Perriello Common Good Fellows Hear From Lowell and Nate

First, a point of personal privilege. I had never met Lowell before, so it was good to have an opportunity to do that. Both he and Nate were pretty nice guys, but there's really no news in that.

About 25 Common Good Fellows -- the young people working on Tom's campaign this summer -- listened as Lowell and Nate described their own experiences with the Netroots and discussed the role they saw the Netroots playing in the campaigns of which they were a part.

Among the Fellows I got to catch up with was Jesse, who I met earlier this summer in the furnace-like heat of the Uncle Billy's Day Festival in Altavista in June. It happened to be Jesse's first weekend, and so it was nice to find out for him that his summer has been going great and his work for Tom has been a really positive experience.

As a Fifth District citizen, I felt almost guilty. These young people have come to my district to help elect a great congressman for me, while they will go back to their own colleges, some like Jesse's not even in Virginia. So thanks.

(More on Lowell and Nate on the flip)
Lowell and Nate were there to talk about blogging, online organizing and, of course, Netroots Rising.

Generally, the discussion was about,  just what is the role that blogs are playing in the current political environment?

To say it is significant might seem like a no-brainer to us. After all, the mere fact that you are reading this means that you see the Net as an important means of communications. But, as Nate and Lowell point out, many candidates remain either willfully or negligently blind to this reality.

I think at times, however, I overestimate the importance of the Netroots. The recent Byrne/Connally contest is a case in point for me. I had no dog in the fight, but most of my information about the race came from blogs, mainly RK, but several others, also.

Well, the results, needless to say, came as a surprise to me, even as some political pros I know (not online) told me that connally would romp.

Nate hit the nail right on the head when he an effective Netroots strategy needs to be a component of every campaign's larger message structure -- not an end in itself, but a tool -- one of many, like direct mail, television, canvassing, etc. -- aimed at getting a message out to voters.

A second overarching theme was the fact that the Internet is re-democratizing our Democracy, one of my own personal favorite themes.

While politics is not necessarily a zero-sum game, I think it sometimes feels that way to people who participate in it. Thus, the success of politics online is perceived as reducing the political influence of the traditional professionals, such as consultants and lobbyists. And while this is clearly true on a  relative basis, it is not necessarily the case on an absolute basis.

Nate made a wonderful point about how de Tocqueville's depicted America as a country in which people of all classes regularly discussed politics in the public square all of the time, but that it was lost with the rise of the mass media, and the divergence of interests between those of the corporate media in which political discussion occurred (revenue, viewership) and the average citizen (life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness) for whose benefit, presumably, that discussion took place

The Internet is providing the opportunity again for citizens to carry on their own political discussions, and as a result it tends to more accurately reflect the actual political desires of the people. As a medium, it will ultimately prevail over the mass media for this reason, IMHO.

Some other points made/discussed by Lowell and Nate, in my words, not theirs, were as follows (NOTE: I'm a lousy note taker, so to the extent I get any of these wrong, I apologize in advance, and am hoefully not mangaling their thoughts too badly):

1. Blogs are great tools for raising money, but blogs should not treat readers like ATMs. It won't work. Blogs should engage readers.

2. Blogs are great tools for keeping people enthused about and connected to a campaign, especially one in which many events take place over a large geographic area. Lowell cited the example of his being able to be excited about an event in Southwest Virginia that he would never be able to attend in person due to the distance because someone would blog about it.

3. Traditional media are cutting back on resources. Blogs will step into that void.

4. Blogs may not reach the same numbers of people as other media, but they reach influential people.

5. Blogs are ideal for seizing on a single issue and beating it to death. Traditional media, limited by the physical confines of a page or limited airtime, cannot do this effectively, but blogs are unlimited. Lowell cited the example of bloggers' abilities to hammer George Allen in 2006 over "macaca" and other racist incidents from his past.

6. For negative campaigning to be effective, it has to be truthful and credible. Lowell, again, pointed out that the reason the allegations of racism resonated against George Allen in 2006 was because there were legitimate incidents from his past that raised these issues. There was the macaca tape that all could see. On the other hand, Allen's efforts to brand Webb a pedophile based on some passages from Webb's books about what he witnessed in Vietnam were absurd from the start, because there was not a grain of truth to them.

7. Blogging is no way to make a living, and only a few bloggers with national reputations are able to do so. "Political blogging," Nate said, "is an act of passion and committment."

8. Nate discussed the fact that Democrats' efforts at blogging and non-traditional means of communication do not get the same financial support from rich Democrats as Republican efforts do. He cited Richard Mello Scaife's funding of the American Spectator and it's role in pushing Clinton "scandals." He doesn't see the same kind of political support on the left.

9. There were plenty of war stories. I particularly liked the way Lowell explained how they used George Allen's middle name, Felix, against him. Allen cultivated this macho, rugged individualist image of himself ( a totally false one, BTW. He grew up a privileged brat in California, the son of a famous football coach), and the genius of referring to him as "Felix" was it ran counter to Allen's distorted macho view of himself, and really got under his skin, especially when accompanied by images of Felix the Cat.

Okay, not necessarily intellectually highbrow, but effective.

There were plenty of other interesting points. But, this diary is long enough. I'll just close with a few photos:

Some Common good Fellows

Lowell speaking

Nate Wilcox

Lowell Feld, reminiscing about Felix

More of the Perriello Common Good Fellows

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