Democratic bloggers aim to reshape campaigns

Winning on the ground
But to win the open seat in Iowa's first congressional district next year, for example, one needs to know very place-specific details: Which are the reliably Democratic precincts in the city of Waterloo? How much will the United Auto Workers spend on get-out-the-vote efforts? When would be the right time to run the candidate’s 30-second radio ad in the Davenport market? -- in other words, knowledge that veteran Iowa operatives have acquired, but not the kind of savvy that bloggers in New York or San Francisco have.

What relevance do the bloggers have to that part of winning a campaign?

Not much, said Brigham. “We don’t want to come in and tell people what to do and micromanage; we want to give candidates the tools to succeed…. We’re not trying to replace on-the-ground campaigns, just trying to supplement them.”

A self-employed communications consultant, Brigham, worked for the campaign of San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, as well as for Democratic congressional candidate Virginia Schrader last year in Pennsylvania, and did a stint working for the Democratic Party in Montana.

What Brigham and fellow blogger Tim Tagaris did for Hackett’s campaign, apart from helping raise money and generating excitement about the potential for an upset victory in Ohio, was to use their blog to respond to efforts to question whether Hackett had really served in Iraq.

Another special election in sight
Brigham said his new PAC hired the field director and other staffers from the Hackett campaign and is flying them to Orange County, California to work for the Democratic candidate in this fall’s special election to replace Cox.

The situation in Cox’s district parallels the Ohio race, where an open seat was created when Rep. Rob Portman resigned to become the U.S. Trade Representative.

Like Portman’s former district in Ohio, California’s 48^th congressional district has long been a Republican stronghold. Cox won re-election there last November with 65 percent of the vote, while Bush carried the district with 59 percent.

Brigham takes a dim view of the DCCC. “Nothing leads me to believe that the DCCC realizes the importance of investing early and running full campaigns,” he wrote on his blog last week. “Everything still seems based on the last two weeks (of a campaign) and 30-second ads.”

To be sure, the DCCC did invest $200,000 in a late TV ad buy to boost Hackett and provided staff support for his campaign.

DCCC executive director John Lapp said, “It’s not that the entire shape and face of campaigns has changed because of what bloggers are going to do.” But he added, “They’re an additional resource and that’s all to the good. I’m not saying we are at a landmark moment where campaigns shift their power, but it would be foolish to ignore the additional resources, power and motivation” that bloggers provide.

Observing Brigham and other Democratic bloggers with interest, Club for Growth’s Keating said what they are doing is not wholly new.

Parallels to Club for Growth
“I don’t know that it is all that much different” from what the Club for Growth has been doing for the past six years, Keating said.

Just as the Club for Growth has over 30,000 members who share a commitment to tax cuts, those reading Brigham’s blog are people who want to defeat Republicans and end the war in Iraq.

In last year’s campaign, the Club for Growth raised $22 million for issue advocacy and candidate support. Of the 22 candidates it backed, 17 were elected.

A Washington-based Republican consultant, who requested that he not be identified by name, said that the Democratic blog phenomenon is part of a wider trend, “the move away from large donors to a massive number of smaller contributors.” But he voiced skepticism about the Democratic bloggers.

“I’m not sure the Hackett campaign is something they can replicate,” he said. “If they lose four more times, will people still be willing to give?”

And Keating calls Brigham’s vision of competing in all 435 congressional districts “naïve,” adding, “I don’t think donors will give the money.”

Limits on PAC activity
There are potential pitfalls for bloggers-turned-political operatives: under federal campaign laws, those working for a PAC are restricted in the discussions they can have with a candidate or his staff.

If, for example, a PAC employee discusses with a staffer from the campaign the timing or content of an ad the PAC is preparing to air, and if the cost of the ad exceeds $5,000, that would amount to a illegal campaign contribution.

“I think they (the bloggers) will find it a remarkably eye-opening experience to go from the unregulated world of blogging to the most highly regulated speech in America,” Keating said.

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