The Romney ‘Way’, Hillary Clinton & Web 2.0
“He’ll set America straight”
Before he pontificates further, it appears former Gov. Mitt Romney has to get his own house in order.
Reported by Stephanie Mencimer of Mother Jones:
DLC Prez Wins Romney Ad-Making Contest
09/24/07 11:39 AMDemocratic Leadership Council President and Slate blogger Bruce Reed answered the call last week when the Romney for President campaign launched a “create your own ad” contest. Team Mitt promised to buy air time for the ad with the most “love” and page views. Reed apparently couldn’t resist. He used the campaign’s official materials (provided by the contest), cut and pasted, and— voila!—created “Way!,” a funny riff on how Mitt dissuaded son Tagg from becoming a Democrat.
The Romney people were not amused and have banned Reed’s creation from the contest (which got all of 137 entries, according to Reed). Nonetheless, Reed’s creation has generated vastly more love than anything the Mitt supporters have come up with. See it [‘Way’] for yourself here:
Below is Slate V’s take on the challenge:
‘Five Brothers’
Bruce Reed’s Slate update (edited) on Mitt Romney’s nascent journey into Web 2.0:
Wednesday, Sept. 26, 2007
Block the Vote: Despite a desperate poll-line stand by the Romney campaign, “Way!” has built a commanding, 23,000-vote lead over its nearest challenger. Team Mitt spent the past 24 hours fending off questions from reporters wanting to know how Romney could possibly win an election when his campaign doesn’t even know how to run one.
A quick, Harvard Business School analysis reveals that “Way!” has more views than all nine official finalists put together.
Team Mitt might want to revise the talking points it gave the Globe yesterday: “This contest demonstrates Romney for President’s commitment to using cutting-edge technology to engage voters online and harness the extraordinary enthusiasm of its grassroots supporters.” Translation: The Romney campaign hopes to harness more supporters like the Creepy Guy From Salt Lake.
In August, the Boston Globe characterized the contest as ‘the latest example of how the 2008 presidential candidates are using the Internet to engage supporters in unprecedented ways.’ But it looks like it’s also turning out to be the latest example of campaigns not recognizing how little control they have over their own Web efforts.
Tuesday, Sept. 25, 2007
The Empire Strikes Back: Just hours after Slate announced “Way!”’s shocking upset victory in the Romney ad contest, Team Mitt realized that defeat is at hand. Moments ago, panicked e-strategists in Boston posted the contest finalists on the campaign Web site and urged supporters to vote for their favorite. Last week the campaign promised 10 finalists, but today it posted only nine instead. We all know which one is missing—the ad that already won by more than 16,000 votes.
Apparently, Team Mitt can’t count—and all of a sudden has no interest in counting, either. Last week, the campaign’s director of e-strategy told Wired that the 10 winners would be based on page views and viewer love. But when the nine finalists were announced, only one was among the top nine in page views or love. Three finalists didn’t even meet the competition standards for length.
My fellow Romneyacs, don’t throw your vote away! Our fearless leader promised us online democracy, not a Soviet-style election run by totalitarian Mittistas.
Compare former Gov. Mitt Romney’s Web 2.0 flop to the success of Sen. Hillary Clinton’s attempt:
First she asked America for advice
Then she checked back with her audience
Then the ‘Sopranos’ spoof
And the campaign song is chosen
While the song might be a musical failure, Clinton’s Web 2.0 battle was a success, demonstrating a clear difference in internet savvy between the Romney and Clinton campaigns.
What does the Romney failure and Clinton win say about the 2008 presidential election?
Hm, let’s examine the two philosophies:
The Democrat remained in charge, maintaining control of the initiative through well-planned decisive steps, while the Republican recklessly tried a big idea and hoped for the best.
Sound familiar?
Vote wisely.
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See also:Does CNN Love Romney?
http://www.uncorrelated.com/Romney1.jpg
http://english.people.com.cn/200512/16/images/bush.jpg
http://www.rubyan.com/politics/missionacccoffx.jpg
http://www.theinterpretersfriend.com/indj/maps/iraq-map.gif
http://www.donnunn.com/spiel/images/gay_marriage_opponents.jpg
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