Facebook group, "Austin has a Dirty Secret," a local citizen's group pushing for replacing Austin's coal plant at the earliest possible date - has grown to nearly 800 members in the last few weeks. The group offers this description --
"Austin has a dirty secret" is focused on:
1) Drawing attention to the fact that Austin's coal plant is a clunker (rated#7 worst polluting industrial complex in TX by the TCEQ...)
2) Drawing attention to the fact that keeping the City reliant on said clunker = numerous, high stakes financial risks and negative human impacts
3) Offering quality information about available clean alternatives for Austin rate payers that save money.
We invite you to explore our new site, and watch our exciting new video that was recently unveiled to the Democratic National Committee members during their meeting in Austin. The video -- titled "By the Numbers" -- takes an in depth look at the gains we've made in Texas in recent election cycles.
The new website will make it much easier to organize online. Our clearly defined "Action Center" and flash-feature message center will simplify the search for any information you or Democrats in your community may need. In addition, content generated on our website will be cross-promoted on numerous platforms:
The revamped website is the latest in a series of efforts we at the Texas Democratic Party have made in recent months to turn Texas blue. We're proud of the way the Texas Democratic Party has grown in recent years, and others across the country are, too. That's why Democratic National Committee Chairman Tim Kaine brought the DNC to Texas to announce the following:
"Texas can do it, and Texas will do it. We are thrilled at the prospect of working side by side to turn Texas blue," Kaine told more than 300 Democrats from U.S. states and territories and abroad.
We're ready to turn Texas blue, and we know that the online community is going to play not just a supportive or secondary role, but a truly serious role in ridding the state of failed Republican leaders like Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison. Over the last three years, you've worked hand-in-hand with county parties and organizations to rebuild the Texas Democratic Party from the ground up -- and we can't thank you for your work enough.
A quick look at the work we have done together tells the story:
The number of Democratic small donors in Texas has more than quadrupled since 2005, thanks in large part to the advent of online fundraising.
Over 3,000 of you have direct access to the TDP's state of the art, interactive online voter file.
Thousands of you have come out to our local and regional trainings, to learn how we can all use new technology to run campaigns and organize in our communities.
Our work together has been remarkable, but we still have much to do. That's why the TDP has been working to strengthen and expand our online organization and strategies, to ensure that Texas Democrats can continue to work together to deliver our message for change across the state of Texas.
In addition to the new website, the TDP has launched its presence on the two popular social networking platforms, Facebook and Twitter. In the two weeks since we launched our Facebook page, over 1,500 Texas Democrats have joined our Facebook page, and in the two days since we started our Twitter account, we already have over 100 followers. With a Flickr account coming shortly, the TDP will now have a stronger online presence across these platforms so we can engage directly with you -- the people who make our Party as strong as it is.
Our new website and online efforts are the latest in our continued work to compete and win in what used to be a solidly conservative state. Today, Texans are paying the price for the failure of one party Republican rule -- a failure that shows neither the character nor the leadership that made great Texans stand tall in the eyes of the world.
We hope you visit our website, follow us on Facebook, tweet along with us on Twitter, and redouble your tremendous efforts to deliver Democrats to victory in 2010 and beyond. Thank you for all of your hard work, and may God bless Texas.
On April 15, a series of protests were held across the country against President Obama's budget measures and economic recovery policies. More specifically, these protests were regionally organized, thematic demonstrations modeled - loosely, at best - on the Boston Tea Party predating the American Revolution.
In 1773, colonials in Massachusetts were angered by the British Parliament's Tea Act. Among other things, they viewed it as an affront to their constitutional right to only be taxed by their elected representatives. They protested the Tea Act by taking three shiploads of tea that Boston's Royal Governor Thomas Hutchison refused to return to Britain and dumping them into Boston Harbor.
The various tea-themed activities during the protests of this past April were largely symbolic, a misread historical metaphor used as a shared rallying point. Most of the actual protesting was done via speech and sign and other normal demonstration fare rather than through the destruction of actual tea.
This year's Tea Party-Goers had two advantages that the colonists lacked in organizing their protests: online organizing and Fox News. How much each contributed to attendance at the day's events is a matter for debate.
We have to do it in the Facebook, with the Twittering, the different technology that young people are using today.
Duncan, of course, went on to lose that race to current chair Michael Steele, perhaps in part because RNC members doubted Duncan's ability to "do it in the Facebook" and thought Steele could help bring the party's technology closer to the 21st century.
After Facebook launched their new user names last week, the Democratic National Committee was quick to grab www.facebook.com/democrats to link to their official Facebook page.
Ed. note: Ideas that are not original are appropriately cited throughout the piece. I never contacted Bill White's campaign about this story -- my observations about his campaign are just that, observations. They do not constitute any endorsement of his campaign -- by myself or BOR -- but they do reveal how, at least in my opinion, he and his campaign are prepared to win a statewide election.Also, you can follow me on Twitter here: @PhillipMartin
"Texas Democrats' First Truly Statewide Campaign of the 21st Century"
With a single press of a key, either a staffer or a volunteer for the Bill White for Texas campaign ushered Texas Democrats into the new era of internet organization. His campaign has walked across the bridge that so many people spent so many years building. I'm not sure who pressed that key, and I can't guarantee why they did it. But I can say two things for certain:
(1) I'm glad it finally happened, and (2) Not knowing who finally crossed the bridge is what makes it so wonderful.
I will get to the story of what specifically this person on the Bill White for Texas campaign did towards the end of this post. The short version of what they've done, however, may (if I'm right) be quite a story:
A Democrat running a statewide campaign in Texas has, for the first time, fully adapted to the tools and principles of online organization, therefore making it possible to run Texas Democrats' first truly statewide campaign of the 21st century.
I need to unpack that a lot more to back up such a claim, I know. That's why this post is as long (~4,400 words) as it is.
I started writing this as just a short couple of paragraphs on a simple change in the campaign's Twitter usage. But the more I thought about it, the more I began to think it was the sign of something bigger -- that it was the sign of Texas Democrats' finally catching up, after years and years of playing from behind. But to take you from here to there, it is going to take more than just a few paragraphs.
(Read more from the guru at www.senateguru.com - promoted by Matt Glazer)
Watch NRSC Chair John Cornyn's wooden, uncomfortable, even pained delivery as he apparently reads off of cue cards and stumbles over his words, saying "Facebook" and "Twitter" for probably the first time in his life:
Now compare that with the introductory video from new DSCC Chair Bob Menendez as he speaks to us, not at us. As he invites us into his office and shares with us his uniquely American story, he actually appears conversational, not like Cornyn's "I forgot my lines and am reading off cue cards" delivery:
This isn't a long post or an in-depth one, but it's just a reminder that the Internet and new ways of social organizing will matter for politicians and candidates.
MySpace has somehow become the most visited website in the US, Facebook now has 7.5 million college students on it and YouTube videos can be seen millions of times. One can quite clearly see that youth are getting quite plugged into the world in their own way. While turnout in elections this year has been down across the board, it has actually been up among youth.
And in the time it has taken me to type this entry, The Largest Facebook Group Ever has surpassed one quarter of a million students, now that the site has allowed groups to be formed globally outside of one university. It was at 75,000 not but 4 days ago and has actually broken the site a couple times (check out some public graphs here). Facebook as you may remember, is going to allow candidates to buy profiles starting September. Every Democrat should try to understand the power of websites like this, lest they be left behind.
