The Coming Age of the Political Entrepreneur
ILLUSTATED: Treat the people at early meetups like they are $50,000 fundraisers.
The Age of the Party Boss ended after the 1968 elections. Until then, local and state party chairs will held a lot of sway in presidential elections as well as at the local level.
Then Senator George McGovern changed the rules in the Democratic Presidential nominating process. The power went to the people in primaries. The GOP process followed suit. How you got to the people was through television, as well as direct mail. The parties were relatively weakened. But media costs money. Thus from 1972 to 2000 was the Age of the Fundraiser. Fat Cats were the kings and queens in the electoral process.
But the internet changed the way Money, Media, and Momentum is raised. House parties, outdoor tabling, and grassroots speaker's bureaus will be the keys to how campaigns spread their messages community by community. These grassroots leaders will start meeting in meetups and party functions one year from now. I call these people Political Entrepreneurs.
They (I think that includes most readers of this blog) are what Party Bosses and Fat Cats used to be.
The 2008 campaign will be very crowded, each party will field its best field of candidates ever. That's a lot of noise. The noise will start in November 2006 and grow over the following 15 months.
Political Entrepreneurs will be essential to breaking through the noise America will see on TV and on the internet. Each campaign will need one in each community. 2008 candiates would do well to identify these grassroots leaders in 2006.
The Age of the Party Boss ended after the 1968 elections. Until then, local and state party chairs will held a lot of sway in presidential elections as well as at the local level.
Then Senator George McGovern changed the rules in the Democratic Presidential nominating process. The power went to the people in primaries. The GOP process followed suit. How you got to the people was through television, as well as direct mail. The parties were relatively weakened. But media costs money. Thus from 1972 to 2000 was the Age of the Fundraiser. Fat Cats were the kings and queens in the electoral process.
But the internet changed the way Money, Media, and Momentum is raised. House parties, outdoor tabling, and grassroots speaker's bureaus will be the keys to how campaigns spread their messages community by community. These grassroots leaders will start meeting in meetups and party functions one year from now. I call these people Political Entrepreneurs.
They (I think that includes most readers of this blog) are what Party Bosses and Fat Cats used to be.
The 2008 campaign will be very crowded, each party will field its best field of candidates ever. That's a lot of noise. The noise will start in November 2006 and grow over the following 15 months.
Political Entrepreneurs will be essential to breaking through the noise America will see on TV and on the internet. Each campaign will need one in each community. 2008 candiates would do well to identify these grassroots leaders in 2006.
posted by Teka Thomas at 1:40 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home