Keep bugging Carolyn to engage in weekly debates. Every time she says no, cash that for media attention. In NYC, local and national media are not two things. Make it lose lose for Carolyn.
Don't concede Labor to Carolyn. Maloney lives in a mansion, a-l-l labor issues are abstract to her.
One politician more than any other in this town is on excellent terms with Labor: John Liu. We need to go talk to John. I will come along if I have to. "John, you are going to be Mayor, sooner than most people realize. Reshma is going to be president. Right now she needs your help. She attended public schools all her life. Labor issues are not abstract to her like they are for Maloney. You were on Wall Street before you were in politics. Help now and we will remember when it is time for you to run for Mayor."
Landlines are only one part of the pie. Then there are cellphones, largely out of reach. And there is social media. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube.
The core of the organization needs to retweet everything tweeted by @reshma2010. We have to press that Like button on the Reshma 2010 Facebook page. We need to comment vigorously on articles shared by Reshma.
Raise as much money possible from the workers of Wall Street. Workers of Wall Street, unite! Unite behind Reshma. You need someone on the Hill who actually understands how Wall Street works. I happen to think Reshma's leadership - she is the national leader to the tech sector - to the tech sector and her leadership to Wall Street go hand in hand. You are trying to build a meritocracy in both those sectors.
Carolyn Maloney has decided she is not going to debate Reshma. (Debating Is "Stunt" In A Maloney Democracy) I wish Maloney all the false confidence in the world. She is relying on a poll her campaign conducted before Reshma did her months of field work.
The most talked about race in the state of New York is not going to have any debates if Maloney will have her way.
Of all the races in all the state, why does this one have people so passionate?
Obama won Iowa. The polls did not show that he will win, and they did not show his eventual margin. Why? Because the pollsters kept calling up "likely voters," their name for people who voted four years ago. But what Obama had done was build an army of new, first time voters on the ground. And so the pollsters were left in the dust. And, mind you, these were not pollsters hired by the Edwards campaign.
And you have Maloney basking in the glory of early, internal polling. I wish her a ton of false self confidence. If this race were such a shoo-in for Maloney, why is it the most talked about race in the state? It is such a talked about race because it is a competitive race.
But asking Maloney to do two debates a month to election day is like asking the mullahs in Iran to hold a reelection: not gonna happen. (Iran: The World Has Wasted A Year)
So what do you do? While at the Reshma 2010 party last night, I thought about this a whole lot, at the party and after the party. (Reshma 2010 Party Tonight)
I think the answer is social media. The answer is new media.
There were about 100 people at the party, in and out. Victory lies at the 1,000 mark. Once the circle of core supporters expands from 100 to 1,000, we win. Because all we need is 30,000 votes to win.
There was so much positive energy in the room last night. You could feel the tremendous momentum.
Already the candidate is doing an average of three events per day, events big and small. That is a tremendous pace.
Why do we want debates? So we can air our views, and we can get media coverage. We get on local TV. Are there other ways of achieving the same goals? I believe there are. Social media does better what traditional media does pretty good.
I was at the party last night, so I saw what happened. What if I was not there but wanted to know what happened? If the campaign were to post 100 pictures from the event at its Facebook page, if the campaign were to post a five minute video clip from the party at its YouTube channel, I might get a feel for what happened at the party last night. The audience for that video might only be 500 strong right now, but that is what social media is all about: media for all audience sizes. Small audiences matter, small audiences are intimate.
I say do events and be your own media, cover all events. There should be at least one photo from each event, posted at the campaign's Facebook page. Short video clips are great. They are free to produce. Long live the Flip camera.
And we have to produce full length videos of Reshma giving speeches on all major issues. We asked for but did not get two debates per month with Maloney. But we could easily do one major speech per week on our own.
I am all about taking attendance with the camera. When you capture a candidate speech on camera, it is important to capture all faces in the room. It is not just about the candidate, but also the crowd.
Upload the full speech, and upload a shorter video of highlights. An apple a day keeps the doctor away, one speech a week keeps Maloney away.
Another strategy would be to keep going on TV and keep challenging Maloney to do the debates.
Social media is not an imitation of old media. Social media is more. Social media is much more than saying, okay, we are going to be our own C-Span.
Social media allows you to turn your organization into a jellyfish. I am using that metaphor to hint at transparency. There are things that are private, but then there are things that are not private. The private strategy session that decided on the new office space was not something that needed to stay private. A three minute video from that session would have been great. You do that for your core 1,000 supporters. You are not on the staff, you were not even in the office that day, but we want you to feel included.
How much of the internal operations can you video blog like that?
I am for uploading five minutes of video every single day. The whole exercise is free.
And then there are the giants: Facebook and Twitter. Most everyone on the East Side who will vote on September 14 is on Facebook. I am guessing that to be the case. The campaign Facebook page has to be taken to new heights.
For every event the candidate does, at least one photo with a brief description has to end up on the Facebook page. It should be super easy for our core supporters to follow the campaign, and the Facebook stream is perhaps the best way. The accompanying staffer, also armed with a Droid X, can perhaps take care of the social media part of events.
Post video clips on Facebook.
And this is key: retweeting and pressing that Like button. All staffers and interns need to do that. East tweet by the campaign has to start with 30 retweets right away. Each Facebook update has to be liked by 30 people within the hour. And for key articles shared by Reshma on Facebook, there have to be 30 comments by the end of the day. I don't know how you do this. Do you send out an internal email each time? But I do know this has to be done.
It has to feel like there is a lot of activity. And you soon enough get the snowball effect. This is not about faking it, this is about engaging the core of the organization.
And then there is going out there. Take the NYDailyNews.com for example. It is not like they push six Reshma articles per day. It is one every few weeks. But those articles generate a lot of comments. Well, we can make sure at least 30 of those comments come from Reshma supporters. And if we can do that, more supporters will come out of the woodworks. This digital engagement is important because it is free, and it is real. These are real people. Many more people read the comments than leave them. That is an interested crowd.
Maloney's perceived advantages from dodging debates can be neutralized through a thorough use of social media. If she opts for just one debate early in September, we have to turn that into a slam dunk. And we can do that if we make extensive use of social media in the weeks before that.
If a tree fell deep in the forest, and nobody heard it fall, did the tree fall? Social media is about making sure people hear the tree fall. One photo per event, I would think, is the absolute minimum. The goal has to be to capture every face that shows up for every event. This is as much about covering the candidate as the crowd.
The idea is to produce short, compelling video clips for the Facebook stream every other day, so compelling people go ahead and press the Share button. If we are not going to get the free media from debating, we have to fill up the gap by becoming our own media. New media is better media.
Last Tuesday I showed up for an Aborn event near Union Square. I almost missed it. I thought it was on Wednesday. Lucky for me I logged into Facebook and there was a reminder or two. So I showed up.
I like to stick to following presidential level politics. Local races do not excite me to the same extent. But I had been noticing for months all my Obama 08 friends seem to be excited about this one guy: Richard Aborn. But I stayed away. District Attorney is not even Mayor. That was getting too local for me. But I wanted to check the guy out for the sake of my friends. So I showed up. Once at the bar I realized I had been to the same venue for a few other events by a few other organizations.
I was looking forward to seeing some friends - Faina showed up - and get a feel for Aborn. Also events like this draw interesting people, people you want to connect with. You end up in interesting conversations.
I showed up curious. I left excited. This is a local race, but this guy's election has national implications. You can be a white male like Aborn is and be working for equality for blacks. You can be a male and be taking stands against sexism. That is not odd at all. That is progressi
This is a guy who has prosecuted violent crimes for a living. He is not some soft on crime clown. This is a tough on crime guy who wants to make sense. Racism does not make sense.
From having met him only one evening, I am telling you, this guy is impressive, he is promising. Also from what I have been hearing, he is going to win tomorrow. I would not be surprised if he ends up in some federal position in about four years. You will be glad you got to know him and vote for him today.
It was an amazing evening. I went in. Jeff Kurzon - the first time I met Jeff Kurzon was near a Mahatma Gandhi statue - was greeting people as they streamed in. Kurzon's beard was gone. I made a blade gesture to my beard to tease. Last I had seen him was at the Bill Thompson event at Bombay Palace, and he was sporting a beard then. Good to know Jeff is now officially an Aborn staffer. By the time he helps push Aborn to victory, he will be a ripe cadidate for another high flying private sector lawyerly job, granted that is what he wants. Jeff used to work for the same law firm the Obamas worked for in their youth, its New York office. That was so impressive to me when I first found out. I have seen a halo around his head since.
Jeff introduced me to someone from "Brooklyn," and I am thinking this guy still thinks I am in Brooklyn. The NYPD drove me out of Brooklyn!
"I have seen you before!" I teased the person I was introduced to. Then Jeff introduced me to an author. His book was about to show up on Amazon.
My jaw dropped when Jeff took six months off work and went state hopping for Obama. He started in his native New Hampshire. He ended up as far as California. Then one day I spotted him in a corner at the Irish Rogue. I did not know he was going to be there. So I was visibly, excitedly surprised.
"You are back!"
Jeff Kurzon takes public service seriously. Like Aborn he has progressive white guy ideas on race, that touchy, touchy topic that many people don't know how to talk about.
Then one day Obama's sister showed up in New York while Jeff was in NH. I ended up one of her 10 friends on MyBO. Jeff emailed me saying he was jealous. Then Obama showed up in Harlem. Jeff rode in the car with the future president. They went downtown together. I emailed Jeff. I was jealous. But I was only half serious. The guy deserved the ride. He practically quit his fancy job for Obama. I am surprised he is not ambassador yet. Ugh, maybe after Obama's reelection.
And of course Jeff was on stage for the biggest rally in US presidential campaign history to date: that Washington Square Park rally. Oprah broke that record soon after, but it was a record while it lasted.
I bumped into Deanna Tilley before I bumped into Jeff Kurzon. The video at the top of this blog post comes from one of Deanna's Facebook status updates earlier today.
After having worked the room a little, I spotted this middle aged black woman in a corner. I had run out of people so I walked over to her and said hello. Ends up she is a grad school friend of Aborn's wife. She said she was a "housewife." My mass media trained mind was about to blurt the phrase "Desperate Housewife," but I resisted. Social media makes more sense on such topics.
Aborn showed up. The "housewife" kept nudging me to go say hello. I waited for an opening. Then I was standing in front of Richard Aborn. He was approachable.
I also moved here from the Midwest, I said teasingly. I once showed up for a county fair in Indiana, and I was the only nonwhite person at the fair. It is not like anyone bothers you, but you notice. Aborn is originally from Iowa. Iowa elected Obama. Then Iowa went ahead and legalized gay marriage, before California, before New York. So much for coastal progressivism.
I chatted with Aborn. I told him I was from Nepal. Told him I was a tech entrepreneur when he asked what I did. Then I told him I had read nothing about him to that point, and that I was there because all my Obama friends were so excited about him. Then his wife showed up, and he introduced. My wife, he said.
"I just met your friend Jackie!" I said. The wife got impressed.
Then something happened that really impressed me. A staffer looking woman approached Aborn. Eric will introduce you, she said.
"What do you want me to say?" Aborn asked her. I was touched. This guy was not short on words to speak, but the respect he showed for his staffer won me over. She briefed him. Later I got to talk to her. She was a consultant. I got her card: Jacqui Samuels, Samuels Consulting. Aborn approached us. This was after the speeches had been done, Eric Schneiderman had spoken, Bill Perkins had come and gone. He remembered me as the guy form Nepal. I was impressed. I was bragging to Jacqui I had more than 20,000 followers on Twitter. I offered to send out a few tweets for Aborn.
"Are they all from New York?" Aborn asked. It was like JFK and LBJ are watching a man land on the moon. And LBJ, ever the politician, goes: "If only he were a Negro!"
"No. All over the world. But many are from New York," I said.
Then it was one on one. This was my time with Richard Aborn. I told him now I was excited about him. I am all about tough on crime, I said, but the part that really got me is the one about your progressive ideas, I said. I don't know if I got too excited, or Aborn wanted to sit and chat with some chips, he reached out for chips and salsa at the nearby table.
In the aftermath the husband of someone Aborn sits on the Board of something or the other - interfaith dialogue something - and the wife walked over and the three of us had chips and salsa for a while.
The evening slowly wound down, and I walked away determined to blog and tweet for Aborn.
The guy got me excited.
At one point a George said he had seen my Jordan Thomas video. Jordan showed up. He said he had not seen that video to the end himself. The video is an hour, and it is "raw," like George said.
Towards the end I approached someone from having seen him at many political events.
"You run for office, right?" I said.
This was Brian Kavanagh, a member of the New York state assembly. He represents Union Square, Lower East Side. I guess I was in his district.
Kirsten Gillibrand Is A Good Choice This is not happening. I think this is a major league technical error. I once pressed a button somewhere and everyone in my Yahoo mail contacts list ended up getting an invite to link with me on LinkedIn. One email back read, I would really like to get back in touch with you, but I really don't know I want to do LinkedIn and Facebook.
Or this is a group account, and another DL21Cer is playing a prank on the honorable Ms. Caputo by quietly adding my name to the guest list. Which one?
Or Ms. Caputo is worried about the future political fallouts from pressing two bogus charges against me, bogus as determined by the New York City authorities: I hired no lawyer. That is going to become really problematic after I win the Nobel Peace Prize next year. Here is a recent email from the guy who only a few days back became Prime Minister of Nepal:
But the two women running for office in New York are named Brooke Ellison and Jessica Lappin. I am honored to be Facebook friends with both, and to have an active Facebook friendship with one of them. Brooke is my favorite New York politician. She makes my day every time she says something to me.
I am a Third World guy. I am not an Indiana person. I ran away from Indiana. And I still think Dan Berger is a major league asshole, a lowly staffer to a lowly Congressman (as measured by the standards of world history). I mean, who gives a fuck about Charlie Rangel? I don't. Nobody seemed to have heard of him down there in Alabama. I asked a whole bunch of black guys.
My life for most of this year has been at the Netizen blog, not the Barackface blog. Barackface was last year, or at least the first half when I was on the surface. I am a tech startup guy, I am not a politician. And no, this is not a career change. Internet access is the voting right for this 21st century. I am Third World (that is the nigger version). I am Global South (that is the Afro Americo version).
This invite has opened up a can of worms for me.
The first time NYPD took me away for a night, two of the questions on the way were, is that your car, and where is the tunnel? I have been through so many 9/11 generated humiliations, this was not the first time, I was yawning. The day 9/11 happened, I happened to be in a small town in KY. The locals called the cops on ME! 9/11 did not make this country racist. This country was racist way before 9/11, like way before.
And then the little nonprofit motherfucker Justin Krebs did what he did. A few days back I also had a Drinking Liberally invite to show up for his organization's sixth birthday party. I thought I had unsubscribed from their mailing list.
NYPD and the immigration people could work in close coordination on everything except that on April 22 recently the court clerk said they sent my immigration letter last year to "Indiana!" NYPD forgot to tell the immigration people that I was, well, in New York! NYPD, New York Police Department. Hello.
The six months felt like a death sentence. Once I got into a really bad road accident upstate in April 2002. Road ice in April, can you imagine? I realized the difference between life and death was three seconds, 1001, 1002, 1003. I counted. Another time I missed a major 100 vehicle pileup on the interstate in Atlanta by only a few hours: dense fog. I was a few hours too early. Another time I missed a bridge collapse in Oklahoma by a few hours. I was a few hours too late. One fine morning - like 1 AM - a bunch of Texas police officers rained bullets about 10 feet from me. I was not holding a wallet, but they later said they thought the gun was inside the vehicle. I once drove overnight through a hurricane: I followed it up along the East Coast.
Summary.
She did like me, a few different times, including on day one. Day one was special, but the little nonprofit motherfucker had to mess up.
Finally in early 2008 especially after the Zipper bar event I was like, it is not like I don't like you back, but we have to talk. Day one was the only day one there ever was going to be.
But she has to act protective of a lowly Congressional staffer and a little nonprofit motherfucker. (Mideast Peace: Tech Industry Style) At the Texas event I decided, okay, so your latest is that you don't like me, I respect that. I have seen these pendulum swings a few times.
This was no Harvard bond. Mike Luchipuchinachi never went to Harvard. Dumb white guys including those that might have gone to Harvard love doing the border patrol thing: color line border patrol.
But showing up for DL21C events was my right. I thought and still think DL21C would be honored to have me. You can not like a guy, and then not like a guy, and then that be a reason he can't show up for public political events.
By January this year even that logic got boring. Barack was already in. The presidential politics is all I care about. I still don't get excited about local races. And I had things to take care of.
I like doing creative, innovative work. My attention had shifted.
This was a broad experience in race and gender. That is what it boils down to. A sexist pig, racist bitch thing. A racist, sexist pig thing.
But this invite did remind me of a Senator Kirsten article I recently read on the Huffington Post and commented on there.
I am not really angry about the six months. I have had a technical attitude since I got out in November. There were legal details that needed taken care of. The two city charges were soon gone. Then the immigration thing had to be taken care of.
I don't think this invite is real. So I am not going. The last thing I want is to show up for a DL21C event and then get told I am not welcome, to be shown the door. Also, political events like this one don't excite me all that much. At some level it is scary how they can do the exact same thing over and over again. The format is so concrete. It scares my innovative mind.
That makes me think of another detail. At one point in late 2007, early 2008 my attitude was, so what do you want? You like me? You don't like me? Or do you just want me to join DL21C? I don't see the point. I don't get the impression DL21C wants to do anything more than it is doing already. You don't need me to join DL21C. But if you do, here is what I would like to suggest. I had a whole bunch of digital stuff to suggest. I guess that was like Steve Wozniak taking his prototype to the HP people. They were absolutely not interested.
It makes no sense for me to show up for DL21C events unless things are normal between Ms. Caputo and me one on one, outside of DL21C. Right now I don't think it is. So I will stay put with my tech startup work. Fuck politics.
Twitter anyone?
But I have to be honest, there is a political animal part of me that keeps going back to Godfather I and Godfather III where the Marlon Brando and Al Pacino characters are opposed to retaliating after attempts on their lives. Instead they want to do business with the strong opponents, strong enough to have made attempts on their lives.
"That is not what I wanted!" says Al disapproving of the retaliation.
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