You can now add widgets to your Facebook profile and pages to help visitors donate to the 2009 GOP Executive Ticket for Virginia:

McDonnell For Governor:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10206369372

Bolling for Lieutenant Governor:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10818577778

Brownlee For Attorney General:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=23820228759

Cuccinelli for Attorney General:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=10907202741

Ft. Hard Knox is working on creating some online workshops for conservative activists and would like your input through a brief survey.

Patrick Ruffini, Jon Henke and Soren Dayton have joined forces to give to Republicans The Next Right:

This site is the product of literally hundreds of offline conversations with some of the brightest young minds in the conservative movement. It grows out of a recognition that the road back can’t be about a series of disjointed technologies, blogs, and pundits. It begins with telling a story about why we should lead. With advancing majoritarian ideas with real buy-in from the grassroots, not diktats from Washington policy shops. With revitalizing the Republican Party with real participation from the bottom up. The right needed a place online where these discussions could flourish, where a narrative about revitalizing the movement could congeal, and where smart new voices could assert a leadership role in a party at a crossroads. We hope The Next Right can be a small part of this ongoing dialogue.

I’ve described the thinking behind this in further detail here, as have Soren and Jon.

It looks good and it’s something a lot of folks would like to see do very well. The question is, can the Right pull it off?  Here’s hoping…

RedStormPAC has created donation widgets for all Republican candidates who have announced for statewide office in Virginia for 2009.

Bob McDonnell For Governor:
http://contribute.redstormpac.org/campaigns/36

Bill Bolling for Lt. Gov.:
http://contribute.redstormpac.org/campaigns/37

Ken Cuccinelli for AG:
http://contribute.redstormpac.org/campaigns/38

John Brownlee for AG:
http://contribute.redstormpac.org/campaigns/40

And we’ll be sure to add others if they announce.

Let’s start helping Virginia Republicans sweep statewide in ‘09!

Politico and Compete.com analyzed how political interested individuals used the Internet for political information:

The study, performed for Politico, is simply a snapshot of online activity; it followed only those readers projected to have visited an official candidate website at least once in September.

But the results reveal interesting online habits among the politically attuned. A significant number get their news from mainstream media versus political blogs. YouTube, meanwhile, is one of the most reliable ways for candidates to communicate directly to voters. But the candidates’ official Meetup, Facebook and MySpace pages appear less effective at that.

Despite their seemingly small numbers, these social networking sites still offer candidates big potential audiences. “There are roughly 80 different Facebook groups” dedicated to Romney, said his online communications director, Stephen Smith. “They have dozens or hundreds or tens of thousands of members alone. They’re not even necessarily touching [former Massachusetts] Gov. Romney’s official Facebook page.”

Readers like social networking websites in general. Half of those tracked by Compete visited MySpace in September, and 54 percent visited YouTube. Nearly two-thirds went to Wikipedia, a quarter logged on to Facebook and 7 percent visited Meetup.

But candidates’ specific pages on social networking sites were considerably less popular. Meetup, the darling of the 2004 election cycle, barely registers with any candidate other than Internet phenom Rep. Ron Paul (R-Texas). Overall, only 1 percent of readers who visited an official campaign website last month also visited a candidate’s Meetup page. Two percent checked out the candidates’ MySpace pages, and 1 percent hit his or her Facebook page.

While only one to two percent of respondents checked out candidates MySpace or Facebook pages, this doesn’t necessarily make them useless.

Though the number of people visiting the candidates’ social networking sites may be small by percentage, campaigns still see value even in low numbers. “Even if you’re reaching 1 or 2 percent — and I think it’s more than that — it’s a no-brainer,” Finn said. “When you’re reaching someone who has 500 friends on Facebook, they have a lot of influence. Maybe through that 1 or 2 percent you’re reaching 20 percent.”

The notion that (presumed) voters who check the candidates’ social networking sites are more active is supported by the data. There’s the obvious example of Paul, who enjoys an enormous amount of online buzz. But it’s also true that the more popular a candidate is in general, the smaller proportion of his followers — if indeed they can be called that — visited the personalized sites.

Traditionally the candidate’s website has been the hub for their online activities.  Such sites work for traditional voters, who were the target of this study.  But for nontraditional (ie - younger or new) voters, social networking sites may be the first or only way they find out about some candidates.  The no cost set up and easy upkeep make these sites very worthwhile to a campaign, not just as a gateway but as a source of viral campaigning.

Justin Hart at TechRepublican writes about the Lighted Candle Society’s e-mail campaign in response to a recent Oprah episode.  The story shows an effective method of soliciting activist response and building a sense of community.

E-mail is just one of many areas where Republicans still lag behind the Democrats in fully harnessing.  A lot of attention has been focused on Web 2.0 but we can’t ignore the Web 1.0 battle.  Organizations like MoveOn.org works in a large part due to e-mail networking to keep their activists informed and energized.  Republicans have yet to respond despite mailing lists being fairly standard with any hosting package or as easy to set up as an e-mail account at Yahoo or GMail.

Bloggers would gain more rights under a bill approved by the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday:

Anyone regularly engaged in “journalism,” which would seem to include some bloggers, wouldn’t generally be forced to divulge confidential sources in federal cases under a bill approved Thursday by a U.S. Senate committee.

By a 15-2 vote, the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee backed an amended version of the so-called Free Flow of Information Act. Sens. Sam Brownback (R-Kansas) and Jon Kyl (R-Ariz.) cast the “no” votes.

Some form of “reporter’s privilege,” either through laws or court decisions, already exists in 49 states and the District of Columbia. This bill would extend that protection to federal cases, shielding anyone engaged in the practice of “journalism”–with a number of exceptions, naturally–from being forced to give up confidential information or provide testimony.

Now there is a Facebook group where individuals can commit to contributing what they can to help Jeff Evans take the 20th Senate District for Virginia.  You can even add a Facebook widget to help spread the word.

Admittedly, the idea is not original to RedStormPAC.  This morning I discovered At Least $25 (Rudy’s Small Donors)on Facebook and I was hooked.  It’s a brilliant way to engage folks and not only start harnessing the long tail donations but create a community of folks who get it and are willing to sign on for what they can.

So please do what you can for Jeff Evans down in Virginia’s 20th Senate District.  He’s running a great campaign down there against a strong incumbant and anything you can do to help will go a long way to keeping Virginia in the right hands.

Allen Fuller at TechRepublican notes a couple recent Conservative Web 2.0 developments, including RedStormPAC:

Tomorrow, former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich will host a series of seminars dubbed Solutions Day. While the actual events will take place in Atlanta, Gingrich and his organization have pulled together an impressive network of companion events across the country. The grassroots nature of these events is impressive in and of itself, and the content of the presentations is sure to be thought provoking, but what is most revolutionary about Solutions Day is that it will also take place in Second Life.

Second Life is a virtual world that has been the focus of much debate in corporate marketing. While many people invest countless hours working, living, and playing in Second Life, it has not caught on in the mainstream the way other social media platforms such as Facebook have.

…

In addition to Gingrich’s foray into the virtual world, a conservative PAC is reaching out to the Facebook world. RedStormPAC has developed a Facebook application that will allow small donors to contribute to conservative candidates utilizing “the ‘long tail’ of online fundraising.”

I’ve written in the past about why Republicans need Facebook, and actually wrote a “bonus tip” urging conservative web gurus to develop Facebook applications. Facebook is the platform today to connect with and motivate online political activists. In addition to posting links, starting groups, and advertising on Facebook, creating an actual application can bring measurable ROI to a campaign’s online efforts.

The use of sites like Facebook allowed campaigns quick and easy access to party activists both locally and nationally.  It’s a great way to spread word of mouth and keep supporters up to date on any events and issues.  Applications like the RedStormPAC widget can help pull donations to your campaign.  The ability to create applications with the Facebook API really gives a campaign or organization limitless options as to how to utilize the medium.

We are happy to announce that you can now add widgets to your Facebook to let your visitors contribute to RedStormPAC or the targeted Virginia Senate races:

Contribute to Targeted Virginia Senate:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=18117459904

Contribute to RedStormPAC:
http://www.facebook.com/apps/application.php?id=5093763919

RedStormPAC is continuing to expand and we’re always open to new ideas on how to help Virginia’s conservative candidates.  If you have any suggestions, please feel free to contact us at info@redstormpac.org or with our handy contact form.