The House adjourned this morning without considering energy legislation. Nancy Pelosi and company were quick to make an exit, turning off the lights and the microphones in their wake. But some House Republicans stayed on the floor. At 3:30pm, they're still on the floor staging what's being called an "uprising" and a "revolt."

The lights are off. The microphones are off. CSpan isn't taping it. Nancy Pelosi "sent Capitol Police to clear the press gallery [and] lock the doors" according to news on RedState, but "Reps. Bunt, Shadegg, and Hoekstra have been taking turns remaining with media in the gallery in order to keep it open."

This revolution is not being televised. But thanks to online communication we know about it. It's on blogs like RedState, it's on the Twitter feeds of Reps. Culberson, Boehner, and Hoekstra. And now it's spreading as one person brings it up to another. I just mentioned it to a non-political friend in Texas. Her response? "Wow. This is like old school politics. This is amazing!"

This revolution is not being televised, but who the hell cares? To borrow from Rep. Culberson's tweet this morning: "Here is a powerful use of social media - when they turn off the mike we can still communicate."

 

This morning the sheet was removed from the new and improved JohnMcCain.com.

It looks great and it's got some great new features. I heard about it via a facebook update not email, this shows they are thinking about who will use the new features.

Here are some of the new features...

McCainSpace is useful, users can sign up friends, comment on other blogs, raise money, and for each action someone takes they receive "points". Not sure what you do with the points once you get them but at least it's competition.

Badges, "We don't need no stinkin Badges" well maybe we do :-)

Visit the download center and have your fill of facebook icons, blog badges, wallpapers, website buttons, google icons, IM icons etc.

Register to voteRecruit friends, I tried to recruit myself (different email) as a friend but no followup emails yet.

Interact with other blogs. They provide a list of blogs and talking points for the day. Your mission, should you choose to accept it is to comment on the blogs and then post back what you did. Once you do you will receive some of those illustrious "points".

A cause greater than your self, this section provides links to volunteer opportunities. If you do any volunteer work they have a form so you can let them know how it went.

When browsing through the new site and kicking the tires I ran across quite a few 404 errors, missing pages (like when I click on my state). I also tried to retrieve my McCainSpace password, because it's been almost a year since I first tried to use it. It's been an hour and still no email.The search function (down at the bottom of the page) only works when you hit the triangle thingy. If you hit enter it gives you an error.

To conclude - it's a great step in the right direction. Essentially the new features "flip the microphone" (a la Godin) There are plenty of ways for people to talk back and also plenty of ways they can talk with their friends. This is a change in direction from the old top down model and hopefully a taste of things to come.

p.s. In case you missed it, the McCain store was redesigned a few weeks ago and plenty of new stuff added.

Go visit JohnMcCain.com and post a comment with your first reactions.

After a POLC discussion titled, "White House 2.0: How will digital campaign tactics change the way the Presidency uses technology?," I caught up with former White House Internet Director David Almacy (check out David's new blog CapitalGig).

During the discussion, David talked about his "a-ha" moment as the Internet Director at The White House which I thought was a really interesting point. I asked him to repeat it for you which you can watch via my TechRepublican YouTube channel (don't forget to subscribe):

Of particular note, make sure you watch through to the end where I ask David to list off his top three recommendations for the next POTUS. Good stuff.

Thanks for all you did at the WH David. Yes, we did notice.

GOP Hub was launched by Jonathan Cornwell at the beginning of July 2007, and earned the label "Revolutionary" from techRepublican founder David All. Since then we have done what we could to build a small community among conservative bloggers, but our growth was limited by the fact that we were just a niche alternative to Digg and Reddit and did not offer anything unique. Our recent partnership with Evanston, IL-based startup Neokast, provider of HD-quality live video streaming without buffering, allows us to assert quite confidently that GOP Hub now offers the Republican Party a truly disruptive technology.

Neokast's technology operates on the most sophisticated P2P software in the world, which was developed by a Northwestern Ph.D. candidate. It made its public debut at the Video on the Internet conference and was greeted with rave reviews from some of the internet's most respected enthusiasts (see links to reviews below). Neokast describes itself as,

The Neokast Stream Server is a professional solution for creating
broadcast channels of real-time live multimedia or scheduled content
from file. It is ideal for broadcasting live events and supporting one
or more channels of continuously streamed video.

Neokast is a technology enabler. The unrivalled scalability of
the Neokast technology combined with its professional-grade
functionality and ease of use can turn creative ideas into profitable
business models.

Essentially YouTube on steroids, GOP Hub's streaming video network will offer GOP candidates across the country the opportunity to utilize our consulting services to build their own channels of 24/7 content on their own campaign website for a very reasonable cost, especially considering what they pay for a few seconds of time on the local news. We hope to use the revenue generated by this highly personalized campaign consulting to build a truly advanced production platform that will empower conservative activists and bloggers around the country to build their own channels hosted on GOP Hub free of charge. We are currently seeking to establish relationships with content producers, whether bloggers, journalists, students or campaign managers nationwide who would provide live, on-site streams of each candidate as they make speeches, kiss babies and "press the flesh", as they say.

At the moment we are trying to wrap our heads around the technology to ensure that we package the content in the most effective way possible. We hope to use the primaries as a Beta phase for the general election, so please send your questions, comments and proposals for new channels. UStream is a useful tool, as noted on techRepublican a few days ago, and for those in the blogosphere who do not
have access to a digital video camera or a high-speed broadband
connection, we strongly recommend utilizing UStream's livecast
technology to broadcast their opinion.

You will notice that we have included a Slatecard widget with all of the GOP presidential candidates, as we agree wholeheartedly with David All that he too has a "Revolutionary" technology to offer GOP candidates in the 21st century. Another fun new widget that I encountered recently is from circaVie, an application that makes it quick and easy to create a dynamic and multimedia rich timeline, which I used to plot the post-primary victory and concession speeches from the candidates in both parties. Other widgets used in this Beta experiment include Twitter and Google's Election 2008 gadget, which includes tabbed feeds from YouTube, Google News, Google Blog Search and Google Maps, on all of the candidates.

Neokast Links

I Cringley, The Pulpit (PBS.com)- The $7 TV Network: Neokast brings multicasting to the masses

The Red Ferret: Neokast- set up your own internet television station in minutes

Neokast on the Technology Evangelist

NewTeeVee: Neokast, emerging from the shell

Fredreka Schouten of the USA Today has an article running today about Republican Presidential candidate Ron Paul's (smart) use of the Internet titled, "Paul campaign fueled by Web cash and savvy." You can find links to Ron Paul's socnets at his Slatecard profile.

I'm quoted in the article:

"Ron Paul is no laughing matter. He's tapping into a side of the Republican Party that's never had its issues addressed," said David All, a GOP strategist and Internet expert. "And he's doing it by running a truly Web 2.0 campaign."

Though Ron Paul is hardly a favorite by conservatives and Republicans, it's important to note the success he's having in the online world.

In many ways, what we're seeing with Ron Paul is similar to what the Democrats saw in Howard Dean in 2004 (sans the scream of course). A smart use of the Internet does work. And the ROI (return on investment) is unbelievable. This is the Revolutionary moment that will prove that it pays to have an effective Internet strategy.

This past spring, I was able to catch up with Paul's national campaign chairman, Kent Snyder, for a discussion about how their campaign viewed the Internet:

Love him or hate him, he's doing some neat stuff as a candidate. Stuff that we've never seen before under the banner of a Republican. It's time we recognize it.

Those who are measuring the use of Web 2.0 technologies by Republicans may need a new yardstick soon, given conservatives rapid adoption of everything from Facebook applications to the virtual reality world Second Life.

Tomorrow, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will host a series of seminars dubbed Solutions Day. While the actual events will take place in Atlanta, Gingrich and his organization have pulled together an impressive network of companion events across the country. The grassroots nature of these events is impressive in and of itself, and the content of the presentations is sure to be thought provoking, but what is most revolutionary about Solutions Day is that it will also take place in Second Life.

Second Life is a virtual world that has been the focus of much debate in corporate marketing. While many people invest countless hours working, living, and playing in Second Life, it has not caught on in the mainstream the way other social media platforms such as Facebook have.

According to the Solutions Day website, "Since Solutions Day is the beginning of the next movement, it made sense that American Solutions rent the virtual West front of the U.S. Capitol to hold a workshop in Second Life on September 27 where 13 years to the day earlier the Contract with America was signed on the steps on the real West end of Capitol."

The Solutions Day virtual workshop will take place at 2:00 pm EDT on September 27. More information can be found on the American Solutions website at www.americansolutions.com.

In addition to Gingrich's foray into the virtual world, a conservative PAC is reaching out to the Facebook world. RedStormPAC has developed a Facebook application that will allow small donors to contribute to conservative candidates utilizing "the 'long tail' of online fundraising."

I've written in the past about why Republicans need Facebook, and actually wrote a "bonus tip" urging conservative web gurus to develop Facebook applications. Facebook is the platform today to connect with and motivate online political activists. In addition to posting links, starting groups, and advertising on Facebook, creating an actual application can bring measurable ROI to a campaign's online efforts.

On their website, RedStormPAC focuses on Virginia races. This would suggest that if one state-based PAC can build a fundraising mechanism through Facebook, web developers in other states or working on a national level will likely follow suit.

Each day, emerging technologies provide new opportunities for conservatives to reach their target audiences and gain a competitive advantage in campaigns at all levels. Whether holding a press conference in front of a virtual U.S. Capitol or asking a network of friends for small donations, the next evolution of campaigning is clearly taking place at the intersection of communications and the Internet.

That crazy Brit, Ed Trelinski, points out a gnarly video which adapts Michael Wesch's uber-informative "Web 2.0...The Machine is us/ing us" vid to help promote SalesForce.com's "the Platform is a Service" brand push.

Via YouTube: "Force.com...the Platform is a Service."

CRM software is hardly as sexy as Web 2.0 or nifty socnet strategies, but it's the reason why some of our favorite companies are able to make the world of the "Long Tail" niche available and profitable. With its tool geared toward campaigns, CampaignForce, we can expect politicians to follow a similar effective/successful/commonsense strategy.

Or is there something that might prevent campaigns from embracing a quality CRM solution?

Maybe. I've personally talked to quite a few folks over at SalesForce.com and while their app for campaigns is killer, it's still far too expensive for any race except Presidential campaigns (Mitt Romney and Ron Paul both use it) and possibly a highly-competitive Senate race (I'm talking to you Virginia).

Look, I'm not suggesting the investment isn't worth every penny. It is. It's just that the people holding the keys to the treasure still think everything on the Internet should be free, dirt cheap, or made in the basement.

The argument against shuffling funds to the online strategy of course is that every dollar going in to an online solution is a dollar away from the media budget. And the media budget is the fat, juicy head -- often 80% of the campaign's total spending.

Fortunately, after this election cycle I'm hopeful that Mitt Romney and Ron Paul will make their experience with these top-notch products available as case studies.

Fall is a great time to refresh your website and meet the growing demands of your audience by providing value through unique and original interactive tools. Here's a quick run-down of what lies beyond YouTube, Facebook, Twitter and the like.

DYI Mash-up/Widgets - This is the holy grail of Web 2.0 applications. For those of your with kids its the equivilent of "stone soup" for the internet - taking open source applications, adding in a bit of this and a bit of that and creating a new beast altogether. Some of these (like FeedFlash) do one thing well, others (like Pageflakes) extend things a bit more.

• Pageflakes
• Wigipedia.com
• Openkapow
• Click2Mapâ„¢
• FeedFlash widget,
• mockatoo.com
• Snipperoo
• Spinlets

Surveys - There's no better way to drive a bit of stickiness to your site than through interaction. Interactive surveys have been on the web for a while. Old stalwarts like Zoomerang are slowly falling by the wayside as these dynamic new apps will attest.

• FormSpring
• QuestionForm

Email/Communications - As Patrick attests, this is and might always be the "killer app". The professionals use mostly Lyris as their software platform but the big and clunky interface may soon fall victim to one of these upstarts. Personally, I've started to use iContact and I find it effective, inexpensive and easy to use.

• Letterpop
• Feelbreeze - email campaigns
• Geesee - Free chat
• Kontactr
• iContact.com

Multimedia - Whether you need a quick graphic fix or an interactive video embed for your site, these new upstarts offer some interesting apps. My favorite is Bubble Guru.

• Empressr
• favicon.ico Generator
• EasyCropper
• Fresh Badge Generator
• Bubble Guru

Blog marketing - Eyes are everything to a blog. Here's a unique start-up aiming to help the lowly blog out.

• Blogsticker

Content/Data - While widgets are the "in" thing right now... the next big thing IMHO are content and data services that can help you gather and present content in a unique way. Here are some initial approached to this issue.

• SNiPiTRON
• MyownDB
• Dabble DB
• Texty
• Listphile

Interactive tools - Whether you need a google map or a PDF conversion tool... here's a host of interesting sites that can help.

• Demofuse.com
• WriteMaps
• Web2PDF Online Widget
• Bravenet

Social networking - So you got the facebook group, your on MySpace and your YouTube is grooving. How what? Well how about managing all your profiles in one place. Here's an original idea for social networking.

• profileomat.com

Presentations - Everybody uses PowerPoint these days... How about putting those online. No problem.

• Preezo
• PreZentit
• WebSlide

 

It took House Speaker Nancy Pelosi less than 100 hours to prove to voters across the country what the consequences of a Democrat majority really were - and the poll numbers prove it. Americans across the country are fed up with the failed leadership of the Democrats, while Republicans in the U.S. House have every intention of making our stay in the minority as brief as possible.

With 202 members, the largest Republican minority in over 50 years, we are within striking distance of the majority. And we are playing to win. And so are our candidates.

Two candidates in particular have already hit the web running. Both Andrew Saul and Greg Goode have wasted little time getting out front online.

Saul, who will be challenging freshman John Hall (NY-19), is a successful business man who's already done himself a favor by hiring Patrick Ruffini's company (Engage) to build his site. Saul's site is a great example of how other Republican challengers can utilize the web effectively. It's smart, attractive and an easy site to navigate. Be sure to check back soon as Ruffini and his team continue to expand on capabilities and lead the way for Republican challengers.

Goode, an Indiana State University official, is challenging freshman Brad Ellsworth (IN-08) in a district that gave President Bush 62% of the vote in 2004. Goode has also stepped out in front and launched phase one of what looks to be an excellent online presence. Goode, who already has his socnets in place, has also tapped into the YouTube community and has launched a blog.

Other challengers who have stepped up online include Maj. General Rick Goddard, State Senator David Cappiello, and Steve Greenberg.

The game has changed, and it's refreshing to see our Republican challengers taking the right steps - right now.

My job in the regular world is to market product and services for companies. My specialty is the online world, and so my expertise is in identifying and connecting internet communities.

As I read through the political blogs discussing, or rather bemoaning the failure of the right to capitalize on the internet, it strikes me that the problem is one of desire, not talent.

Look at the blogroll on the right here (I'm sure that is no accident). If you gave me NZ Bear, Patrick Ruffini, Wizbang and Polipundit (not to slight the others), I could build you a community that dwarfed anything the left has imagined. Why haven't we done it? Money. Conservatives tend to like to get paid for what they do, and most of the successful conservative bloggers have jobs that pay well.

The sad thing is it wouldn't take that much to build a solid organization. There are probably 5,000 blogs nationwide that could be organized into a conservative community and propped up with a Conservative Advertisers Network where politicians could buy geo-targeted ads and in-text ad links. For say, $500,000 total, we could work with one of the existing communities and grow it into a conservative powerhouse.

Any conservative George Soros out there want to pitch in some cheddar? Think of it this way - you'll make more in a business-friendly environment then you will under a socialist one. I'm willing to give the set of plans to the right people, if anyone is interested.

We're always accused of having a right wing noise machine, but the truth is we need to build one on the internet. The "machine" won't do the bidding of the party, but as long as we have sound principles, they will back conservative government. Any takers?