Advertising

The Netroots

Your innovative, open-source campaign is your ticket to greater recognition. You've gotten a few mentions on mydd and Politics1, but if other blogs start to pick up on it, followed by the MSM, you would have a great vehicle in which to get your message and ideas known.

Visit this site in New Jersey who are helping out all sorts of candidates this year, inlcuding Pete: Future Democrats Website

I would recommend that you have a list of Utah Blogs.

How do these Wiki things work? Anyway, posting a bunch of position statements that are largely watered down to avoid offending mainstream Utah voters on a venue that is unlikely to ever be seen by most of them would seem to be a strategy of limited effectiveness. An informed analysis would conclude that the turnout this year, minus whatever you are able to incentivize, will be even more limited than average. An off year election with an incumbent who is expected to coast to victory can pretty much be expected to get only the regulars, and no one else. You will, then, be able to sneak to victory if you get only the regular Democrats, and supplement that with a relatively modest number of new voters. If this site is meant to accomplish that, I would suggest that you spice up a number of your positions. If you are planning on being heavily invested in mainstream political campaigning, of course, the things that young technoratti want to hear would be an albatross. For example, there is, philsophically speaking, almost no room for local control of federal lands. This is an asset owned by 300,000,000 people, and to give some a stronger voice than others is just plain anti-democratic. It's also not going to turn on any young people. Think about it!

Guerilla Advertising

• Download and Print Signs
• First, create a guerilla war-room where web-based supporters can coordinate. Then, encourage people to post intelligent comments on fellow bloggers with comments that trace back to this site. It is important not to spam, but rather to suggest an opportunity to continue the dialog here on this site. Suggested tactic: go to a fellow political blogger's site and find posts with relevant issues. Then, create a page here that addresses those issues via a political platform statement, or a set of facts that support the point. Then, craft a comment on the blogger's page that points out several facts and pose a thought-provoking question. To start, perhaps use the general theme of collaborative politics, and the ability to see it in action here. Don't try to be subversive, just be honest. And make sure the posts add something to the blog. People generally hate subversive attempts to hijack their comments, but appreciate thought-provoking posts.

Logo Art

Remember to check out this website:

Specific Ad Ideas

• Buy an ad on www.politics1.com, and get Bill Hillsman to do the campaign tv ads, he has worked for Paul Wellstone, Jesse Ventura and Ralph Nader. He will also be working for Kinky Friedman this year. An advertising genius like him could really be of help.
• Try to have the online community develop a television ad for you. It might attract more online support that way too. Maybe an anti-RIAA ad?
• Maybe some flash artists would want to do a cartoon style ad/game for you?
• This may be a little over the top, but as a Mormon Democrat I have always wanted to see pictures of Orrin Hatch shaking the hands of Jerry Falwell and Pat Robertson with them discussing how Mormons are a cult in the background.
  • This is your nuclear option. --Squalish 12:13, 16 January 2006 (MST)
• In a fitting lapse of words, Hatch recently stated that we should not listen to the Micheal Moore-led liberals, and we should stay in Vietnam. A video of him saying this, without any commentary not legally required, would make an awesome 15 second spot to pepper lightly over the airwaves. --Squalish 12:13, 16 January 2006 (MST)
• Likewise, a shot from his original campaign ads about the term limits and stale politicians, with him speaking, with "Orrin Hatch Campaign Ad, 1976" in white text at the bottom, followed by a cut to a video glamour shot of you saying "I don't think my opponent ever spoke truer words in his 30 years of serving our country. I'm Pete Ashdown, and I'm trying to get new blood in the US senate." The poll results for approval of congress overall are impossibly low. 'new blood,' 'new ideas,' that kind of meme could serve you well even among conservatives.--Squalish 12:13, 16 January 2006 (MST)
• Hatch's advocation of the government not only breaking into, but remotely destroying our computers that are involved in filesharing is a serious threat to individual rights. Make it an Issue worthy of a newspaper sidebar or nightly news 'debate', and anyone who uses a computer on a regular basis is going to vote for you, regardless of political affiliation. And to get a little snarky with it: "As creator of Utah's biggest ISP, I've helped connect millions to the internet, and tried to protect them from hackers and viruses. I resent my opponents suggestion that Congress should take up the business of attacking your PCs because his corporate backers don't like what's on them. --Squalish 12:13, 16 January 2006 (MST)

Advice

• Stick to the policies you stand for. Don't attack the other person. Point out how your policies are different from Hatch. That's all I ever want out of a Senator, a platform. What has Hatch ran on for the past 20 years? Stopping flag burning? I'm not even sure what he stands for. Keep your policies known and always answer. Nmaughan 13:44, 24 May 2006 (MDT)
• Recall that despite the questionable ethics of "mud slinging", there are sophisticated and less hostile methods of attracting public attention to the critical shortcomings of opponents. Unfortunately, negative campaigning is one of the lessons historical campaigns teach us. Suggested strategy: invest heavily in tv-based "attack ads", since it appeals to that demographic, and meets their needs of "entertainment" (which, arguably is why they're watching television to begin with). Then, save your more sophisticated positioning statements for the web, where you will invite intellectual discourse amongst fellow bloggers. Use the web to aggregate ideas that you will present in personal forums and appearances. Above all, you should not personally engage in mud-slinging, but your supporters and cabinet can help you greatly in this area.
• DON'T SLING MUD ON YOUR OPPONENT. EVEN IF HE COVERS YOU IN IT, REMEMBER IT WILL WASH OFF AND YOU'LL STILL BE STANDING.
• My background is business and I have consulting experience. My advice to executives when designing new products/services, is to spend some time and money on qualitative and/or quantitative research to clearly identify what your customers want. This can be translated to the political environment by finding out what the public wants and what is on their minds. This would enable you to target your message and advertising. I have experienced managers deciding what products/services/features to offer their customers and completely miss the target because they think they know what people want. In your case, it might be helpful to focus on what Indpendent and/or Republicans are looking for.
• You can sling mud at the RIAA & MPAA over their lawsuits. You can paint them as evil without attacking Hatch, even though he is their paid stooge. It'll show voters that you have specific things you want to fix & know where your going. It'll also help you get more online support. BTW, it might not hurt to talk about the price of CDs & the low pay of musicians too, if your talking to a young audience.
• You are obviously getting the attention and support of the online/technical crowd - its nice to see all the interest and passion coming out. You're going to need, however, to get a much larger number of 'mainstream voters' to come and see this site. This will seem archaic to your current audience, but maybe an email campaign with a link to the site (better have plenty of clear, appealing explanation, though, for the wiki first-timers!). BTW, I gave you a plug on my blog (wikithat.com) just because of the way you are doing this campaign (your spam blocker won't let me put the post link here. Just look for the Utah Senate Race Post from 1/3/06). Good luck.

• Using the Internet to spread the word, and to collaborate is a great idea but only a beginning. I have been very politically active for a number of years and I find there are a number of things that work really well.
  • When I ran for Student Body President at SLCC I discovered that posters, public appearances and media would only go so far. Nice for getting out the word but voters need more. If you want the vote you need to make sure the voter feels some connection to you, like they are part of the same family you are a member of. Do this and you have a great chance at winning.
  • In my SLCC compain the candidate that won went to several class rooms and spent time meeting the students, getting to know them and gave a BRIEF message. He won because he was the only candidate to visit the small classes that already felt disassociated with the student body, most of them were night classes.
  • One of the most effective ways of getting the help you will need is to make sure you create Raving Fans everywhere. The more supporters that you have that are on fire about your cause, the faster the fire will spread!
  • Utah has MANY small communities, and ALL OF THEM are very close. Ask yourself what you can do to capture the hearts of the community. Do not underestimate the power of community service. The one thing that separates most of us from most politicians is the fact that so many of them are from the elite group. Pound nails on a Habitat for Humanity project or even join in at a community Soft Ball game in some small communities will take you to the level of those you are asking to vote for you. Not only is this a good use of your time but it may help you to get front page recognition on the local paper.
  • The golden rule of media (TV, Radio, and print) is to give them a reason to interview you or even run a favorable arcticle. For them it is a marketing game, give them the ammunition to sale a lot of papers or attract more viewers and you will have prime coverage. Of course, as has already been mentioned, you do not want to sling mud. This will get you great coverage, but a negative message. Just remeber, I do not want a senator that will embarras the state, or who will not behave in a professional manner and I am not alone. If the majority of voters see you are a better person than Hatch you will win.
  • Events, such as the county fairs and festivals (like Peach Days) may be worth your time.
  • As you travel around you need to make sure you break the ice before you give your political message. This is one of the most imporntant steps in ant sales process (yes, you are selling yourself). Consider being more personal, funny or doing something non-political. Many people will close there minds when they know they are listening to a political speech, especially if they like someone else. The entire political message that you give might be just a couple of words, or even a simple question that provokes a lot of thought. The point is to make sure they remember you, agree with you and like you. To close the sale you must get every voter to say YES at least 3 times, and you need to do this with a majority of the voters.
  • In Utah MOST voters do not know what DSL, RIAA, or nything else technical is. Most, that have computers, suffer from spam, spyware and viruses, and they do not even realize it. Most will have no idea why your message is imporntant. You need to make sure you have a message that is imporntant to all Utahn's.
  • Make sure you visit every Utah College or University Campus one or two times at the very least. If you can speak and then do a meet and greet, shaking hands, talking to the students. MOST are of voting age and you will find many of them to be sympathetic to your message! They may even take the message home to the family!
  • Never Give Up, Never Give Up, Never, Never, Never! This is a common theme among many of the greatest leaders in the world! You must know that you will win, and then you must work even harder! Never give up and you will have the vote of every member of my family! Ok, so you already have our votes!

--Jonm 06:23, 23 April 2006 (MDT)

Use volunteers to meet people in person. These volunteers could distribute literature or answer questions. They might even just direct the voter to this website by giving them cards with the campaign logo and the web address. This might court unlikely voters like young people. Your volunteers could attend public meetings, walk around cities, go to concerts, and go anywhere were your future constiuents might be.

Links

Provide html on your website so folks can copy-paste it and display it on their websites.

Amen! Your going to have a lot of online support anyway, but the easier you make it for them, the more supports you'll get.

Your wish is my command.

Celebrities

• Concerts comming to Utah might be a good way to reach younger voters, ideally with the musician himself promoting you.
• I'm not sure how influential Howard Stern ever was in Utah, and I'm not sure how much his influence has declined, but his new show Howard100 has just started, and he might support you over censorship issues.

Howard Stern, to my knowledge, was never broadcast in Utah (though I faintly remember some controversy over a short-lived, late-night broadcast). I don't think he would be the best way to reach out to Utah's moderate-conservatives. Maybe Dobson would be better; J/K. --Brett 10:26, 10 January 2006 (MST)

• I disagree, I find Stern to be a poor choice, most people see him as a buffoon who is derogitory to women and others, maybe someone who isn't so, well, obnoxious?

• If you could find a way of engaging someone like Sean Hannity as a Friendly Democrat you might get a LOT of positive press out of this. Of course, considering the fact he is Republican, can backfire. The good news is that you have pretty reasonable politics and you are a good honest person, this plays very well on programs like this.

--Jonm 06:27, 23 April 2006 (MDT)

Websites

• Make friends with the slashdot.org editors. Get them to interview you. Slashdot controls the eyes & ears of an enormous number of people who care about technology.

• Tried with Rob Malda and Roblimo. No response from the latter, and the former told me that my campaign was nothing new and therefore not newsworthy. Help me by continuing to submit stories about this campaign.--pashdown 09:28, 1 December 2005 (MST)

• Made it onto slashdot this morning--hence the massive changes (some unwanted); add your comments --Brett 11:08, 4 January 2006 (MST)
• Maybe try a follow up this summer with a Slashdot interview?

• groklaw.net will probably be happy to support you, which might create more blogbuz.

• I sent an e-mail to PJ, suggesting an article, and providing some reasons why it would be a good fit for Groklaw. Her response was that she feels she needs to stay out of politics. Swillden 07:46, 12 January 2006 (MST)

• edge.org, newscientist.com, Scientific American (sciam.com), etc. might mention you too. Articles talking about the harm copyright & patents are doing to American science are quite popular right now, so even if they won't run an article about you, they might talk about you in another article.
• fark.com, somethingawful.com, and memepool.com also reach a lot of people.
• http://www.technorati.com/pop/blogs/ is a list of some more influential blogs
• You & Xmission are already known for having geek events, like gaming parties right? Any chance the gaming sites will talk about you?
• Your biggest strength with regards to knowledge and experiance is intellectual property. Perhaps Lawrence Lessig, a giant in intellectual property matters will allow you to guest blog on his weblog-much like Howard Dean did in the beginning of his campaign. Lessig's blog would allow you to refine your message (the commenters there are very well educated), and perhaps net you some big donors. www.lessig.org/blog-Eric

• Get an interview at Wikinews - it's free, and it will definitely help. Andrevan 16:40, 24 April 2006 (MDT)

TV & Radio

• • There is always an open invitation for politicians on the X96 Radio From Hell Show. They say, don't make an appointment, just show up and they'll fit you into the show. Sometime between 8:30 and 9:30 always seems like a time when they can fit people in.

See if you can get the Daily Show to interview you.

I think they'll only be interested after I win.--pashdown 09:28, 1 December 2005 (MST)

I bet you'd be surprised... Can't hurt to try, right? BryceHarrington 16:41, 4 January 2006 (MST)

Who knows. I see three themes of reasons they might want you: (1) Ex-rave promoter running in Utah, (2) the fact that your campaign is based partly around technology issues, and (3) the campaign wiki (maybe they try for Jimbo Wales but can't get him for whatever reason). Anyway, the DailyShow has a viewer feedback forum, so people can make suggestions, although I must confess that I suggested either you or Jimbo.  :) Nyarlathotep 09:47, 10 January 2006 (MST)

• The obvious choice is Air America Radio.-Eric

• I don't think Air America is even on in Utah. It might help to raise donations, but won't help reach voters. Swillden 07:47, 12 January 2006 (MST)

• You are using wiki and blogs, why not podcasts? Allow the media to hear your voice in set sound bytes on demand.-Eric
• I second the podcast suggestion, and it happens to be my area of expertise. I'd be happy to help you get started with that. Dilvie 06:03, 23 December 2005 (MST)
• I'll third that. In fact, you might contact the candidate who just ran in the 48th district of California. He had videos running through a new type of streamming technology on his issue pages, with the candidate talking about the issue that the page dealt with. Great idea, and it's similar to the picture you already have on your home page. I actually expected the picture to start talking when I saw it for the first time. Chadlupkes 14:21, 4 January 2006 (MST)
• Tom Barberi show, hands down, would be a good choice, also, X96 Radio From Hell in the morning has interviewed congressmen in the past (the two senators have always been afraid of X96), and I believe they have said "if any congressman wants to come on, they just need to call and ask". I'm sure the same would go for a Democratic Senate Hopeful. I think that more young adults listen to radio from hell than young kids, I think it's a good way to get out the good info.

Pete has actually been on both Barberi and Radio From Hell; however, we didn't recieve permission to post the audio. He was on Tom Barberi on September 13, and we are trying to get there again sometime. He was on RFH on January 12 or so, and will probably stop by there again in the Fall. --Brett 10:01, 7 April 2006 (MDT)

Absolutely try the Daily Show. They interview less interesting people all the time. You might also want to do a podcast if you get time, it definitely helps spread awareness. Andrevan 12:19, 14 April 2006 (MDT)

• Whatever you can do to catch the attention of the TV and Radio Media is King in advertising on a budget. An interview will cost nothing and has the power to get the word out, FAST. Local is fine, do not underestimate the small local TV and Radio stations, a great way to get out to the local community and shows you care. Just remember that Hatch only really attends big events and never pays attention to the little guy.

--Jonm 05:41, 23 April 2006 (MDT)