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The Next Big Thing for the Right?

Conservatives and Republicans have whined for the past year about their disadvantage vs. the left’s activism, fundraising and journalism websites. I’ve monitored it closely on blogs and heard about it during countless panel discussions. There has been continuous talk about how to grow, adapt and change.

That discussion has revealed the monumental challenges facing the right — both online and offline. There’s frustration with the non-existent “Republican brand” and resistance among many conservatives to embrace technology. I’ve witnessed these challenges up close both on Capitol Hill and in my job at The Heritage Foundation, a 35-year-old institution that is (slowly) trying to strengthen its footing in the digital world.

Changes are happening all around, including one of the right’s predominate blogs, RedState. As Erick Erickson reported yesterday, this site will undergo its own restructuring as part of version 3.0. The new RedState will fill important voids on the right, particularly at the state and local level, one of the fastest growing areas for citizen journalism.

(At Heritage, we’ve taking steps to better define the right’s agenda on Capitol Hill with a new policy-focused blog called The Foundry and daily e-mail product, the Morning Bell. Our next objective is mobilizing our 338,000 members to have a greater impact on policy debates in Washington.)

RedState and its like-minded allies (Townhall, Hot Air, The Corner, NewsBusters, etc.) each offer something unique in the conservative online space. With a combination of reporting, analysis, punditry and activism, they each play an important role in determining the narrative and setting the agenda.

In the next few weeks, a new blog will join the mix. Dubbed The Next Right by its founders, the site will make an immediate impact with the collective brainpower of its three tech-savvy and politically adept creators. Patrick Ruffini, Jon Henke and Soren Dayton (a fellow contributor here at RedState) should be household names for anyone who follows the intersection on politics and technology.

Patrick introduces the mission of The Next Right today in a sneak peek on his blog:

I’m pumped about this new venture. The last few months have seen a considerable amount of backchannel discussion between the thought leaders about the sorry state of online activism on the right — often with great agreement on a direction moving forward. The good news is that the talent is there. I’ve long relied on Soren and Jon for high-level political analysis, and by bringing it under one roof and opening the door to more people, we hope this quickly becomes a hub right-leaning junkies like you.

We don’t think this alone will solve the activism gap. Anyone who tells you that they alone have the answer is fooling you. This is not “the Daily Kos of the right.” What we’re hoping to do is create momentum and an intellectual framework for action — because action ultimately starts with narratives and ideas. We want grassroots conservatives and libertarians to start believing that they can make a difference again — a sense all too many have lost. Only you – and not some well-funded 527 — can bring the movement into the future. Only when grassroots conservative have a direct stake in the future of the party are we effective. The Next Right is about creating a vision for a 21st century Republican Party and conservative movement.

I have great respect for the work of Patrick, Jon and Soren. All three were an integral part of a day-long modern media strategy session last August at Heritage that focused on some of these very topics. Their new creation promises to be an important contribution that will at the very least further the discourse and hopefully do much more. The future of the conservative movement online might depend on it.

Originally posted at RedState.

Five Questions for David Kralik of American Solutions

Last week I had an unanticipated interview with Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff pop up during the week, preempting my “Five Questions” feature in favor of the blogger roundtable at DHS headquarters.

But I’m back this week with an interesting Q&A with David Kralik, who directs Internet strategy for American Solutions and manages the non-profit’s new Silicon Valley office. Kralik spent several years in Washington before heading west. I first met him when he was working on ShopFloor.org, the National Manufacturers Association blog. A few years later Kralik turned his admiration for Newt Gingrich — he ran a site called DraftNewt.org — into a job at American Solutions.

I was curious about what led him to California and what new strategies we might see from Gingrich and American Solutions in the future. (Kralik appears in the above photo at Solutions Day last September as Gingrich navigated Second Life.)

1) What prompted American Solutions to open an office in Silicon Valley?

We realized that what we want to accomplish cannot be done without embracing the latest technology and learning from the innovative people in Silicon Valley. For American Solutions to be successful and to ultimately transform government from a world that fails to a world that works, we need to reach out to all 513,000 elected officials and build a social network for them to communicate. That will definitely take major investments in technology in order to scale to that level.

2) Newt Gingrich has been a pioneer when it comes to embracing technology. How active will he be personally in the work you’re doing in Silicon Valley?

Yes, Newt has been a pioneer in embracing technology. Many people don’t remember that one of his first acts as Speaker was to make the House accessible to everyone online through the Thomas system. In that same spirit, he will definitely be involved in the overall vision and strategy of our Silicon Valley office. He realizes the importance of, and is personally very interested in, learning about new technologies that will enable us to communicate and organize more effectively online. Newt is also planning several visits to Silicon Valley in the coming year.

3) Why is it advantageous to be in the heart of the high-tech sector, and do you know of anyone else in the policy world who has taken this leap?

There’s a definite advantage to being 20 minutes away from Apple and 15 minutes away from Google. It really does help to build relationships by meeting face-to-face. When you read about all the cool new start-ups, it’s great that you don’t have to spend hours flying from the East Coast; you’re right in their backyard and can meet at anytime.

Some of the presidential campaigns have an office out here, but I suspect that it is more for fundraising and GOTV efforts. There are also a few policy groups located in the Silicon Valley area, but none that I know of are focused on learning about technology from the private sector. Being in Silicon Valley really does provide a perspective that often gets lost in the chatter and 24-hour news cycle that engulfs Washington, D.C.

It’s been a great decision to open an office out here and I hope more organizations from both all political persuasions will follow suit. There is a lot to learn out here.

4) What cool things can we expect from Newt Gingrich and American Solutions in the coming weeks and months?

We are going to continue to improve and enhance our core product, the Solutions Lab, in the coming months based on the feedback we’ve heard from other people. We’re also working on some new ways to socially network and engage people online. Finally, we are going to build an online learning platform that we’re calling the “Solutions Academy,” a place we hope becomes the central hub for learning about the principles of transforming government.

5) From your vantage point, what are some trends that policy organizations in Washington and the states should be paying attention to in 2008?

That’s a big question and I would like to address it by breaking it down into both trends and policy issues.

On the issues, as you know, Silicon Valley isn’t exactly a hotbed of center-right thinking, but interestingly enough there are issues that unite the Valley — issues that are either not being talked about in Washington or not getting solved. For example, on the technology policy front, we need to raise the limits of the H-1B Visas. Patent reform and having a permanent R&D Credit are also big issues. Silicon Valley entrepreneurs are also very much in favor of school choice and charter schools as a means to maintaining our competitive edge with other countries. These are the kind of issues, issues that bring people together, that American Solutions wants to play an active advocacy role. I hope Washington and the states start paying attention to them.

In terms of trends, I think there are four big ideas.

First, it’s going to be very interesting to see whether Web 2.0 clashes with emerging Web 3.0 concepts. Eric Schmidt has noted that Web 3.0 has much to do with “building applications that are pieced together” (mashup technology). Jerry Yang talked about Web 3.0 as a concept where the “distinction between professional, semi-professional and consumers will get blurred.” Broadly speaking, if Web 2.0 was all about putting the user in the driver’s seat, how might that clash with laws on intellectual property when it comes to mashups? Or data and identity portability and social networking? Does Facebook really own your social network that you built using Facebook? If you suddenly decide you don’t like Facebook, could you easily move it to MySpace and so on?

Second, I think there is a lot to be explored with 3D Internet, both as a social networking vehicle and how laws in the physical world apply to laws in the virtual world. IBM has more than 400 clients actively looking at virtual worlds as a means to foster greater collaboration. 3D Internet really is the next big thing. So, how do the laws apply to them? Second Life had to close down its banking operations for fear of money laundering violations.

Third, search continues to be one of the most important innovations of the web. I’m still waiting for somebody to come along and invent technology to Google my car keys. In the book, “The Google Story,” Sergey Brin and Larry Page were interviewed and noted that on an innovation level, Google is probably a “2” out of “10.” New search engines are being created every day and new ways of extracting data (i.e. video facial recognition searching) from an ever growing web are going to be invented. Also, search as it relates to the semantic web is something that is just beginning to be explored. We’ll soon be able to Google the entire Library of Congress and even your own DNA. That is some really powerful stuff, but these also have huge implications for copyright and privacy issues, respectively. Google has a lot of tough policy fights ahead of it if it wishes to maintain its market position.

Finally, I think there is a lot to look at about what more Silicon Valley, particularly Sand Hill Road, can do to invest and develop green technology. Jeff Immelt has noted that, ‘Green is Green.’ There is a lot of money to be made in Green technology to reduce one’s carbon footprint. This comes in the form of new communication technologies (virtual worlds, video conferencing) that lessen the need for travel but provide just the same level of trust that in-person meetings offer. Also clean power generation and devices that use less energy but provide more output.

Al Qaeda Inspires Pentagon to Bolster Online Outreach

When Defense Secretary Robert Gates suggested that al Qaeda did a better job of communicating online than America, the comment didn’t fall on deaf ears at the Pentagon. Jonathan Rick reports that the Department of Defense has responded to the challenge, and documents its progress in a new video.

Where Are the Conservatives? At the Politics Online Conference

It was about this time last year that conservative bloggers like myself began to ask why liberals were doing such a better job online, particularly in terms of raising money but also on messaging and activism. Those threads have largely disappeared, in part because of advances by conservatives (Slatecard and Rightroots to name a couple) as well as better communication among conservative bloggers and technologists.

At the Politics Online Conference last year, Townhall’s Matt Lewis questioned why conservatives weren’t taking a more active role by attending conferences like this one where they could “learn from experts about how to use the internet more effectively.” Lewis observed that liberals dominated the conference, both in terms of attendees and during the awards’ presentation. If 90% of life is just showing up, then there was no excuse for conservatives in Washington to skip a conference a few blocks away.

Lewis’ criticism got me thinking that I should be doing more to encourage conservatives to take an active role in gatherings like this conference. So last summer I sat down with Julie Barko Germany of the Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet to talk about how the Heritage Foundation could play a role at this year’s conference.

With the conference kicking off this morning at the Renaissance Hotel, I’m pleased to report that conservatives won’t be as outnumbered as last year. As part of Heritage’s silver sponsorship, Julie and I worked out a deal to get a dozen extra tickets (in addition to the four that came with the package) to provide a few of Heritage’s friends and allies in the movement an opportunity to attend the conference.

The arrangement meant that I could invite online innovators from organizations such as Americans for Prosperity, Americans for Tax Reform, National Taxpayers Union, American Solutions, Media Research Center and Family Research Council. Three others from Heritage will also be attending.

This year when Matt Lewis looks around, I hope he spots a few more conservatives in the crowd.

Vote Now for the Golden Dot Awards

The Politics Online Conference is less than a month away, and voting is now open for the Golden Dot Awards. There are several solid contenders up for awards this year, including my friends Amanda Carpenter (Best Political Coverage Blog) and Mary Katharine Ham (Best Vlog) for her HamNation videos. Townhall is also nominated for Online Dream Team and Instapundit is up for Best Podcast Series. There are a total of 21 categories. I hope you’ll vote.

Several Politics/Technology Conferences on the Horizon

My friend Alan Rosenblatt, who runs the Internet Advocacy Roundtable for the Center for American Progress, put together a good roundup of upcoming politics/technology conferences. I’ll be going to at least a couple of them.

The Heritage Foundation will be a sponsor of the Politics Online Conference at George Washington University next month. It’s our first time taking a formal role with the conference. Julie Barko Germany, the new director of the Institute For Politics Democracy & The Internet, has done a good job with this year’s agenda.

Here is Alan’s roundup of some other conferences you might want to check out:

Lots of great conferences coming up. Sadly, I can only make a couple of them. I will be at the Politics Online Conference on March 4-5. I hope to see lots of you there. The weekend before Politics Online, I will be attending the e-Democracy Camp in DC (see below for details). It will be a bar camp/unconference style event focused entirely on e-Democracy. That is my idea of a fun weekend.

Also coming up and worth attending is the We Media conference in Miami February 26-28 (note the lovely picture of me in the lower right corner of the conference info page). Also, NTEN will hold its National Technology Conference in New Orleans March 19-21. I will miss these two, sadly, but have attended them in the past and highly recommend them.

In between these conferences in the mega-event known as South by Southwest. In addition to films and music, there is a great interactive media component. I have yet to make one of these, but hear it is a blast.

Also on the horizon, the PDF conference will be this June 23-24 in NYC at Lincoln Center’s Rose Hall. I went to last year’s conference and it was great. This year should be even better. Early bird registration ends tomorrow, February 5th.

Help Make RedState 3.0 a Reality

I consider RedState my second home in the blogosphere. It was about a year ago that I was named a contributor to Capitol Hill’s most popular conservative blog. Since then, I’ve made new friends, created some enemies and thoroughly enjoyed community that makes the site so special.

So when Erick Erickson, the site’s editor, told me last week that RedState was in need of money to complete it’s much-needed redesign, I told him I’d gladly ask my readers to pitch in and help. I know what it’s like to be in Erick’s shoes having gone through a redesign of Human Events before I left last year.

The big difference is the massive overhaul taking place at RedState. The site will be built on a custom content-management system and include features such as improved tools for state and local blogging, online activism channels and enhanced social networking.

Over the weekend at Awakening in Sea Island, Ga., Erick gave attendees at our panel on blogging a sneak peak of the site. It looks nice — very nice. In just a few weeks it will be a reality. Click here to make a contribution.

This Picture Leaves a Lot to Be Desired

I wasn’t going to post it, but I feel the need to set the record straight. For starters, I hate Star Trek. Secondly, this wasn’t my idea — and to the best of my knowledge, it wasn’t Erick’s, David’s or Patrick’s idea either. And finally, Ali Akbar can rest easy; I admit I’m not the solution to the GOP’s problems.

That being said, Walter Alarkon did a great job on the article in the new edition of Campaigns & Elections magazine. He spent several hours interviewing and observing what I do; his thoroughness is apparent. You can read it via eBook on page 36.

My friends Matt Lewis, Bill Beutler and Jesse Thomas have already weighed in with their thoughts.

MoveOn Says Facebook ‘May Be the Next Big Opportunity’

Two months ago MoveOn.org was adding thousands of names to a petition criticizing Facebook for “invasion of privacy” because the social-networking site shared information about users via its Beacon application. Today the liberal activist group asked me (and a few million others) to participate in its League of Young Voters Primary — on Facebook of all places.

MoveOn’s hypocrisy for the Facebook attack has been well documented, but I was still surprised to get the e-mail from Eli Pariser touting the social-networking site for its 60 million members and boasting that MoveOn would be “launching several innovative Facebook projects” in 2008.

Pariser also gives MoveOn supporters the option to connect on 14 other social networks. But clearly Facebook is the destination of choice for MoveOn supporters:

MoveOn has always grown through social networks—every time we forward an email to friends and family. With Facebook’s membership doubling in size every six months, social networking sites may be the next big opportunity to reach people who want to make a progressive change in our country.

With MoveOn’s “membership” stagnant at 3.3 million, it’s certainly not surprising to see Pariser head in this direction. I’m just can’t believe it took the wunderkind so long to figure it out.

RNC’s eCampaign Readies for the Rush of 2008

Cyrus Krohn is beginning to leave his mark on the Republican National Committee. The GOP’s eCampaign director quietly came to Washington this summer from his job at Yahoo! in sunny Santa Monica, Calif., and since then he’s been doing solid work behind the scenes to make sure the RNC is ready for the 2008 elections.

After using his online wizardry to help Gov.-elect Bobby Jindal cruise to victory in Louisiana, Krohn turned his attention to revamping GOP.com, a site that was in need up a new look and additional features. The result was a crisp and clean redesign. Users of the new site will find it easier to keep current with the RNC via Facebook, on del.icio.us or Digg or through updates on Twitter. Ronald Kessler wrote an extensive review of the site for NewsMax.

Perhaps even more important than the website is the team Krohn is assembling. Blogger James Richardson has been working at the RNC for several months and keeping the site’s blog up to date with fresh content. Today I learned Krohn has tapped Republican strategist Liz Mair, formerly of GOPProgress, for the job of online communications director. Mair is already hard at work organizing the RNC’s virtual blog row for Friday, a day after the Iowa caucuses. Although Liz and I have differed in the past on some policy matters, there’s no question she’s good at what she does.

UPDATE — 5:44 p.m.: Marc Ambinder has more details about other news at the RNC.