Redstate

Posted at 6:17pm on Jun. 15, 2006 WA SEN: New McGavick web ad, podcast, vidcast

By GoddardTP

Mike McGavick, GOP candidate for Senate from Washington State, has a new web ad out.  The ad, along with a new portion of the website, details his time as CEO of Safeco Insurance, when he took a venerable Northwest institution that had lost a billion dollars in a year, and turned it into a successful, profitable company once again.  If you haven't heard this story before, be sure to check it out.

But wait, there's more!  Mike has a great new podcast available for your listening pleasure and a vidcast available through iTunes and YouTube, Go check them out, too.

And while it's fun to be riding the cutting edge of political campaigning, the best part about all these bells and whistles we've been adding to the McGavick website is that they spring directly from Mike's philosophy of campaigning and his desire to be as accessible as possible to as many people as possible.  It's part of who he is as a candidate and who he will be as a senator.  It's an exciting thing to be a part of, and I hope you'll join us however you can.

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Posted at 5:23pm on May 1, 2006 SEN-WA: The Mike McGavick Blog

By GoddardTP

After posting at my own site for a few years, and more recently at Sound Politics, I've been hired by the Mike McGavick Senate campaign to head up the "new media" segment of their campaign.

Today, we've added a mess of contributors to the blog, including myself.  If you're at all interested in what could be the most exciting Senate race in the nation (and, really, who isn't?), you'll want to make the Mike McGavick blog a regular stop.  

And it doesn't stop with the blog, either.  There are big plans for a truly impressive web presence for the McGavick campaign.  Stay tuned.  This is going to get interesting.

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Posted at 11:32pm on Sep. 16, 2005 Life after Roe

By GoddardTP

Reposted from The Flag of the World

I greatly respect Michael Barone's political acument, but the other day he said something that is wrong, wrong, wrong:

If Roe v. Wade were to be overturned, states would presumably be free to criminalize abortion. But few, if any, would. You might get majorities voting for criminalization in the legislatures of Utah, Louisiana, and Guam, but not necessarily there and, in my opinion, certainly not in any other state or territory. Others might pass laws requiring parental consent for abortion and banning "partial-birth abortion," but these would affect only a small percentage of all abortions. Yes, many people on both sides of these issues have strong moral objections to the positions they oppose. But the practical effect would be minimal.

Barone understands American politics like few others, but he appears to have spent too little time with the grassroots Republicans who make decisions and drive party policy at the state level, who are overwhelmingly pro-life, and many of whom count abortion as the most important issue.

I guarantee that, as soon as Roe  is overturned (and it will eventually be overturned, as I discuss here), pro-life forces will mobilize in every state of the union, with the goal of banning or restricting abortion.  Presumably, Barone knows this, but simply believes they will fizzle and fail to no effect.  He is wrong.  Even if they fizzle and fail, there will be an effect.  

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Posted at 12:12pm on May 4, 2005 Positioning abortion

By GoddardTP

Promoted from Diaries. Reposted from The Flag of the World

An important conversation is happening in conservative circles regarding what the pro-life movement's next moves should be.  The question started with Hadley Arkes in First Things is regarding what President Bush should do next for the pro-life movement.  In his article entitled "Bush's Second Chance," Arkes argues that he hasn't done enough, and outlines some things he could do next.  Ramesh Ponnuru responded at NRO, defending Bush's pro-life record,  and criticizing some of Arkes suggestions.  Then, Augustine over at Red State responded to Ponnuru, arguing that Bush should be doing more to make the pro-life argument in public.  Ponnuru responded, noting the limitations that political realities have placed on the things the President & congress can do about, and also on how they can talk about abortion.

All that led to the most important question, posed by Krempasky over at Red State: where does the pro-life movement go from here?

Perhaps unknowingly, Krempasky has posed a marketing question.  How do we convince people to buy our product, the pro-life agenda, instead of our opponent's product, the pro-choice agenda?  Fortunately, marketing is what I do these days, so I would like to take a look at how the pro-life movement needs to market itself.

More specifically, I would like to take a look at how the pro-life moveemnt needs to position itself in the mind of the consumer (aka voter).  This is a concept originally developed by Al Ries and Jack Trout, and through their many books, has become part of the pith and marrow of marketing strategy (not as much as they would like, of course, but it's had an enormous impact).  Using their concept of positioning--that is to say, affecting how a customer thinks about a product--I believe the pro-life cause can be very successful.

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Posted at 4:08pm on Dec. 1, 2004 Local GOP on the Web: a suggestion for RedState

By GoddardTP

I'm going to be helping my local GOP create a new website, and that has given me an idea for a potential new RedState project: a site that provides resources for local political parties and other political activist sites.  Such a site could contain templates, graphics, scripts, modules and other web resources that would make it much easier for local GOP organizations and others to put together high quality websites that are actually positively useful, as opposed to simply existing for the sake of existing.  

Along those lines, I would also like to hear suggestions from the web-savvy activist community here at RedState as to what a local GOP site should contain.  What features would be most useful?  What features should be avoided?  What should the goals of a county GOP site be?  Are there particularly good GOP websites that should be emulated?  

Discussion of these questions will help the GOP better harness the web, not only at a national level, but at a local, grassroots level as well.

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Posted at 5:11pm on Aug. 25, 2004 The Democratic Party must be destroyed

By GoddardTP

It is somewhat fashionable in Republican circles to lament the sorry state of the Democratic Party, citing the need for "healthy opposition."  But I don't think the Democrats, as a party, are capable of providing anything healthy.  The Democratic Party, with its grab-bag of special interest and minority groups, has become a schizophrenic player in American politics, without a clear philosophy or ideology. Thus, it flails wildly for power, lurching whatever direction it thinks might give it to them, threatening grievous destruction should their flailing encounter something important.

Thus, I feel it should be the goal of both conservatives and liberals to sideline the Democrats, forcing them to take their place in history with the Whigs.  To that end, Republicans should work with the only viable successor party, the Green Party, to destroy their mutual opponent.  

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