There is a perception (and it's correct) that the left has been far more effective at harnessing the power of the Internet for grassroots organizing and fundraising. They've even coined a new phrase for their activists calling them the "netroots." The technology gap was even more evident after the first quarter fundraising reports were released. Hillary Clinton and Barak Obama raised tremendous sums on the Internet, but that wasn't the underlying story. The story was that Clinton had amassed 50,000 + contributors while Obama doubled her amount with over 100,000. As has been widely reported, Obama's contributors gave in small amounts, which makes them eligible to keep giving and giving until they reach campaign finance limits. We received an email recently from the National Republican Senatorial Committee that suggests the Republican Party - specifically the Senatorial Committee -is making a serious effort to close that gap and compete with the Democrats on the Internet. We've learned the committee has an "e-press secretary" that monitors the blogs, and, they've started a new site called "Cost of Democats.com" The site claims that in the first 100 days of Democratic Senate control, they have passed a "$700 billion dollar tax increase." According to the site, that would equate to an extra 2,500 on the average Oklahoman. There are other features on the site including videos and links to other blogs. The RNC has a lot of ground to make up, but this is an encouraging start.

Labels: Decision '08, Sen. Inhofe

Posted at 6/25/2007 04:38:00 PM