Modern campaigns reach out to voters and highly informed people who educate voters in their circles of influence in many ways. of course, the old forms work and are at times effective. They include mailers ( expensive), radio ads, letters to the editor, editorials ( I don't see why there isn't more attempts at using this outlet.), signs in yards, bumper stickers and more.
But this is a new era and with it comes new tools. Tools like Facebook, Myspace, blogs, constant emails, youtube, and others.
As far as blogs go Tony Strickland has already started his advertising. Blogs don't reach as many people as other media formats do but they people they do reach tend to be very passionate about what they are reading about. Blogs are also less expensive to advertise on and the campaign has the ability to micro target their audience.
Here is an example of Tony Strickland's targeting:
The Flash Report is a statewide Republican blog. By advertising there I doubt he is looking for votes. Instead he is trying to connect with conservative activists throughout the state. When Hannah-Beth Jackson supporters criticize that most of his money is from outside the area remember Tony Strickland has put in the work to cultivate relationships with conservatives across California. The total for a month on Flash Report is $350.
Do you think he will earn back his money but advertising there?
Click on continue reading to see his other online ad. Warning: It has "Earth Friend Jen" of Ohio pictured next to it wearing what she normally does which is next to nothing. But it is made out of natural fibers.
Both of the campaigns keep in contact with regular emails although Tony Strickland's campaign sends them more often. Recently he sent a copy of an editorial he placed in The Santa Barbara News-Press. Click on continue reading to see it.
This post was mostly about Tony Strickland for two reasons 1) I have written in the past about her supporters use of technology to echo their message. 20 I haven't heard back from her campaign in regards to if it was true she supported the Celtics over the Lakers.
What new tools do you think will work best in Ventura County this cycle? I am betting on social networking sites.
Here is another of his blog ads this example is from a Santa Barbara blog.
All of this isn't a plea for ads. I don't get paid to sell advertising and I don't have control over who pays for an ad on my blog.
I have several more examples of candidates advertising on blogs to share in the coming weeks.
Here is Tony Strickland's latest email:
Santa Barbara News press
Opinion: Fuel crisis gives opportunity to find solutionsBy Tony Strickland
June 27, 2008 12:00 AM
With gas prices rapidly approaching $5 a gallon, it's not difficult to understand why the public demand for alternative energy sources is as high as it's ever been. The simple fact is that families in California and across the nation are making great sacrifices as they struggle to keep up with these rising costs.
Like the current crisis we face in our state budget, soaring fuel prices provide us with a unique opportunity to take action and provide leadership by supplying real, tangible solutions to the growing problem.
It is abundantly clear that for California to be successful and healthy, we must strive to be both a good steward of the environment as well as a friend to the innovative private businesses that keep our economy strong. Any effective, long-term solution to our energy crisis will have to include a healthy mixture of the two.
While there's no doubt we all seek a cleaner environment, it is critically important to recognize the amazing technological achievements in this effort come not from government but from the resourceful minds and great determination of hard-working Americans who seek to create a better world for us all.
We must find a balance between government and business that allows these pioneers in the alternative-energy arena to continue creating ways to effectively solve our energy problems.
I understand that simply passing regulatory legislation won't create the necessary means for providing energy independence. We need independent leadership and someone willing to take meaningful action on this vital issue.There was a time in our history when renewable, alternative-energy resources such as wind and solar were mocked as impractical and ineffective. Critics of these methods eventually were proven wrong as technological advancements in these areas began to provide clean, valuable sources of clean energy.
That is one of the primary reasons I helped found GreenWave Energy Solutions, a company created to harness the power of the ocean's waves and to provide clean alternative energy in California. As its vice president, I'm working on real-world solutions with tangible results to reduce our dependence on foreign oil, reduce gas prices, and jump-start our economy by creating a "green" job market with unlimited potential for Californians.
It's time for our state government to start providing incentives and removing bureaucratic barriers to the vast possibilities in alternative energy. If we truly want to become energy independent and break out of the cycle that has led us to where we are, let's reward those who would take us in a new direction using creative technology and ideas that have always been part of the American spirit.
Tony Strickland is a Republican candidate for the 19th District seat in the California Senate.
With all of his focus it seems on Santa Barbara does Tony Strickland have Hannah-Beth Jackson back on the defensive following a few bad weeks for him after the fracas outside of his fund raising event?
Which candidate had the best month in June?
The "bad" weeks Strickland had weren't even really all that bad. HBJ is simply trying to deflect from the real issues and few people care about the distractions she's focused on. She does NOT want to talk about the budget. She's going to have to eventually though. Good luck convincing voters that a legislature long controlled by democrats who have created another budget disaster should get another seat at the table and possibly a 2/3 majority. HBJ has voted for almost every tax increase and voted against spending control measures. Just what we need, right?
Also, people who criticize Strickland for getting money from out of the district should remember that he ran for Statewide office in the Controller's race. Hard to fault him for impressing statewide contacts enough to contribute.
Let's keep in mind that it was the newspaper who dug up the tobacco contributions and splashed it across the front page of the Sunday paper. It's news when the County Republicans go begging for $50,000 from Big Tobacco for Strickland. The newspaper also dug up the disingenuous nature of Strickland's ballot designation.
Let's also remember that Angeles' abysmal behavior at the Hyatt event caused the rally planned by HBJ supporters and anti-tobacco people to get much more press coverage than it would have before.
The Stricklands' own poor choices caused their bad press. These are not people I want making legislative decisions for me.
Jackson has never once shied away from discussions about the budget. She favors a balanced approach to the budget which would entail getting rid of tax loopholes for special interests who don't need them and making sure our classrooms have the money they need.
Strickland has never proposed any specific budget fixes; his web site is sketchy at best and he still hasn't posted endorsements. What is he hiding?
Bad?,
You might disagree with me why the press coverage was bad. You think it was because Hannah-Beth Jackson is trying to distract people from the issues and others think it is because of the press coverage.
But I was only speaking about the outcome which was a flurry of press stories about the protest.
He also raised a large sum of money but overall I think he would agree mistakes were made in the last few weeks.
You did notice I didn't criticize him for taking money from across the state? I know he has many statewide contacts from his past runs.
Why is it that the party that understands technology more is behind in using it to win elections in Ventura County?
The tax "loopholes" you're talking about include things like mortgage interest deductions that help families. The fact is that HBJ opposed spending caps, voted for every tax increase proposed, opposed spending caps that would have helped prevent the deficit, wants to tax the internet, voted against eliminating the gas tax, and even supported taking $895,000 in taxpayer money for a three day party celebrating California's 150th anniversary of statehood. We've got a 15-20 BILLION dollar deficit and she's writing blogs about art being a "top priority". She's so far out of touch it's scary.
As one of the most liberal, tax and spend democrats around, she supports the exact policies that put us in the hole we're in.
You can try to shrug off the "taxin Jackson" label all you want but it's fitting. Ok, "truth"?
The tax loopholes the Dems are talking about are things like that ridiculous tax break for multi-millionaire yacht owners and other giveaways for the richest of the rich.
Actually, Jackson didn't vote on Strickland's gas tax repeal. He's pushed that one a long time and now his wife has taken it up. His obsession with it led the Chico Enterprise-Record to write this:
Lame idea makes one choice easy
The Enterprise-Record hadn't planned to make endorsements for most of the state offices in the June primary election, but we'll make one exception: Republicans shouldn't vote for Tony Strickland for state controller. We make that recommendation based on the hare-brained idea he promoted with a publicity stunt this week in Chico. Strickland showed up at a gas station on The Esplanade and handed out money to the tune of 21 cents a gallon, to drivers filling up their tanks. That represents the sales tax on $3-a-gallon gasoline, which Strickland wants to have repealed.
The idea's being pushed in a bill carried by his wife, Audra, who succeeded him in the Los Angeles Assembly seat he once held. Why a transportation funding proposal is the centerpiece of a run for the obscure post of controller is bizarre on its face. The fact it's a dumb idea makes it an even more unusual choice. The money in question are the funds that voters in March 2002 earmarked for transportation by approving Proposition 42 by a 61 percent to 39 percent margin. It's the money that the state then diverted for several years to balance its budget, causing the state's highway building program to collapse. Last year and next year, the funds have been returned to transportation, and long-delayed work like the Highway 149 project in central Butte County, have been revived as a result. In November, there are likely to be two measures on the ballot that will largely prevent the funds from being diverted again. And that's how it should be.
Transportation projects need a reliable stream of money, and the state and federal excise taxes on gasoline haven't been enough to keep up with the need. Politicians of both major parties recognize it and taken steps toward providing more protected, steady funding. And Strickland wants to mess with that. Maybe he really doesn't. Maybe he just needs something to get a little name recognition and he realizes gas costing more than $3 a gallon has captured a lot of attention. Stripping off the 7.25 percent sales tax (in Butte and Glenn counties), would knock the price down to a far more palatable price in the high $2.70s. It would also wreak havoc on transportation funding, even if the $20 billion bond measure passes in November.
That would be a one-time shot on money, rather than the predictable, annual payments roadwork needs, as most projects take several years to complete. Frankly, we'd rather see the taxes on gas raised a cent or two than have the bond measure. That would provide a needed boost to roadwork, paid for by the people who use the roads as they use the roads, rather than putting the whole state deeper in debt for the next decade or two. A tax increase isn't going to happen, but Strickland's proposal shouldn't either. There's virtually no support for the idea in the Legislature so it probably won't.
It's a campaign stunt, and nothing more.