techPresident - Are MittTV and HillaryHub Innovative? - Comments

Word

Philip de Vellis — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 15:26:49 -0400

It is a useful tool for her press shop. It gives them a different voice to push news, but it isn't a major innovation.

Time and resources would be better spent getting the word out on non-campaign sites.

Nice work!

Colin Delany — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 12:29:29 -0400

Hey Patrick, nice job -- we need to keep our eyes on what's working, not just on what's flashy. My echo:

http://www.epolitics.com/2007/06/29/lets-focus-on-what-really-matters-in-online-political-campaigning/

Colin Delany
e.politics
http://www.epolitics.com

Amen Brother

Luigi Montanez — Fri, 29 Jun 2007 10:56:54 -0400

I think the reason why YouTube and MySpace are talked about so much not only in the press, but also in the blogosphere (this site being a major player), is because those of us who do the "boring" but important technological/political work of database management, building activism tools, fundraising online, and email strategy are way too damn busy to be blogging about it!

Are MittTV and HillaryHub Innovative?

Patrick Ruffini — Thu, 28 Jun 2007 19:15:36 -0400

I'd just as soon not bring this up, as I've probably had beers with most of the people involved with this topic. But I feel that the cause of good, solid reporting on what Presidential eCampaignmeisters is worth setting the record straight.

Jonathan Martin brings up MittTV as an interesting example of Mitt going around the "media filter," a la HillaryHub. This isn't the first time I've seen MittTV signed out in writeups of Romney's website, and every time I have to ask, "Why?"

What is MittTV? It's Mitt Romney's videos on his website, draped in a custom player and a zingy name. But who isn't posting videos to the Web and YouTube? A number of candidates are even using their name and "TV" in the branding! Here's BarackTV and Hillary TV. Now, Romney's folks have been more aggressive about posting news clips of their guy to their YouTube channel, which is just smart strategy, but that's about the only differentiator to this that I can see.

Meanwhile, another worthwhile Romney effort, the Sign Up America campaign which signed up 30,000 supporters in 24 hours, didn't get as much play in the media. But over the long run, it's stuff like this -- the boring game of inches of recruiting volunteers and donors -- that has the greater impact.