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.

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Blog Roll
- Political Commentary
- Daily Kos (L)
- Florida Politics (L)
- St Pete The Buzz (NB)
- Crooks and Liars (L)
- MyDD (L)
- Red State (C)
- Swing State Project (L)
- Political Grind Network (M)
- Political Thought
- Jon Garfunkel
- Personal Democracy
- Ed Cone
- Britt Blaser
- Greater Democracy
- Micah Sifry
- Talking Points Memo
- Zack Exley
- Bivings Report
- Political Technology Commentary
- e.Politics
- PoliticalWarez
- FrogLoop
- IPDI blog
- Politics and Technology
- Politics Online
- Mobile Democracy Blog
- Tech President
- Technology Thought Leaders
- TechCrunch
- MobileCrunch
- Scott Rafer
- Occum's Razor
- Howard Greenstein
- David Spector
- Jerry Michalski
- Doc Searls
- MoPocket by Justin Oberman
- Friends/Thought Leaders
Author Archives: Sanford
Gotta love the “New York Post”
Hey – finally, an upside to the melting ice caps! Easier for the tankers to get more oil to us and allow us to lower the price on oil (yeah, right!). Can someone please tell the editors at the NYPost that they need to get their priorities straight? I mean, really, a report on the positive effects of global warming? Well, it was a warm winter this year – and I throughly enjoyed the late snow this weekend in New York City. Did the Groundhog see his shadow this year? Continue reading
Vilsack to step out of the race…
Governor Tom Vilsack to drop out of the 2008 Presidential race – while I understand the reason (unable to raise the $20M initial anty), I am saddened by his decision. As a Governor and as a pioneer in this campaign, Governor Vilsack did a wonderful job making a splash for reaching out and building excellent connections with supporters through his online campaign. I wish him well in his other pursuits – and congratulations on a good effort. Continue reading
Posted in Campaign 2008
Tagged Campaign 2008, Presidential Race 2008, Tom Vilsack
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Social Media Club NY – How Will Social Media Impact Politics?
Interested in a conversation about Social Media in this coming season? Join us today at the New York Social Media Club where we will be discussing the use of social media in political campaigns and how they have and will (potentially) impact this cycle’s elections. Continue reading
Posted in eCampaigning
Tagged Adam Mordicai, Howard Greenstein, Joshua Levy, Noel Hidalgo, Social Media Club New York
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Move it and you lose it…
After working a couple of campaigns in Florida (and growing up there), Florida is a microcasm of the United States – with every major population having a geographic region within the state. Why wouldn’t it be appropriate for the state to have an influential primary? And, since the candidates are often making junkets to South Florida and other affluent parts of the state, it makes perfect sense to make it a place for primary election efforts. I wish Senator Ring’s efforts success. Continue reading
Posted in Campaign 2008
Tagged early primary, Florida Primary, Jeremy Ring
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Making the Grade: John McCain
This is a bit of a disappointment – from the front-runner of the Republicans, especially making a claim of being the leader in the online engagement effort. Even their site is missing basic search engine fundamentals and has a major risk feature – aside from their personalization sites. One lesson learned in the 2004 election was to not place a search box on the website, since google already provides it, it takes up unnecessary space, exposes mistakes if not tracked properly and the feature is almost superfluous. And, in looking at the code behind the webpages, it is going to be difficult to have google crawl through. A poor showing, IMHO. Senator McCain, I look forward to your future revisions. Continue reading
Posted in Campaign 2008
Tagged Campaign 2008, Campaign Websites, John McCain, johnmccain.com
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