There was an interesting article in CNet today about Microsoft's new "i'm" initiative, which has the

The Washington Post continues to out-do The New York Times in its coverage of the intersection of technology and politics. Two recent examples of smart reporting from the Post: Jeffrey Birnbaum's piece on "Targeting Likely Advocates With Web Ads," and William Booth's piece on Robert Greenwald's net-centric approach to financing and distributing his political documentaries, "His Fans Greenlight His Films."

Birnbaum's story gives us a fresh take on how some well-heeled players are using technology to better game the system, i.e., to empower themselves in a top-down way. Want to build a list of citizens who will help your cause? Fine-tuned Internet advertising can get you folks, but it will cost you $5 per advocate, Birnbaum reports. The somewhat creepy example he gives is of a campaign run that OnPoint Advocacy of Democracy Data & Communications ran for the American Medical Association.

My friends at New York's Working Families Party have launched a smart way to engage their members in a very net-centric way of rolling out their online advertising this fall--they've emailed about 18,000 of the most active members of their 58,000 state list to ask their help in picking the best Google search terms to use in focusing attention on Congressional campaigns.

Writes WFP online organizer Steve Perez, "We want help shaping our strategy. We need to know what phrases people are likely to use when they search for election information. So here's the question - if you wanted to know more about the Congressional race where you live, what would you type into Google?"

Perez is smart; he's tapping into the power of his activist network to fight a net-war for attention. And at the same time he's educating his activist base about a new tool in modern media battles, the search engine. He writes:

"The Paper of Record" is hardly the one place to get the gospel on anything, but when 4 NYT articles in 24 hours talk about customers, fans, and online contributors driving the direction of not just web sites, but franchises and products, then I'm comfortable saying leadership via consumer collaboration is on the radar in a new way.

Katie Hafner's article on gating access to some Wikipedia entries highlights the need for some level of process and hierarchy even in an open community. The inevitable need to close a small number of entries some of the time echoes my favorite PDF article ever, when Zephyr called for a "productive tension" between the hub of a campaign and its spokes.

So I went to Governor Mark Warner's blowout bash at the Stratosphere last night in Las Vegas, and amid the piles of free sushi, "Blogoritas" and "Kos-mopolitians," I tried to discern what makes him the "Internet candidate." Yes, I know he was a success in the cell phone business, and then ran a technology venture capital fund. Yes, as Virginia's governor he was supportive of the state's high-tech industry. And, yes, he's supportive of net neutrality.

But all I saw at the Stratosphere was an old-fashioned politician spending something like $70,000 on a garish party to soften up a constituency. (Apparently, his PAC needs to spend the money before the end of the cycle, one of his staffers told me, which was hardly a convincing reason for the conspicuous display.)

"The blogosphere is the new town square," Warner likes to say, but I can't see what--if anything-- he is doing that suggests that is anything more than a nice-sounding but hollow phrase. What does it mean that the blogosphere is the new town square, Governor Warner? Are you talking about wikis for citizens to re-invent government, or connecting citizens to each other in new ways? If we're holding a virtual town meeting, are you prepared to be bound by an online vote?

It's possible that this is a brilliant reverse-marketing move aimed at getting lots of bloggers to pass around an online video (and don't forget, pictures do speak louder than words), but right now my guess is that Chevy Tahoe isn't all that happy that they're not screening the ads that people are submitting to their "Apprentice" contest.

I would love to read an in-depth piece on how Robert Greenwald and Walmart are each using the web to conduct the most interesting political campaign since the 2004 election, complete with war-rooms and viral marketing, and even online duels between the two sides over the movie's pre-release trailer. (Here's the company's take, at its site WalMartFacts.com, and Greenwald & Co.'s ju-jitsu remix of the company's attack video). If you want to write that piece, let me know. In the meantime, check out these notes from the field, and feel free to add your own:

From Iofilm:

Greenwald's web site has become a model for self-distribution practices in the internet era. The web site is the distribution equivalent of a swiss army knife: it works as a platform for running the PR campaign, a gathering point for debate on Wal-Mart, a place where people can gather materials to put on their own neighbourhood screenings ($10 a screening), a notice board for new screenings, and a store where users can buy DVDs and merchandise. Anyone can order DVDs in bulk at wholesale prices and any website can earn $5 a sale by posting a Wal-Mart affiliate link...

From BusinessWeek's Blogspotting column:

I suppose good marketers can market everything - even themselves. But please. If I find one more self-styled and self-lauded “blog consultant” who can’t keep the porn trackbacks off their own site (or, failing that - at least remove the nice shiny “recent trackbacks” sidebar), I’m going to start naming names. If you’re in the business of advising companies about joining the online conversation, you have to be able to demonstrate at least a little bit of sensitivity and understanding about what actually happens on the web.

By all means, we need more professional marketers communicators, they have skills and training that many bloggers sorely lack (punctuation and a deep hatred for sentence fragments come to mind) - but at least take a minute to *appear* to grasp the ramifications of stepping out into the blogosphere. Because if your client all of a sudden can't see their consultant's website because its blocked by their own subscription to WebSense. That’s bad.

By now many of you fanatical Web gossip hounds have come across the story of a photo faux-pas involving NJ Republican Bret Schundler. It turns out a photo on the merch section of his primary campaign site had featured a photo that had been doctored by DC marketing company Big Fish. The image originally featured Howard Dean backed by a throng of supporters. The altered pic replaced Dean with Schundler and replaced Dean related paraphernalia -- a ballcap and poster -- with Schundler shtuff. PoliticsNJ.com has a comparison of the original and subsequent bastardization.

Honestly, I don't think this reflects poorly on Schundler at all as a candidate. I highly doubt he was involved with the decision making process for an image on his website, which he couldn't possibly have time for in the midst of a very contentious primary campaign. However, it's a big foul for Big Fish (or "big fowl" if you like puns). According to the firm's website, it created direct mail and other collateral for Republican and Democratic candidates and issue advocacy groups before the 2004 election (including Dean's primary campaign).

Marketers sit up and listen each time a new report emerges on the best day to send e-mail marketing to consumers and supporters. A difference in one or two percent in open and click-through rates can mean the difference between winning and losing, profitability and failure. Two reports in 2004, summarized at EmailSherpa, bestowed the “best day” award to Monday mornings.

Marketers responded, flooded our inboxes on Mondays, and response rates – both open and click-through – tanked:

[Source: MarketingVOX]

However, new research reported today in MarketingVox seems to indicate that there might not actually be a “best day” anymore. While open rates still fluctuate slightly based on the day of week, e-mails sent Monday through Friday seem to have fairly similar open-rates. Click-through rates have evened out, as well: