About TechPresident | TechPresident

Contact us:

techpres AT personaldemocracy DOT com

Press inquiries:

Andrew Rasiej:
andrew AT personaldemocracy DOT com

917.359.2426

TechPresident was started by Andrew Rasiej and Micah Sifry as a new group blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the web, and vice versa, how content generated by voters is affecting the campaign.

The 2008 election will be the first where the Internet will play a central role, not only in terms of how the campaigns use technology, but also in how voter-generated content affects its course. TechPresident.com plans to track all these changes in real-time, covering everything from campaign websites, online advertising and email lists to the postings on YouTube and who's got the fastest growing group of friends on MySpace.

Our team of bloggers is made of veterans of the 2004 and 2006 elections, ranging across the political spectrum. Their expertise covers everything from website design to the latest in mobile tools and social networking sites. And we'll look closely not just at what the campaigns are or are not doing, but what voters and activists are doing online to independently affect the election.

In addition to the Personal Democracy Forum editorial staff (Editor Micah Sifry and Associate Editor Joshua Levy) the contributors to TechPresident.com include:

Morra Aarons, Internet communications consultant, former Director of Internet Marketing for the Democratic National Committee and Kerry-Edwards '04; political director of BlogHer.org. You can visit her at www.womenandwork.org.

David All, former communications director for Rep. Jack Kingston and former communications director for 2006 Senate candidate Mike Bouchard and owner of the David All Group

Michael Bassik, VP of MSHC, expert on online political advertising

Tom Belford, aging political and advocacy marketer, now writing The Agitator

Roger Craver, aging political and advocacy marketer, now writing The Agitator

Chuck DeFeo, General Manager of Townhall.com

Colin Delany, online communications consultant and web designer since 1997, currently Online Communications Manager at the National Environmental Trust, writing at epolitics.com.

Philip de Vellis , viral video producer and Senior VP of New Media at Murphy Putnam Media

Mindy Finn, director of Finn Enterprises, former director of e-Strategy for Mitt Romney '08, former Director of New Media & Technology for Rick Santorum, former RNC eCampaign Deputy Director, and former Deputy Webmaster for Bush-Cheney '04.

Steve Garfield, Video-blogging pioneer

Matt Browner Hamlin, Writer and political consultant. He was the Deputy Internet Director on Chris Dodd's Presidential campaign. Before moving to work in American politics full-time, he worked for Students for a Free Tibet and helped turn the SFT Blog into the 21st Most Powerful Blog in the World.

Lynne d Johnson, Senior Editor, FastCompany.com

Zack Exley, Director of Online Organizing and Communications, Kerry/Edwards '04

Dan Manatt , Political Web Video professional since 1999 and Executive Producer and founder of PoliticsTV.com and CapNews.Net, a web video news service that covers the U.S. Congress.

Jack McEnany Editor at LostNation.TV

Luigi Montanez, Web developer and consultant for Democratic campaigns and progressive organizations. While working at Democracy for America in 2005, he built DFA-Link, one of the first social activism networks on the Web. He now works with WebStrong Group, and specializes in Ruby on Rails development and Salesforce.com implementations.

Justin Oberman, MOpocket.com, expert on mobile phone use in politics

Spencer Overton, George Washington University law professor, co-founder of blackprof.com, author of Stealing Democracy, and former member of DNC Presidential Nomination Scheduling Commission

Chris Rabb, Publisher, Afro-Netizen

Alan Rosenblatt, Associate Director of Online Advocacy for the Center for American Progress Action Fund and Executive Director of the Internet Advocacy Center

Patrick Ruffini, former eCampaign Director for the Republican National Committee, webmaster for Bush-Cheney '04, and former Giuliani '08 advisor

Tracy Russo, President of Russo Strategies, an online communications and strategy firm; former Chief Blogger and Deputy Online Communications Director for the John Edwards campaign and former director of Online Outreach for the Democratic National Committee.

Liza Sabater, Publisher, CultureKitchen

Nancy Scola, former internet organizer with Mark Warner's 2008 presidential campaign

Ruby Sinreich, expert on network-centric advocacy

Fred Stutzman, Ph.D. student and social networks researcher at UNC-Chapel Hill's School of Information and Library Science.

Michael Tate, sophomore at the University of Pennsylvania, Communications Director for Penn College Republicans, former Director of Online Communications for Tom Tancredo '08

Zephyr Teachout, Visiting Assistant Professor of Law, Duke Law School, former Director of Online Organizing for Howard Dean and former National Director of the Sunlight Foundation.

Mike Turk, former e-campaign director of the Republican National Committee and Bush-Cheney 2004

Michael Whitney, progressive Internet strategist and web producer.

Organizational references are for personal identification purposes only; comments posted by our bloggers reflect their own personal views only and should not be taken to reflect the positions of the organizations they work for.

TechPresident.com also includes several innovative features for tracking the 2008 presidential campaign online [some of these are still in development]:

Press

The 2008 candidates are running 'e-lection' campaigns, USA Today, 4/4/07
Who's the Most Web Savvy '08 Candidate?, ABC News, 3/20/07
Which 2008 Candidates Are Most Web Savvy?, Newsweek, 3/5/07
Myspace race on the campaign trail, Chicago Tribune, 2/26/07
Presidential candidates ramp up web presence dramatically, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 2/18/07
TechPresident: Tracking Candidate Use of MySpace, YouTube, AdSense, TechCrunch, 2/14/07

News Briefs

RSS Feed thursday >

Former IMF Chief Economist Uses Change.org To Petition NY Fed To Remove JPMorgan Chase' CEO Jamie Dimon

The International Monetary Fund's former Chief Economist Simon Johnson is using Change.org to build support for his position that JP Morgan Chase' CEO Jamie Dimon must resign from the board of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York. Johnson, a British economist who's a longtime professor at MIT, established the petition on Wednesday. Since ... GO

yesterday >

This Isn't What Political Air Time Usually Means

MoveOn.org is asking supporters for $150,000 in donations to fly a plane above high-dollar fundraisers for Mitt Romney with "a message that reminds voters how he represents his corporate and 1% donors." MoveOn previously hired a plane to fly over Romney's Liberty University graduation speech with the message "GOP = HIGHER SCHOOL DEBT." GO

There's a New $200 Million Fund for Super-High-Speed Broadband Projects

An initiative to build and test gigabit-speed broadband networks is set to fund up to six next-generation Internet access projects across the country, fueled by a new $200 million broadband development funding program, Gigabit Squared and Gig.U announced this morning. GO

New Rice University Paper Chronicles Impact of the Internet On U.S. Foreign Policy

We all know that the Internet has transformed the way that the United States conducts diplomacy, and the way that it views national security, but where should we look to find evidence of this? This is the wide-ranging subject matter of a new paper published on Tuesday by Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy. The paper provides a round-up of some of the major turns of events between 2005 and 2011 in the realms of Internet governance, the development of online public diplomacy at the State Department, the evolution of the Internet-fueled Arab Spring, and the establishment of the shadowy U.S. Cyber Command in Fort Meade, Maryland, among other things. GO

Messin' with Lamar Smith, Revisited

Remember that grassroots fundraising campaign to put a "Don't Mess with the Internet" billboard in the home district of Rep. Lamar Smith, Republican of Texas and sponsor of the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act? All of the money required came in, and Fight for the Future, the advocacy group opposing more stringent copyright protections online, writes that the billboard went up. GO

Republican National Convention Organizers Sever Ties With Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions

After eight years producing online content for the Republican National Convention, GOP web consultant Becki Donatelli's Campaign Solutions is off of the project. "Campaign Solutions was retained to help develop our convention website and digital strategy, but they are no longer involved in convention planning," James Davis, the convention's communications director, told techPresident Tuesday. It's unclear what precipitated the of the relationship between the convention organizers and Campaign Solutions, which has been producing the online component of the event since 2004. But Donatelli's name surfaced in a controversial anti-Obama ad pitch sent to a Super PAC backed by TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, which appeared in its entirety in the Times last week. Ricketts has since disavowed the proposal and Donatelli has denied any involvement. GO

PD+ This Thurs 1pm: Thriving Online With Howard Rheingold

I'm really looking forward to talking with author Howard Rheingold this Thursday on the next PD+ teleconference. His new book, Net Smart, is a concise and thoughtful guide to understanding and making the most of the hyper-networked, always-on, firehose of information and distraction that is the contemporary experience of anyone who uses ... GO

City of Joplin, Mo. Launches New Online Center Ahead of Tornado's Anniversary

The city of Joplin, Missouri launched its new web site over the week-end ahead of the May 22 anniversary of the massive tornado that devastated the city and killed 161 people. The new site enables Joplin citizens to sign up for emergency alerts via text message, e-mail and RSS. In addition to those alerts, individuals can also sign up for ... GO

Online Organizing

WeGov

GOP 2012

Obama 2012