As I get ready to hit the road and videoblog from the JW campaign trail, I’ve been trying to focus on potential audiences. Of course I’ll post the videos on YouTube and send the links to RK, DailyKos, BoomanTrib, MyDD and other progressive sites…but really, the only benefit of preaching to the choir is to bolster our commitment and raise our collective energy level — not trivial, but not adventuresome either.
Roadette is nothing if not adventuresome — I’m looking at reaching outside the circle. So I’d love to get opinions/ideas on the 3 groups in the title: Youth, yellow dog Dems and love-and-service religious people.
1. Youth: I videoblogged with a group doing a swing-state voter registration drive for the Kerry campaign in 2004. We spent a lot of time in youth-oriented venues in 38 states, especially after making contact with the League of Pissed-Off Voters. Sadly, young people have a very low voting turnout. I will aim some videoblogs towards them, but I worry that this strategy that may not pay off as well as content aimed at the other two groups.
However, one reason it’s worth a shot are the mid-line results from the recent encouraging Rasmussen
poll, conducted beginning on 8/18/06, one week after the ‘macaca incident.’ Allen has lost support across all demographic groups, but in particular, among younger voters: He went from Plus 23 to Minus 17, a swing of 40 points. In Southeastern VA, Allen went from a 2:1 lead to a tie, a 31-point swing.
2. Yellow dog Dems: This is a group close to my heart and Roadette shares a certain love of highways, trucks, trailer parks, honky-tonks, country music, and thin-lipped evangelical relatives with YDDs. I think I can make video that they will relate to. I’m going to run with the “Boots” themes — These boots are made for leading; George Allen — Boot him. Bootstrap vs. Bootlicker…Boot. Re-boot…These boots walk the walk. These boots don’t. (See the videos ‘Roadeo’ and ‘Dancing in the Desert’ on www.roadette.com for example of Roadette videos that have a YDD feel.)
Question: Are there blogs where YDDs hang their @s? Any Truckstoppers Anonymous sites? Give me a clue…if ya have one! 🙂
3. Love-and-service Christians: They’ve been going along with their churches…but I think they might be ready to vote for a kinder, gentler compassionate conservatism. As Jim Webb puts it, they care about social justice issues. Further, I think we might have some success with segmenting the younger portion of this group who may not vote just on anti-choice and gay marriage…an intersection of youth and love-and-service Christians (as opposed to the old hell-and-brimstone Christians.)
This video has to have a different flavor. I’m thinking of appropriating the language of the rightwingnuts. They’ve been doing it to us successfully for the past decade, for ex: Compassionate conservatism…horsepucky.
I found a piece of hiphop music with a good instrumental section, and a lyric fragment…
‘we gonna make it right…now make it right’. I took the lyric, edited it to the instrumental, then end the :40 seconds with the lyric again.
Tag line: JAMES WEBB. THE MAN TO MAKE IT RIGHT.
It gives me goosebumps: Appropriate the language of the right to take the sting out of voting Dem in areas where, as Mudcat says, “It’s socially unacepptable to say you’re a Democrat.”
What do you think?
Thanks for letting me share my pre-road trip thoughts! I would very much appreciate your evaluation of these ideas and other directions you might map out for me. Roadette
crossposted to Raisingkaine, DailyKos, and MyDD, maybe others)
