Supercharging the grassroots and netroots

Yesterday at Daily Kos there was one of those "best ideas ever." The author called it "Open Source Campaigns." It will probably (hopefully?) pick up traction and be prominent there and at MyDD.

No reason BlueNC and NC in general should not be at the leading edge.

The idea is simple: organize the skills of the netroots folks into a clearinghouse for helping candidates with tasks that do not need on-site volunteers: web site design, graphic arts, data analysis and database management, etc.

As a first-time candidate in a local election (Forsyth County Board of Education) I can attest to the need for such services with my website effort and in other areas. Something along the lines of what was described by the diarist would be a huge force-multiplier.

As an analogy, think of the folks who allow idle processor time on their networked computers to be used by SETI searchers and other scientists, creating supercomputer power out of a little bit of spare capacity here and there.

The bonus is that some folks might find their help leading to a sense of further empowerment and getting more involved. Young people, especially, could get little jobs to add to their resumes and gain the experience to be of greater help in future campaigns.

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Intrigued

Submitted by Lance on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 4:43pm.

A number of positives and potential negatives spring quickly to mind. I'll take a closer look later today. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

Great idea . . .

Submitted by James on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 4:50pm.

and you're right about the possibility of North Carolina working on the leading edge of open source campaigns. I know we get regular visits from actual campaign staff and volunteers, but most of us regulars are just out here working for the common good, helping who we can help in between our day jobs and families.

One of the biggest challenges I see is getting to critical mass and driving traffic to all the sites out there that need and deserve to be visited. (Yours is great, by the way.) That's one of the things we're trying to do here . . . provide a forum where all the good candidates and causes can get a chance to connect with likely supporters.

I hope you'll keep coming by . . . and that you'll keep us linked to your site and your needs.

And good luck in your campaign! I've been there and done that, and I know first hand it is tough, thankless work.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.

Campaign Finance Question

Submitted by Lance on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 6:17pm.

The more I think about it the more I like it. I'm walking my way through some of the details, but I think it's something we could do through the existing BlueNC setup.

Here's a question we've got to answer before getting started: if Citizen Jane spends $25 at Kinkos making flyers for Candidate Joe after Joe solicited Jane's help through an Open Source Campaign, is that a regulated donation? On the one hand, Joe never gets Jane's money. On the other hand, he gets flyers that would have cost him in the neighborhood of $25. If it is a donation that must be reported, what does that do mean in practical terms?

Anybody know?

Let's ask Art!

Submitted by James on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 6:19pm.

He knows all about skirting campaign contribution laws.

:)

Sorry *slaps wrists* to be playing Whack-a-Puppet again. Sometimes it's just too easy.

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.

Good question

Submitted by demondeac on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 9:51pm.

The $25 would probably be an in-kind donation. Need to look up whether or not in-kind $100 or less need to be itemized in detail or just listed without name and occupation of donor.

The open source site should have some lawyers on it!

A similar question is whether or not the graphic design, sy of a logo, that has no tangible value like the printed fliers does, would be listed as an in-kind donation of graphic arts service at whatever market rate is, or whether that is simply campaign volunteer labor.

These do not seem to be big problems that cannot be answered. But they should be addressed in advance.

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Thanks all

Submitted by demondeac on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 9:54pm.

Way to pick up the thread!

Let's jkeep it going. I'll be on look out at DKos and MyDD. I e-mailed Chris Boers who was receptive to another of my ideas.

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One of these days... I'll be 'blogging on the nuts..

Submitted by WillR (not verified) on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 10:45pm.

One of these days... I'll be 'blogging on the nuts and bolts of running a cheap campaign including using OSS tools.

Oh goodie.

Submitted by James on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 10:46pm.

Make sure you let us know when 'one of these days' arrives. Thanks!

Do good. Be nice. Have fun.

Ditto.

Submitted by Robert P. on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 11:03pm.

RP

Jesus Swept ticked me off. Too short. I loved the characters and then POOF it was over.
-me

Let me know if I can help

Submitted by Lance on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 11:11pm.

when you get to the Drupal/Civicspace part of your series!

Guess I'll have to do it sooner than later...

Submitted by WillR (not verified) on Thu, 04/27/2006 - 11:24pm.

I started with Drupal but it was a bit "raw".

Since I started my campaign very late (11:30am final filing day) and didn't have a site up for about two weeks I was left with the decision of either spending time on Drupal's problems or running a campaign.

Here's a teaser on the tech I used: OpenOffice, Gimp, Audacity, Wordpress, a bit of Perl and few other bits and pieces ;-)!