On this blog and elsewhere, we've been heralding John McCain's unprecedented blogger outreach. Now, Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels has taken a page from his book. Mitch started a new program today and I love it. It's the kind of outreach we Republicans need to catch up with the Dems online.

See "Ask the Gov" on Indiana blog Hoosier Access:

What would you ask Governor Mitch Daniels if you had the chance to ask him one question? Hoosier Access is proud to offer up it’s newest feature, “Ask the Gov”. Each week, we’ll take questions from our readers and pass them along to Governor Daniels. You can ask about different issues from around the state, what his agenda is for his next term, how the campaign is going…I think you get the picture. Just click on the graphic over in the next column to submit your question. We hope to make this a regular feature. Your involvement will make that happen.

To get the ball rolling, we asked Governor Daniels the first question. Our question was:

“How would you explain the status of Indiana’s current economy in relation to what’s going on nationally and in our neighboring states?”

 

Readers of this blog have no need for another example of how much the Internet is changing political campaigns. The extent, however, that a candidates "Internet Reputation" affects their election is ultimately unmeasurable and as a result, overlooked.

That includes the candidate's Wikipedia profile. According to Alexa.com, Wikipedia is the 8th most visited website in the US.

With some help from a friend (cough- William Beutler- cough) with greater expertise regarding Wikipedia, I recently acquired some Wikipedia statistics from the month of February for every Congressman in my home state of Indiana.

The number is how many times the page was viewed in February. The link is to the statistics.
429 -- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Pete_Visclosky
1042
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Baron_Hill
1069
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Steve_Buyer
1250
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Joe_Donnelly
1335
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Brad_Ellsworth
1873
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Mark_Souder
2419
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Andre_Carson
2456
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Mike_Pence
19648
-- http://stats.grok.se/en/200802/Dan_Burton

Note that 5th District Congressman Dan Burton's profile saw an additional 17,500 views in February from January, a two-day spike as a result of the Clemens hearings.

For more even more enlightening detail, I pulled the chart below of Burton's Wikipedia traffic in the month of April. In April, Burton's Primary campaign was in full swing (election was May 5). The two big spikes came on April 14th and April 28th. On the 14th, Burton's opponent began his TV campaign. On the 28th, the Indianapolis Star ran an editorial about the race critical of Burton.

Sometimes a candidate can generate a buzz offline with a good Internet operation. But also, candidates need to keep in mind that they will generate online activity by offline actions. Offline campaign activities like direct mail blitzes, TV stories, and campaign commercials will result in additional searches on popular search engines like Google and Yahoo- both of which generally give Wikipedia top billing. You need to make sure that your voters are finding positive information.

Pay attention to Wikipedia- your voters are.

UPDATE by David: The Slatecard Captains have decided to shine a light on this race because Elrod needs the money desperately. I made the first contribution of $25.

Will you help us send Jon Elrod to Congress by making a donation of at least $25 today?

Indiana's 7th Congressional District (in the capitol city of Indianapolis) may be one of the top opportunities for Republicans in 2008. The seat, formerly held by Rep. Julia Carson (now deceased), may now be the site for the most convoluted and confusing election in 2008. It gives Republicans, particularly with the help of the national blogging community and netroots, the chance to pull off a big upset in 2008.

After Carson dispatched three well-financed GOP opponents in 1996, 1998, and 2002, Republicans gave up on the seat. They allowed a former libertarian on a dismal budget to challenge Rep. Carson in '04 and then a car dealer in '06. However, both of these candidates saw increasing success against the Carson machine. Were it not for a series of nasty mail pieces and negative news stories about the '06 candidate, he may have defeated her. This was despite a $65,000 budget and no support from the struggling Republican party organization in the county.

Rep. Carson's failing health was clearly partially responsible for her scare in the 2006 election. With every expectation she would be running for re-election in 2008, Republicans encouraged incumbent-killer State Representative Jon Elrod to challenge her. Championed because of his past ability to defeat entrenched Democrat incumbents (to my knowledge, he was the only Republican State Representative to defeat an incumbent Democrat in the Midwest during the disastrous 2006 cycle), optimism was growing that Republicans could defeat a crumbling Carson machine.

The opportunity seemed only more clear after little-known Republican Greg Ballard defeated Indianapolis Mayor Bart Peterson in the November General Election. This was despite being outspent 11 to 1. Republicans also took the majority on the City Council.

Julia Carson's passing in December set up a special election to be held on March 11th. Because the district has been considered a Democrat one (Kerry defeated President Bush by nearly 20 points in 2004), many Democrats wanted the seat. The Democrat caucus to select a candidate for the special election was contentious, with several vying for the seat. In the end, Democrats selected Julia Carson's grandson, Andre Carson, over several other prominent, local Democrats. The win was by just a few votes. You can go here to listen to many Democrats gasp and grumble after the results were announced.

Several Democrats have announced they already plan on challenging Mr. Carson in the regular Primary Election in May. One of them, State Representative David Orentlicher, has raised nearly $200,000 already for the effort.

This has opened up the seat for a possible Republican pick-up next month. Here's why I believe that this can be true:

1. Carson is being forced to run two campaigns simultaneously. In Indiana, the regular Primary takes place in May. Because of this, the victor in the special election must also win the May Primary in order to be on the ballot in November. While the Republicans have "cleared the field" for Jon Elrod, Democrats already have several candidates planning on challenging Carson in May. Carson is forced to consolidate his base in anticipation of the May Primary while also running a campaign against Jon Elrod.
2. Democrats eager to defeat Carson in May are seeking to weaken him by denying him victory in March. There is much talk locally about supporters of the Democrat challengers switching sides to vote for Elrod. This puts them in a better strategic position to defeat Carson (or keep him out of the race entirely) in May.
3. Carson has all the baggage that came with his grandmother, but none of the benefits. A poll released by a potential May contender has confirmed that despite running in a solid blue district, he is in a statistical tie with Rep. Elrod.
4. Even the DCCC has recognized Carson is highly vulnerable. A recent release by their organization confirms that they have taken the unprecedented step of designating a 20% Kerry district as part of their Red to Blue Program.
5. The 2007 Mayoral race and the candidacy of Rep. David Orentlicher is exacerbating the racial divide amongst the 7th district Democrats. The district is mostly comprised of the predominantly African American Center Township. The African American leaders of the Democrat party supported Carson in the Primary, demanding a minority Representative in the US House. However, the predominantly white party leadership, who helped elect the previous white Mayor for 2 election cycles, have been supporting Orentlicher. Race baiting, long a major tactic of the Democrat Party, is coming to roost in the 7th.
6. Finally, the local Republican party is energized after defeating Mayor Peterson in 2007. They, along with the State Republican Party, have been dumping a lot of time and resources into the May special election.

For all these reasons, Indiana's 7th should be on our radar. For those of you who are interested, you can support Rep. Elrod by contributing to his campaign here. You can also contribute via his profile on Slatecard.

Jim Ogonowski's great showing in Massachusetts was largely accomplished with the help of the national Republican bloggers. Let's make sure we pay attention to these special elections and rally support from accross the nation. With support from Republican bloggers and netroots, candidates like Jon Elrod can prevail. With the NRCC's fund raising problems, only a coordinated effort from our community can help Elrod raise the funds he'll need to make this upset a reality.