They've Got Your Back

Last fall's U.S. Senate race between then-U.S. Sen. George Allen and Democrat Jim Webb was a battle between strongly-clashing opponents.

It was a blogger-led "Draft Webb" effort that convinced the decorated Vietnam veteran and former Republican to get into the Senate race against singleterm incumbent George Allen. Blogger Lowell Feld, one the leaders of the Draft Webb movement, even became the campaign's netroots coordinator.

The Allen campaign, on the other hand, had no Internet presence other than a basic website. Alien hired an "eCampaign Manager" in mid-summer, naming somebody who had no connection with political bloggers.

These two approaches collided on August 11, when Alien made his nowfamous attack on Webb campaign staffer S.R. Sidarth, nicknaming the 20-year-old of Indian descent "macaca" before a laughing crowd. The incident was caught on videotape by the Webb campaign, who worked with bloggers to release the video via YouTube.

As the Allen campaign offered explanations that shifted daily, Republican bloggers were left adrift, unable to even keep up with the latest excuse. Democratic bloggers, on the other hand, were able to pick up talking points that Lowell Feld provided on his own blog.

Widely-respected libertarian blogger Jon Henke was brought in by the Allen campaign before the month was out, with just over sixty days to turn things around. A Virginian, Henke already knew the Democratic and Republican bloggers throughout the state, many personally.

Webb won, of course, defeating Alien by the narrowest of margins.

Henke has concluded that campaigns must engage blogs from day one, both to establish credibility and to prevent unfavorable frames from being established. Democratic blogs had spent months putting forth a narrative about Allen that presented him as a bully. "Macaca" served to crystallize that, and the media simply used the existing narrative. Henke believes that, by the time he signed on with the campaign, it was too late to shape the narrative.

Tech-sawy activists throughout the state provided a steady stream of stories, photos and videos to the Webb campaign. And, of course, they carried the message, repeating talking points and keeping the Alien campaign on the defense.

By neglecting blogging opinion-shapers of all political stripes, nobody had Allen's his back when he most needed support.

Senate Republicans recruited Jon Henke as the New Media Director for the Republican Communications Office, where he started last month. Perhaps they've learned their lesson.

READ MORE FROM WALDO JAQUITH AT WWW.WALDOJAQYITH.ORG