[1]Over the last three months we have shared some of the stories from the road as we have worked with 9 states in 10 weeks specifically on Online Strategy and as we trained finance and compliance directors representing 27 states at our 'Compliance and Finance Training' in Seattle last month. This week I wanted to share a specific success story from Texas that began when our Online Strategy Director, Erin Hofteig, visited the state in July.
With the Presidential race heating up, many states across the country will be launching sophisticated webpages that go beyond providing basic contact information on each of the Democratic nominees. Texas used a weak showing by Republicans in their state-wide Straw Poll as an opportunity to be the first state to launch the expanded information center and solidify their message the Texas Republicans aren't up to the task of leading.
Each of the eight nominees has their own page with a picture, a brief biography, a statement written from the candidate directly to the voters of Texas, an RSS feed that updates the page with the latest blog and/or video postings from the campaign and a space for Texas supporters to register and display their support for their candidate. This program helps Texas voters see the State Party website as a sophisticated and engaging resource rather than a pass-thru to the Presidential sites.
Check out each of the nominees pages by clicking here: http://www.txdemocrats.org/candidates/presidential/ [2]
In addition to collecting thousands of new Democratic supporters, the effort drew a wide range of free media. Here are just a few examples from:
- The El Paso Times [3]/The Associated Press [4]
- The Lone Star Times [5]
- The San Francisco Gate [6]
- The Boston Globe [7]
This short, one week poll is a fantastic example of how state parties can use the Internet and events happening around them to build support and infrastructure for long-term gain. Who won? You will have to go to http://txdemocrats.org/ [8] to read about why Elizabeth Edwards stopped by the office on last week...
Help us continue this important work. Contribute now! [9]
Sincerely,
Amy Chapman
Executive Director
PS - Our trips to Oregon, Washington and Alaska went extremely well. We spent our time in Alaska mainly focused on using the Internet to help recruit and train caucus organizers, volunteers and attendees scattered across the largest state in the union. We also spent a fair bit of time helping the Communications and Web team prepare for the companion site to http://www.dropdon.com/ [10]; which will focus on 'Retiring Ted Stevens.'
Oregon is preparing to launch their 'Ask Oregon' series where Oregon voters can submit questions via email, video or text to a different elected official or party staff member each week.