About Political Gastronomica
Political Gastronomica is a discourse on technology and online activism - how the marketplace of governing and ideas is improving with the efficiencies of the Internet.
Author Sanford Dickert, former CTO of John Kerry for President Campaign, works with political campaigns, non-profits and private companies from the Fortune 500 to startups.
Dickert leverages online community engagement techniques and technical vision for brand and message management through effective application of social media and organizational processes.
Category Archives: eCampaigning
Republicans Sites are so non-inspiring…
Been having some fun while being across the pond – watching the coverage out in New Hampshire. Decided to take a look at some of the sites of the candidates that have not had the cash to build a campaign. So, enjoy my opinions. Continue reading
Posted in Campaign 2012, eCampaigning
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Millennial Makeover: Is there a Lincoln or FDR in the 2008 race?
This evening, as I finished my work at Cooper, I took a walk over to the Great Hall to
listen to Dr. Fred Shapiro introduce Morley Winograd and Michael Hais discuss their
new book, “Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube and the Future of American Politics”
with a talk asking the question, “Is there a Lincoln or FDR in the 2008 Presidential Race?”
Interestingly, the talk seems to have been a combination of the premise of the book
creation, as well as an attempt to answer the question posed at the start of the talk.
[Suffice it to say, I think they would say Obama is the next Lincoln/FDR – more on
this later] But what was most interesting to me was the discussion of the impact of
technology and generational demographics and their impact on American history – which goes to
the heart of two of my posts ([1],
[2]),
“Would social networks impact the 2008 election?”. At the time, I answered in the negative.
After this book, I might have a different point of view… Continue reading
Posted in Campaign 2008, eCampaigning, Political Tech
Tagged impact of technology, Millennial generational impact, Millennial Makeover, social networks, social networks in politics, speed of memes
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Rolling Stone: Inside Obama’s People-Powered Revolution
What pleased me in reading this article from Rolling Stone was the fact that the campaign married online engagement with offline activities and vice versa. Never a campaign event went off without capturing people’s email addresses, zip codes and names as they came to the event. Never a chance was forgotten to drive engagement both online and off – using the MyBO site to drive involvement and community. Continue reading
Posted in Campaign 2008, eCampaigning
Tagged eCampaigning, machinery of hope, social networks, social networks in politics
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Blast from the Past – Kerry’s 2004 Online Fundraising Performance
We were seriously worried about the software doing on contributions since it was relatively cheap and had not been tested under serious load conditions, but when New Hampshire went to JK, I was there all night long watching the server load, making sure we were okay. And, we made it quite nicely. It wasn’t until SuperTuesday that we discovered the fallacy of low-cost solutions in an enterprise world. Continue reading
Will Social Networks Impact the 2008 Election? I think NOT.
Social networks (in version 1.0) have been about exposing data and allowing for a simple search query to allow you to discover other like people in your interest sphere. Web 2.0 suggests that social networks are about a fundamentally different, albeit enabled premise – being social – not simply by having a profile presence, but seeing what is happening in your network and becoming part of the life within that network. Living the pulse of the network and either being part of it – or wanting to be part of it. Do candidates offer a glimpse of that life within the network that is something supporters want to be part of? Does the campaign truly offer a chance to engage in simple, human contact? Continue reading