subtle request to utilize the firms’ products for free. From Silicon Valley to San Diego, consulting firms say they’ve gotten the ask, which is troubling in light of the recent emphasis on developing
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