This past weekend, the Associated Press reported that the White House was moving to an open source content management system (CMS) known as Drupal. Many among the tech set have praised the move including Nancy Scola from techPresident who was among the first to write about the change in her post, WhiteHouse.gov goes Drupal. A good read.

For those not familiar with what this actually means, a CMS is basically the back-end (not visible to visitors) of a website that allows the administrators (owners) of the site — often non-programmers — to easily organize site navigation and add content designed to appear on the front-end.

For most CMS solutions, the user experience is pretty simple, usually consisting of a password protected login, options for varied user permissions for approval and forms with specific fields based on type of content such as text, photos, audio and video. Once entered and saved, the CMS stores the information in the back-end database and displays the content on the front-end when called up by a site visitor.

In the early days of the Internet, many developers created unique proprietary CMS solutions for their staff and clients to save time and streamline the process of maintaining a timely and relevant site. Today, there are hundreds of options out there to choose from. Check out this list from CMS Matrix.

Open source is basically the idea that code doesn’t have to be authored or owned by one person, group or company but rather by a public community of developers free to collaborate, write code, make updates and help advance newer software versions for all to share and benefit. For a more specific description of open source, let’s go to Wikipedia which is, ironically, a type of open source resource for defintions:

Open source is an approach to the design, development, and distribution of software, offering practical accessibility to a software’s source code. Some consider open source as one of various possible design approaches, while others consider it a critical strategic element of their operations. Before open source became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of phrases to describe the concept; the term open source gained popularity with the rise of the Internet, which provided access to diverse production models, communication paths, and interactive communities.

Before commenting on the recent upgrade, I did want to set the record straight on a couple things regarding the history of WhiteHouse.gov and the previous CMS.

To get a better understanding of the complete background, I spoke with a couple of my former White House colleagues who were federal government employees in the Office of Administration (OA) of the Executive Office of the President (EOP) back during the transition from President Clinton (42) to President Bush (43).

As I have mentioned before, in my opinion, President Clinton is truly the first Internet president, meaning he was the first to launch a White House website. Here’s what WhiteHouse.gov looked like circa November 1995. Not too shabby at the time. Evidently, in the late 90’s, updates to the site were a bit of a chore. They had to be made manually via files copied to tapes, then physically carried between floors to upload them onto the server a few times a day. Typos could mean a little more exercise that day. Toward the very end of President Clinton’s second term, an automated system was put in place but it wasn’t capable of managing an entire new site for the next four to eight years.

In 2000, with the transition to President George W. Bush’s Administration approaching, a few EOP programmers got together to create an internal homegrown Perl based solution designed to manage basic content needs for the new president’s site. Why Perl? Two reasons. First, Perl was a common programming language at the time, generally used for similar projects. Second, out of the other programming options available, those who were actually developing it knew Perl the best!

(Update from a former EOP insider: “It should also be noted that Perl was picked because the Tool started out as an e-mail to web page processing script. The original tool was developed to solve the problem of posting press releases to the web site automatically. On weekends and after hours, there was no IT staff to do it … so the tool was born of that. Perl as handler script to parse e-mail text into an HTML form and post to the web site. Then it just grew and grew… initially it was all about automation. Only during the later years [sic] did it start into more of your standard (term used loosely) CMS.”)

Out of this collaboration, a completely new and unique solution was born which we affectionately (most of the time) called, “The Tool.”

Over time, as newer site versions and features were rolled out on the front-end, the Tool scaled with it and was updated accordingly to support them including many things it wasn’t originally designed to do such as creating on-the-fly printer friendly alternative text pages (508 compliance) and digital image processing.

In March of 2007, we launched a new (and final) version of WhiteHouse.gov under President Bush. However, even with the new design and improved functionality for users, the Tool remained in place on the back-end. It was tweaked and updated, but the foundation was the same. We considered options to deploy a new CMS, but personally I wanted to be a good steward of taxpayer money and didn’t think it was prudent to spend a couple million dollars on something that was only going to be used for a year and a half or so before being shipped off to the National Archives and Records Administration (NARA) in January 2009. As a result, the site continued using the Tool all the way up until Inauguration Day.

Several months prior to Election Day, and in a very similar scenario to the Clinton-Bush transition preparation in 2000, career federal employess in EOP’s OA division gathered to begin planning for the next president’s website — whether for Sen. McCain or Sen. Obama, nobody knew. They initiated a review of the most effificient, secure CMS solutions. After the completion of the thoughtful, competitive procurement process, General Dynamics Information Technology (GDIT) was awarded the contract and immediately began work on a new CMS for the 44th President of the United States.

Many stories have reported that President Obama’s team inherited an “old proprietary CMS which has been used by WhiteHouse.gov since the Bush Administration” built and executed by GDIT. However, that isn’t true. As I mentioned earlier, President Bush’s website, CMS Tool and all, was taken offline at 12:00 PM ET on January 20, 2009, President Obama’s Inauguration Day, and ultimately sent to NARA.

President George W. Bush is the first digital president, meaning that he is the first to have his entire presidency captured online via WhiteHouse.gov in the form of transcripts, photos, video and audio. However, Web 2.0 and social media was just gearing up around the time I left the White House in May 2007.

Clearly, the campaign had a huge impact on the growth of the Internet through social media and rapid programming advancements (WordPress 2.8.5 is now available already? I just upgraded to 2.8.4 two weeks ago!) but many of the tools that are being used today either weren’t available to us or hadn’t been tested or matured to the point that we could utilize them effectively within the E-Gov guidelines, privacy policies, security procedures and budgetary limitations that often presented challenges.

To put it in perspective, from 2005-2007, MySpace was the most popular social network, Facebook was locked down to only college students with .edu email addresses, YouTube had recently been purchased by Google but was still growing and Twitter had just launched in March 2007 at SXSW in Austin.

There’s no question that the increased adoption of open source backend solutions in the private sector, and now in government, represents yet another evolutionary step in the rapid growth of the Internet. As these tools become more prevalent, users will be able to better connect and collaborate on shared platforms which only improves the potential for digital public engagement in shaping our democracy.

Congrats to the entire White House new media team!

Want to give it a try? You can actually demo Drupal yourself (and many other open source solutions) courtesy of opensourceCMS.com or you could save yourself some time and just go hire the best in the business!

MEDIA

Podcast: The Right Doctor with David Almacy

(Dr. Melissa Clouthier, The Right Doctor, 11/05/09)

WhiteHouse.gov goes Drupal (techPresident, 10/24/09)

RELATED

White House opens Web site programming to public (Associated Press)

Before Drupal, There Was “The Tool” (techPresident, 10/30/09)

For Drupal Enterprise Software in White House, It’s One Step Forward, One Step Back (IT Business Edge)

Whitehouse.gov could be a springboard for Open Source for America (InfoWorld)

WhiteHouse.gov on Drupal: A skeptic weighs in (OhMyGov)

Whitehouse using Drupal? (Drupal News)

Traditionally, August is supposed to be a little quieter in Washington, DC. Not so this summer with the current debates heating up over the future of the US economy, bailouts, healthcare reform and energy legislation.

The Internet is certainly playing a key role. In fact, YouTube may have officially reached its digital advocacy “tipping point” when a handful of videos were recently uploaded featuring flustered politicians struggling to answer tough healthcare questions during several Congressional town hall meetings.

Many Democrats in support of the bill have moved to characterize opponents as an organized, astroturfing, angry right wing mob. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) even went so far as to call the protests “un-American.” On the contrary, it was the SEIU who was caught on tape beating a black conservative who voiced dissent over the plan.

However, this wasn’t an organized gotcha campaign tactic like the infamous “Macaca” incident that many credit for the derailment of Sen. Allen’s re-election campaign in Virginia. Rather, these videos were shot, edited and posted by average, passionate American citizens who gathered to exercise their First Amendment right and demonstrate their concern over President Obama’s proposed healthcare legislation.

As Congress heads into their summer recess, some Members may wish they were spending more time on the beach instead of answering questions from frustrated constituents about government-run universal healthcare. I say let them vacation. After all, it will give them time to actually read the 1,000 page bill, perfect for a little summer reading.

In the midst of all this debate, the Internet continues to ramp up full throttle on both sides of the issue.

The Obama White House is attempting to utilize the Web, just as they did so masterfully during the campaign, in an effort to push the legislation through. How? Well, for starters, Linda Douglass took on the Drudge Report and asks users to “snitch” on fellow citizens if they see “fishy” information online about the healthcare discussion. They even set up an email address (flag@whitehouse.gov) to ease the reporting process.

The primary issue I have with this approach is that the White House Website is taxpayer funded and shouldn’t be used as a tool to gather information about Americans for pure political gain. Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) agrees and promptly sent a letter to the White House asking President Obama to bring the program to an end.

If the DNC or BarackObama.com/Organizing for America wants to do this (i.e. Tweet Your Senator = brilliant way to build buzz and your E-mail lists!), fine by me. However, WhiteHouse.gov should steer clear especially when the data collected is not subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests and new questions are arising about federal government privacy policies.

Is there a double standard here? Former White House Press Secretary Dana Perino makes an excellent point in Politico’s Arena:

“What would have happened if President George W. Bush had asked Americans to forward to the White House emails they’d received that spread “disinformation” or seemed “fishy” regarding any topic, such as the war on terror, immigration reform, tax cuts? How soon would the New York Times have splashed it on the front page, that moveon.org would have flipped its lid, and the Congressional Democrats called for new legislation to strip the President of his wildly expanding powers?”

Just today, WhiteHouse.gov launched a new “Health Insurance Reform Reality Check” feature which offers “facts about the stability and security you get from health insurance reform.”

Those at the National ObamaCare Opt Out (NOOO!) Registry disagree and have launched a site designed to motivate opponents of the bill to join the fight against it by registering and tweeting out with the #optout hashtag on Twitter.

I was recently reminded of the Internet’s infancy about a month ago when Rep. John Fleming (R-La.) appeared on FOX News with Megyn Kelly to discuss H.R. 615. The resolution would require Members of Congress who vote for public option healthcare to give up their current federal employee healthcare plan (as currently written, those serving House and Senate are exempt for five years). While on the program, Rep. Fleming encouraged viewers to visit his Website fleming.house.gov to track the bill’s cosponsors – all Republicans at the time. Interest was so great that increased traffic crashed the server for almost 45 minutes resulting in a 403.9 Error: Too Much Democracy All At Once!

Instead of using some of the more traditional methods, Rep. Paul Ryan (R-Wisc.) chose to outline his thoughts regarding healthcare reform via a video he posted on Facebook. Of course, I learned about this during a talk radio interview with the congressman as I drove into work one morning last week. See, MSM isn’t dead!

As the showdown continues to heat up after the break, one thing is for sure: This is fight is real and the implications are huge. Since Inauguration, many have wondered if Obama would be able to leverage his online campaign supporters into governing once he transitioned to the Oval Office. I think we are about to find out.

UPDATE

Megyn Kelly discusses healthcare “flag” email lists and the Presidential Records Act with Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton on FOX News. (Politico.com, 8/12/09)

‘Omnipotent Clarity’
At last Thursday’s (8/13/09) press briefing, Major Garrett of FOX News asked White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs about many who claim to have received unsolicited healthcare related emails from David Axelrod at the White House.

On Sunday, 8/15/09, Nick Shapiro, White House spokesman for New Media released the following statement, with a follow-up posted on the FOX News White House blog, Row 2, Seat 4:

The White House email list is made up of email addresses obtained solely through the White House website. The White House doesn’t purchase, upload or merge from any other list, again, all emails come from the White House website as we have no interest in emailing anyone who does not want to receive an email. If an individual received the email because someone else or a group signed them up or forwarded the email, we hope they were not too inconvenienced. Further, we suggest that they unsubscribe from the list by clicking the link at the bottom of the email or tell whomever forwarded it to them not to forward such information anymore. We are implementing measures to make subscribing to emails clearer, including preventing advocacy organizations from signing people up to our lists without their permission when they deliver petition signatures and other messages on individual’s behalf.”

Related

White House will change e-mail rules (Politico, 8/16/09)

White House Passes Blame on Unsolicited Health Care E-Mails (FOXNews.com, 8/16/09) The White House suggests third-party groups are to blame for unsolicited health care e-mails.

ACLU – Apologists for Obama? (Scott Stanzel)

Remember when protest was patriotic? (Glenn Harlan Reynolds, Washington Examiner)

Obama’s Authoritarian Style (Wall Street Journal)

Cartoon: Get Out of the Way (John Trever, The Albuquerque Journal)

Back in March, Jose Antonio Vargas from The Washington Post assembled a bipartisan group of five panelists to periodically review President Obama’s White House Website in a feature called “Grading WhiteHouse.gov.”

The group includes Craig Newmark of Craigslist.org; Andrew Rasiej, founder of the Personal Democracy Forum; Ellen Miller from the Sunlight Foundation; Jon Henke, a consultant and blogger for The Next Right; and David Weinberger, a fellow at Harvard Law School’s Berkman Center for Internet & Society.

Due to the overwhelming response to the first column, Jose decided to add a guest reviewer for “Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two,” which was posted earlier this week — and I was honored that he thought of me. Of course, he did indicate that he wasn’t going to be able to print my entire thoughts, but agreed to allow me to post them here.

However, a few things to note before we start:

• The transition was absolutely flawless. President Bush’s site was archived and President Obama’s new site was officially launched on Inauguration Day right on time. I don’t think many truly recognize what a major accomplishment that was.
• It’s important to recognize that the Internet is still relaltively in its infancy and that social media is just a few years old. When I was at the White House, MySpace was all the rage, Facebook was still limited those in college with .edu email addresses and Twitter hadn’t officially launched yet. Today, many are still trying to figure out what it means for business, the media and yes, even for our democracy.
• The Obama White House new media team, led by Macon Phillips, has only been in place a short time so let’s give them some room to settle in. They join a small fraternity of White House Internet staffers who came before them that built the foundation for what they will ultimately achieve. They are breaking new ground, trying new things and will certainly make some mistakes along the way. As ttechnology and tools continue to improve, I know that they’ll get there, but it will just take time so let’s be patient. However, there some basic things that seem to be missing, some of which are discussed in more detail below.
• I originally wrote this in late April just before the official 100 day mark — and about a week before the White House officially launched a presence on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc. The first Obama White House email (on Health Care) just came out yesterday.
• These comments and opinions are purely my own and I’m very interested in your feedback. Feel free to weigh in at the bottom of the post.

So, in the spirit of transparency, the full transcript is provided below for your review.

Q: How would you define transparency? Accessiblity? Engagement?
There’s a whole lot of buzz about transparency these days, but I believe that there’s a lack of common understanding as to what it really means and how it should apply to the process of governing online.

In my opinion, the word “transparency” as it relates to government represents the ability for citizens to gain easy access to information surrounding the decisions and public activities of our elected officials. Clearly the Internet has assisted with this. People have more information available to them than ever before and this is one of the primary reasons why I refer to President Bush as the first “digital president” despite the fact that President Clinton was the first to launch a White House site. In the same way, President Obama will certainly build upon this progress as the Internet continues to expand.

However, most would agree that complete transparency for every communication, no matter how large or small, between federal employees poses unique challenges of its own, especially in our fast-paced, technology driven world.

Despite the sheer volume of content, privacy concerns, national security protections and political sensitivities, there are some technological hurdles, as well. For example, content must be universal to ensure that everyone can consume information equally including those without regular access to the Internet, on slower connections or using outdated equipment, browsers and plug-ins.

In addition, Section 508 of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 requires that content on federal government Websites must be made available in different formats for those who may be hearing or sight impaired. There have been major strides in this area, including closed captioning options in YouTube, readable PDFs, audio/video tagging and other web-based software innovations which have leveled the playing field, most of which either didn’t exist, were restricted or too cost prohibitive to employ just a couple years ago.

Conversations that used to be one-way and constrained to “walled-gardens” on a handful of specific sites are a thing of the past thanks to social media. Now, when the White House publishes information, there is no shortage of online outlets where those issues can be discussed including social networks, news sites and blogs. The big question that still remains is whether the White House will use the Web to engage and better connect with citizens.

We saw the beginning stages of this under Jimmy Orr’s leadership (my predecessor) with the launch of “Ask the White House” in April 2003. By January 2009, the White House had hosted over 400 online chats via ATWH with officials from all areas and disciplines within the federal government, including one with President Bush aboard Air Force One in January 2008 on return from a Middle East trip.

President Obama broke similar ground with his “Open for Questions” event. Essentially, this was a standard live Webcast from the East Room where a handful of questions submitted via WhiteHouse.gov were answered in front of a pre-screened invited audience. It was reported that over 10,000 questions were sent in and I am hopeful that there will be many future opportunities to have those addressed in the coming months, as well, including live questions randomly selected from those who may wish to connect to the White House via real time video streaming technology such as Qik, Ustream or Skype.

Q: In your mind, what’s the mission of WhiteHouse.gov?
During White House events, President Bush often welcomed guests to the “people’s house” and I always viewed the Website in the same manner: WhiteHouse.gov is the people’s site — and it is one of a kind. Sure, other world leaders have similar sites but WhiteHouse.gov is the one place that users should be able to go to answer one simple Twitter-like question, “What is the president doing?”

I believe every American should have access to the activities of our president on any given day. For those looking beyond the sound bite to learn more about what is said and done on their behalf, the site serves an important role as a digital archive for unedited transcripts, photos, audio and long-form video of public events and press briefings.

In addition, WhiteHouse.gov should be a place where one can find more information about the president’s positions on current policy issues, as well as historical information about the American Presidency, the White House and the United States.

Q: What has surprised you most about Obama’s WhiteHouse.gov?
I was very impressed by the speed and efficiency of the transition when the White House team successfully managed the transfer and archival of President Bush’s site (including related multimedia) while simultaneously launching President Obama’s new version at 12:01 PM on Inauguration Day.

Load times are fast and the design is clean, crisp and modern. I am a fan of the rotating features which helps the user navigate the site based on relevant and timely issues. As an E-Gov evangelist, I was very pleased that President Obama chose to answer questions from WhiteHouse.gov for the East Room Webcast and the implementation of Google Moderator to manage the process was smooth and seamless. Also, the White House LiveStream has worked quite well since its launch. I specifically enjoyed watching the multi-stream coverage of the meetings on healthcare, as well as the continued tradition of the White House Easter Egg Roll Webcast.

Q: What has disappointed you the most?
As we know, this week marks 100 days since President Obama officially took office, (originally written in late April) so it is fitting to take a step back to examine some of the areas where the site still needs improvement now that his team has a few months under their belt.

My biggest disappointment with the new site is the difficulty I have in locating information due to poor organization architecture. It is confusing to locate specific content and the structure is not intuitive. So much emphasis is placed on the blog that, unfortunately, related materials such as transcripts, photos, audio, video and links get lost, are buried or seem to be posted as an afterthought in separate, unrelated locations.

For example, the March 24, 2009 press conference was posted on the blog as, “Addressing Our Problems Head-On” and only included President Obama’s answer to a tough question posed by CNN’s Ed Henry which many thought was a highlight. The next morning, I still couldn’t find a transcript or video and when a link finally did appear a few hours later, it sent users to the Los Angeles Times blog. I’m sure the LA Times executives (and the blog’s advertisers) appreciate the increased site traffic from a taxpayer funded site, but shouldn’t WhiteHouse.gov – and ultimately the National Archives – be the permanent source for that information? What happens if the LA Times moves the transcript or starts charging for archived content on their site? In all fairness, I did eventually find the transcript a day or so later after several attempts via the search engine, but it wasn’t easy.

This isn’t an isolated situation. Since I couldn’t find a daily listing of presidential activities, I went to the Speeches section of WhiteHouse.gov under “The Briefing Room” and found only three (one in Spanish) currently listed. At the time of this post, the most recent listed is from 2/27/2009, “Remarks of President Barack Obama – Responsibly Ending the War in Iraq.”

Similarly, it is unclear as to how the items listed in Official Statements differ from speeches which have remarks mixed in with written statements from President Obama, Mrs. Obama and Vice President Biden – which are all separate from Presidential Actions such as executive orders, proclamations, etc.

Q: As it stands, what grade would you give the site? And give your one paragraph explanation.
Although the new WhiteHouse.gov has an attractive, modern design and a number of new features, it is still in its infancy and it is important to remember that. However, in some ways, the site seems to actually have less content than its immediate predecessor.

Simple things that were standard on President Bush’s Website such as daily press briefing video (which is on YouTube now, but not embedded or otherwise available on WhiteHouse.gov), Cabinet member photos and bios and RSS feeds for all remarks, weekly addresses, briefings and other releases (not just selected items) all seem to be missing. Given this, combined with the site’s organizational challenges, delayed postings and hard to find information, I have to give it a current grade of: C

I am confident that the Obama team will eventually fix these issues and ultimately take WhiteHouse.gov to the next level as the Internet also continues to grow and evolve. More importantly, users will help shape the site’s future by expecting the White House to add new functionality by providing more data, finding ways to incorporate social media, offering mobile versions of the site, adding text messaging and soliciting feedback from citizens on important legislation, thus improving the transparency of, access to and engagement with their government.

Related

Grading WhiteHouse.gov, Round Two (Jose Antonio Vargas, The Washington Post)

Grading Whitehouse.gov, Part 2 (Jon Henke, The Next Right)

Your Government & New Media (Macon Phillips, The White House)

There has been a lot of buzz recently about how President-Elect Obama might carry the online momentum created during his campaign into the White House with him come January 2009. Taking a step in that direction, the President-Elect announced this week that he may alter the traditional method of delivering the Presidential Weekly Radio Address.

As the Washington Post’s Jose Antonio Vargas reported yesterday in The YouTube Presidency:

President-elect Obama will record the weekly Democratic address not just on radio but also on video — a first. The address, typically four minutes long, will be turned into a YouTube video and posted on Obama’s transition site, Change.gov, once the radio address is made public on Saturday morning.

According to Mike Allen, who writes Politico.com’s Playbook, the Obama-Biden transition stated on Friday that “No President-elect or President has ever turned the radio address into a multi-media opportunity before.”

Actually, that’s not true. All of President George W. Bush’s radio addresses have been published weekly since January 27, 2001 and available via WhiteHouse.gov on the White House Radio page. In addition, President Bush has delivered several LIVE radio addresses, many of which included a webcast, audio, photos and on demand video post event.

• September 11, 2004 from the Oval Office
• September 3, 2005 from the Rose Garden
• December 17, 2005 from the Roosevelt Room
• November 4, 2006 from Mile High Coffee shop in Englewood, Colorado

On a related note, Mrs. Laura Bush became the first First Lady to deliver an entire Presidential Radio Address when she spoke to the nation from Prairie Chapel Ranch in Crawford, Texas on November 17, 2001. She gave another radio address from the headquarters of Radio Free Europe in Prague, Czech Republic May 21, 2002 to discuss Afghanistan and again, most recently, on February 1, 2008 from her office in the East Wing of the White House to highlight the importance of heart health during American Heart Month.

In July 2005, as White House Internet Director, I worked with our web team and Apple to create a “room” in iTunes to house all White House Podcasts, starting with President Bush’s Weekly Radio Address in both English and Spanish.

We built it out further in September 2005 to include audio from all of the President’s public remarks, events and White House press briefings. We also added video such as State of the Union speeches and Presidential Addresses to the Nation.

At the time, washingtonpost.com’s Robert MacMillan wrote about the new WhiteHouse.gov feature in The Paradox of Podcasting:

I don’t know any other word to use besides “mainstream” when I hear from the White House that President Bush’s radio addresses will be offered via podcast. … Not only that, the White House has created RSS feeds for the radio addresses in English and Spanish. That means that anyone who wants to can sign up to receive the information through their RSS readers along with news and other Web site updates that offer this service. … Regardless of the current brouhaha over what that vision is, it might be possible to classify the Bush White House as jumping ahead of the curve on technology.

Why Audio?
President Franklin D. Roosevelt spoke directly to the American people about thirty times via radio from 1933 to 1944 in a series of broadcasts which later became known as “Fireside chats.”

During this Golden Age of Radio, FDR envisioned American families huddled around the radio in homes around the country listening to the voice of their President providing them assurance and comfort as the nation struggled to endure the trials of The Great Depression.

Today, the president typically records the radio address on Friday in the Cabinet Room with audio broadcast and web transcript publication embargoed until 10:06 AM EST Saturday morning. Originally, that time was chosen because the five minute national news reports aired at 10 AM, with the address immediately following. To honor that past tradition, we usually published the content on the White House staging servers before we went home on Friday night, and set the pages to auto-publish on Saturday at the appointed time.

Using video is an interesting — and definitely more modern approach, but I think it defeats the spirit and purpose of a “radio” address. There’s a big difference between audio and video presentations. Anyone who has ever set the tuner to AM to hear a local talkshow, subscribed to XM Radio, enjoyed the long form style of C-SPAN Radio coverage, National Public Radio reporting or the CBS Sunday Morning’s use of ambient sound during the nature segment can certainly appreciate the nuance of the medium.

How will President Obama’s radio address differ from any other Presidential webcast or televised speech he gives? Will it lessen the value of other White House addresses to the nation, like those typically delivered from the Oval Office? What about the fact that it might be in YouTube as opposed to just on WhiteHouse.gov (assuming E-Gov policies are changed to allow it)?

Well, here is President-Elect Obama’s first one from today. What do you think?

On Election night, I appeared on FOX 5 News (WTTG) TV and myfoxdc.com with weekend anchor Will Thomas as part of their LIVE Election Night coverage from 8 PM to 12 Midnight.

I also live blogged here on CapitalGig and via Twitter (@almacy). Here’s how it all unfolded…

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 4, 2008

6:34 PM CapitalGig: Freedom Isn’t Free, but Coffee and Donuts Are http://tinyurl.com/5czf3e

6:45 PM Heading down to FOX 5 studios here in Washington, DC to participate in their election coverage tonight from 8 PM to 12 Midnight.

6:52 PM Virginia polls officially close in 8 minutes. Maryland and DC close at 8 PM ET.

7:08 PM Former Virginia governor Mark Warner (D) has defeated Jim Gilmore (R) in the Virginia Senate race, AP reports.

7:12 PM Twitter via @almacy: http://twitpic.com/k1mj – The votes are in and the winner is… Duck!

7:22 PM Dark, rainy night in DC. GW Parkway is slick, traffic steady through Old Town Alexandria, Virginia.

7:38 PM Duck wins Presidency in local Virginia school kindergarten landslide. http://twitpic.com/k1mj Check out Duck for President, a kids classic!

8:03 PM Sen. Susan Collins (R) has defeated Rep. Tom Allen (D) in the Maine Senate race, AP reports.

8:08 PM CNN projects Obama wins New Jersey, Illinois, Connecticut; McCain takes South Carolina, Oklahoma, Tennessee.

8:18 PM Just arrived at FOX 5 studios in DC. Pulling into parking lot now.

8:32 PM First LIVE interview on myfoxdc.com webcast. http://tinyurl.com/6mslxm

8:42 PM Barack Obama has won New Hampshire, AP reports.

8:44 PM CNN projects that Barack Obama wins Pennsylvania. Wow, not super surprising but that’s huge.

8:44 PM Kay Hagan (D) has unseated Sen. Elizabeth Dole (R) in North Carolina, AP reports.

8:57 PM First LIVE TV hit on FOX 5. http://www.myfoxdc.com/

9:00 PM Former governor Jeanne Shaheen (D) has defeated Sen. John Sununu (R) in the New Hampshire Senate race, AP reports.

9:10 PM CNN projects McCain wins North Dakota and Wyoming, Obama wins New York, Michigan and Minnesota.

9:17 PM Rep. Tom Udall (D) has defeated Rep. Steve Pearce (R) in the New Mexico Senate race, AP reports.

9:22 PM Twitter via @almacy: Alternating between FOX5 TV and web. LIVE feed here: http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

9:34 PM Twitter via @almacy: FOX just called Pennsylvania and Ohio for Obama.

9:36 PM U.S. Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R) has defeated Bruce Lunsford (D) in Kentucky, AP reports.

9:36 PM CNN projects Barack Obama the winner of battleground state of Ohio. Path is getting easier for Obama.

9:54 PM Twitter via @almacy: @kholmgren Thanks, Kurt. We are also live streaming: http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

9:57 PM Jim Himes (D) has defeated Rep. Chris Shays (R) in Connecticut’s Fourth District, AP reports.

9:58 PM Twitter via @almacy: @dcconcierge Yup, @epolitics and I are two cubes away. Fun times, hot lights! Colin will be up shortly.

10:03 PM Barack Obama has won Iowa, AP reports.

10:04 PM Twitter via @almacy: @willthomas interviewing Heather Smith, Exec Dir of Rock the Vote. #foxdc http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:09 PM John McCain has won West Virginia, AP reports.

10:13 PM Tom Rooney (R) has defeated Rep. Tim Mahoney (D) in Florida’s 16th District, AP reports.

10:14 PM Twitter via @almacy: @epolitics Hey, just saw you and some prairie dog on FOX 5 LIVE web stream http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:33 PM Rep. John Murtha (D) has defeated Bill Russell (R) in Pennsylvania’s 12th congressional district, AP reports.

10:34 PM Twitter via @almacy: Next FOX 5 TV hit with @willthomas is slated for 10:44 PM. @epolitics Colin Delany and I ready to go. #foxdc

10:39 PM Barack Obama has won New Mexico, AP reports.

10:42 PM Twitter via @almacy: Getting set to go LIVE on Fox5 TV. http://tinyurl.com/fox5web

10:47 PM Twitter via @almacy: a slew of states about to be called at 11AM. Race ready to be called for Obama as 44th President of the US.

10:49 PM Twitter via @almacy: Looks like Sen. Hillary Clinton will be boxed out from the White House for the next four to eight years.

10:51 PM Barack Obama has won Virginia, AP reports.

10:54 PM Twitter via @almacy: @acedtect RT: We can now project Will.I.Am as President of Holograms.

10:57 PM Rep. Mark Udall (D) has defeated former Rep. Bob Schaffer (R) in the Colorado Senate race, AP reports.

11:00 PM Barack Obama has won Florida, AP reports.

11:00 PM Twitter via @almacy: @FoxNews is now officially projecting Sen. Obama as the next President of the U.S.

11:01 PM Barack Obama will be the 44th president of the United States of America, AP reports. CNN also projects that Sen. Barack Obama has won election as the next president of the United States.

11:04 PM Twitter via @almacy: Obama is leaving Hyatt around 11:35 PM and is expected to speak at 12 AM. McCain to speak shortly.

11:06 PM Twitter via @almacy: Campaign official says that McCain called Obama to concede.

11:09 PM Beverly Perdue (D) has defeated Pat McCrory (R) and will become North Carolina’s first female governor, AP reports.

11:13 PM Twitter via @almacy: How ironic that this my 1600th tweet on the night that we elect a new US President – as in Pennsylvania Ave. Congrats, Sen. Obama.

11:18 PM Twitter via @almacy: Sen. McCain and Gov. Palin taking the stage.

11:22 PM Twitter via @almacy: Sen. McCain officially concedes, congratulates Sen. Obama on winning an historic election.

11:24 PM Politico: John McCain concedes, says “this is an historic election… I pledge to [Obama] tonight to do all in my power to help him lead us through the many challenges we face.” CNN: John McCain congratulates Barack Obama on his “historic” election as president of “the greatest nation on Earth.”

11:32 PM Sen. Mary Landrieu (D) has defeated John Kennedy (R) in the Louisiana Senate race, AP reports.

11:33 PM Sen. Roger Wicker (R) has defeated former governor Ronnie Musgrove (D) in the Mississippi Senate race, AP reports.

11:47 AM Twitter via @almacy: Top Twitter themes: President OBAMA, President-Elect, United States, Congratulations http://election.twitter.com/

WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 5, 2008

12:00 AM President-elect Barack Obama expected to speak in Chicago.

12:01 AM Twitter via @almacy: Obama takes the stage in Chicago. Quite an impressive scene.

12:02 AM Barack Obama declares victory, says, “If there is anyone out there who still… questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer.”

12:08 AM Twitter via @almacy: Just flipped through channels, Obama speech being aired on 21 of them. M*A*S*H, Frazier & Tyra fans rest assured, programming uninterrupted.

12:13 AM Barack Obama, in victory speech, tells supporters that his election as president shows that “change has come to America.”

12:16 AM Kathy Dahlkemper (D) has defeated Phil English (R) in Pennsylvania’s Third District, AP reports.

12:22 AM Twitter via @almacy: http://twitpic.com/k49i – @willthomas on the set at Fox5 in Wash, DC on Election Night 2008. #foxdc

12:26 AM Twitter via @almacy: @FoxNews Shepard Smith, “If you’re conservative and angry, get over yourself. We gotta move past this.” FOX 5 newsroom erupts w/ laughter.

12:32 AM “Good job, people!” overheard in FOX 5 Newsroom, received by thunderous applause. That’s a wrap!

12:34 AM Twitter via @almacy: All wrapped here at FOX 5. Thanks @willthomas and myfoxdc.com crew. #foxdc Headed home.

Related

Election 2008 Memento: Live at Fox 5 (Colin Delany, e.politics)

Election Night: E.Politics is Live on Fox5 (Colin Delany, e.politics)

Here we are on the night before Campaign 2008 officially comes to a close. I have listened to the pundits, read the blogs, checked in with Twitter and reviewed all the polls. It indeed seems that all signs point to an Obama victory.

Or do they? There are some less traditional ways to predict Presidential elections, as well. Let’s take a look at a couple, as well as some ideas for what to do after you vote.

Unofficial Virginia Yard Sign Poll
Speaking of signs, I was driving in to work after dropping off my daughter at school last week and noticed that there were quite a few yard signs in my Alexandria, Virginia neighborhood. So, just for kicks, I decided to actually count them today.

Some yards had more than one sign. Others had signs that were torn (likely vandalized) and patched up with tape. Still others were missing. A wire frame was all that was left of a McCain-Palin sign that I saw in a neighbor’s frontyard on Halloween. According to him, that was the second sign he had placed there because the first had been stolen last week.

Whatever the case, the final tally according to my count was Obama-Biden 21, McCain-Palin 20. Margin of error is +/- 3 since my 5 year-old assisted with the counting and we may have missed some.

Washington Redskins at Home
Gotta love Monday Night Football, especially on Election Eve. There was much discussion about how the outcome of tonight’s game might compare with tomorrow’s election results. CBS News reported it this way:

If the Washington Redskins win their last home game before election, it means the incumbent party will get to stay in the White House. Since 1936, except for 2004, the outcome of that game has correctly predicted the winner of the race.

Well, as you can see from the graphic above, the Pittsburgh Steelers beat the Skins soundly by a score of 23 to 6. More good news for Senator Obama – and my Fantasy Football team which improved to 5-4 thanks to a decent performance from Washington’s defense.

Scholastic Presidential Election Poll
In mid-October, 250,000 students from grades 1-12 voted in a nationwide mock election both via paper ballots and online. Senator Obama defeated Senator McCain 57 percent to 39 percent. Yeah, but what are the odds that they are right? From the article:

Since 1940, the results of the student vote have mirrored the outcome of the general election all but twice: In 1948, kids voted for Thomas E. Dewey over Harry S. Truman. In 1960, more students voted for Richard M. Nixon than for John F. Kennedy. In 2000, a majority of student voters chose George W. Bush, mirroring the Electoral College result, but not the result of the popular vote.

7-Election
7-11 convenience stores used their coffee sales this year to help gauge the pulse (most likely rapid given the caffeine rush) of the American voter.

Customers chose different color coffee cups, RED for McCain, BLUE for Obama. The national result is currently sitting at 60% for Obama and 40% for McCain. Similarly, 61% in my swing state of Virginia chose Obama and McCain received 39% of the beans.

Free Coffee and Donuts After You Vote
Growing up, I was never much of a coffee drinker, except for the occasional all nighters studying for college mid-terms and finals. Then, a few years later, along came Starbucks and I was hooked. This year, those who vote get a free cup of Starbucks coffee on November 4th. Their ad originally aired during this past weekend’s Saturday Night Live and if 262,000 views are any indication, there will be long lines at the voting booth and your local coffee shop.

When your caffeine buzz and sugar rush wear off, you might want to check out these “Election Day Freebies and Discounts.”

See you at the polls!

One week to go until Election Day! After almost two long years of campaigning, we are finally in the home stretch and these days everyone is a political pundit and prognosticator. If you believe the latest polls, we will all be heading to bed early on November 4th with an Obama-Biden landslide victory while McCain-Palin and the GOP receive another “thumpin’” akin to the 2006 midterm election.

What do you think? Want to play pollster? A friend of mine sent a link to PredictNovember.com via Facebook which gives users an opportunity to predict the outcome via their own electoral map. Will swing states like Virginia, Colorado, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Florida go RED or BLUE? You make the call!

The debates seem like a distant memory. Not sure they helped either candidate, but in my view the real winners were Joe the Plumber (aka Joe Wurzelbacher) and Twitter. In fact, Joe is still making news and is eviently considering launching a Congressional bid of his own vs. Democrat Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur for Ohio’s 9th District U.S. House seat.

In the veep race, Sen. Biden’s warning to “Gird your loins” in preparation for a major international crisis under an untested President Obama raised the ire of political opponents. At the same time, SNL’s Tina Fey had a little fun with Gov. Palin in a doppelganger appearance that seemed to entertain, but didn’t have the desired affect on moving the poll numbers. The Amy Poehler Palin rap was also one that will surely land in the SNL political skit Hall of Fame.

The MSM continues to pile on Palin regarding the RNC’s $150,000 clothing spree for her and her family, failing to mention that she will return or donate them post-election. News also broke recently about McCain campaign insiders who have been calling her a “diva” and a “whack job.” Sheesh!

Sen. McCain is attempting to hammer home the idea that Obama would govern like a socialist by spreading the wealth around, and potentially use the Supreme Court to redistribute it. Today, during a campaign event at Widener University (my alma mater) in Chester, Pa., Sen. Obama hit back saying that spreading the wealth is not socialism, but rather opportunity which is as “American as apple pie.” He continued with his Bush third term narrative and his tired “eight years of failed Bush policies” line. However, I have always believed that politics is more about the future rather than the past. Obama has purchased 30 minutes of television in primetime tomorrow night where he will get one last chance to appear before a national audience to make his case.

Meanwhile, early voting is experiencing huge numbers in 31 states across the country. Some people in North Carolina, Indiana and Florida have been standing in four to five hour lines to cast their vote and some polls are narrowing.

Also, in the waning days, I thought it would be fun to take a look back at the “Digital Road to the White House.” Here’s a video that I pulled together for an event that Waggener Edstrom co-hosted with Politico.com at the National Press Club over a year ago.

Here we go, 25 days and counting until Election Day and things are really starting to heat up! The MSM is all in a tizzy with constant last minute “Breaking News” about ACORN, Alaska secession, Bill Ayers, voter fraud, Gov. Palin’s hacked email account and of course, “that one!”

Question is how do you break through all that fodder to get your message across? Well, the Jewish Council for Education and Research, came up with The Great Schlep and teamed up with comedian Sarah Silverman to promote it. Of course, she brings new meaning to the phrase, “Cuss and discuss!”

So, what is The Great Schlep, you ask? From the site:

The Great Schlep aims to have Jewish grandchildren visit their grandparents in Florida, educate them about Obama, and therefore swing the crucial Florida vote in his favor. Don’t have grandparents in Florida? Not Jewish? No problem! You can still become a schlepper and make change happen in 2008, simply by talking to your relatives about Obama.

WARNING: The video contains some harsh language so not appropriate if children (or co-workers) are nearby.

What do you think? Over the line or not – even for a comedian? If you are attempting to be funny, is it OK to spew a little racist language about? I think Michael Richards might want to weigh in on that.

Interesting concept re: travel in an effort to sway the “senior” vote in a key swing state, but her actual monologue would certainly be considered offensive if, say, a McCain supporter had used it.

If she wants to make fun of herself, her family or even her own faith, that’s her decision. However, her attempted comparison between an “elderly Jewish woman” and a “young black man” was simply racist. And, no, it isn’t funny.

Is this what we have to do to get people’s attention these days or more a commentary on our society?

Is this kind of video the future of awareness campaigns? Can you envision a major brand going this route eventually? The closest I could think of was the Bud Light Swear Jar on BudTV, which was funny and still used the “bleep.”

Whatever your take, it seems to be working. The Great Schlep Facebook group is currently sitting at close to 20,000 members.

To all you Floridians, if The Great Schlep actually works, at least the extra tourism will hopefully be a boost to your economy.

Related

Jackie Mason and the Republican Jewish Coalition responds. Thanks, Jeff B!

We haven’t seen a whole lot of former Vice President Al Gore lately. He has been relatively quiet since his 2000 presidential run and his endorsement of former Gov. Howard Dean in 2004. There was some conjecture that he might even throw his hat in the ring in 2008. During a keynote at the 2007 PRSA Conference in Philadelphia, the late host of NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Tim Russert, pointed out that since losing his bid for the presidency, Gore has won an Oscar, an Emmy and the Nobel Peace Prize, and sits on the boards of numerous corporate giants, including Google. Russert joked that the Oval Office might actually be a step down for Gore!

This cycle, it seems that the former veep has gone from counting chads to tracking tweets via the global TV network Current, which he owns with business partner Joel Hyatt. Current has been on the air since 2005 and provides a variety of short programs, or “pods,” created by users called VC2 producers, as well as longer programs produced by the network.

This month, for the series of Presidential debates, Current TV teamed up with Twitter (despite Gore’s lack of a Twitter account), to create “Hack the Debate,” perhaps the first real attempt at interactive TV (something I’ve been promised since MTV launched in ’81).

Here’s how it works: As you watch the debate on Current TV, you see a real-time Twitter feed on the bottom third of the screen. Anyone can participate simply by “tweeting” with the correct tag (#current). As new “tweets” roll in, the others fade out and disappear.

Not to be left out of the mix, NPR announced its own Twitter debate tag (#factcheck). People were asked to use the tag to report inaccuracies in the pundits’ answers and to offer a link to an original source with the correct information. The American people had access to the truth a moment later.

These two examples raise an interesting shift in journalism, media consumption, influence and engagement. The traditional lines were totally blurred here. Although TiVo and I tracked the debate on television (can’t live without pause and rewind) and I listened to a traditional journalist pose the questions, I watched the debate primarily online, where I was more ENGAGED, CONTRIBUTED to the conversation and even found myself INFLUENCED by information from OTHER VIEWERS – not the traditional peddlers.

Here are some other interesting uses of Twitter that I’ve noted during this election season:

• Twitter launched http://election.twitter.com, which is specifically designed to aggregate tweets about politics, Campaign 2008 and the four main candidates.
• C-SPAN launched Debate Hub (http://debatehub.c-span.org), complete with a Twitter roundup, a blog aggregator, and searchable AND editable video clips. C-SPAN has also been quite interactive with viewers on Twitter (http://twitter.com/cspan) by proactively engaging and thanking them for tweeting, blogging or embedding its content.
• In advance of Gov. Palin’s visit to Los Angeles last weekend, the California Democratic Party asked people to send her questions via Twitter. Those who used the words “Ask Sarah Palin” in their tweets may have found their questions displayed on a roadside electronic billboard that the party set up in L.A. They also used Ustream.TV to Webcast live video of the billboard on their site, www.cadem.org.

I must admit that some of this activity resulted in a bit of information overload. However, it actually made the debates – dare I say it – fun! So, as next Wednesday’s debate between Sen. McCain and Sen. Obama gets underway, don’t just sit down in front of the television. Fire up your laptop and join in the conversation. Oh, and a warning to those who follow me on Twitter: turn device updates “off” – I plan to tweet at a furious pace!

David Almacy (@almacy) is vice president of Waggener Edstrom’s Studio D group.  Ian Benson (@imb3), digital experience producer for WE Studio D, also contributed to this post which originally appeared on WE’s Studio D blog.

Update: Former Vice President Gore launched a Twitter account (@algore) on November 6, 2008 with just over 23,000 followers as of January 2, 2009. However, he’s only following one (@current, of course) and just nine tweets to date.

We get it, the Internet matters – but how much in the political world? And what about younger voters? Will the Web affect the way they cast their ballots on Election Day? We found out.

Earlier this week, Waggener Edstrom Worldwide released results from the Young Internet Voter of 2008 Study. We wanted to learn more about Young Internet Voters (18-35 year olds) and how they are using digital communications to gather information about the 2008 U.S. presidential race.

As Waggener Edstrom’s Vice President of Digital Strategies, and former White House Internet Director, I noted several points of interest based on our findings.

• It’s the Medium, Not the Message: The WE survey strikes another fairly significant ‘blow’ at traditional media, finding that an overwhelming majority (76%) prefer online sources for news and information rather than the traditional news sources. The primary reasons for this shift in preference – respondents feel the latter attempts to control and shape the news in a way they find problematic and off-putting. Some positive news, however, did emerge for traditional media: 38% of those responding to the survey have more confidence in its content; as opposed to slightly more than 30% who have confidence in Internet content.
• Digital Strategy Trumps Traditional Marketing/PR: The study further revealed that the Web and digital communications have helped bring teens and young adults into the fold this election cycle – more so that the candidates’ themselves or their personalities (e.g. Obamamania). Specifically 57% strongly or somewhat agree that the Internet and digital media have facilitated them feeling more engaged in this year’s election process – more than they ever have in the past.
• Engaging with Digital Substance: While the Internet is surely playing a role and young voters are poised to turn out in record numbers in November, the campaigns have yet to engage young voters – a crucial demographic bloc in November – in substantial policy discussions.
• Getting Social: Perhaps some of the most telling statistics revolve around this demographic’s monthly participation in social media. For example, more than half (62%) of those polled indicated that they visited social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, 60% read blogs (compared with 25% who wrote) and 79% watched online videos on YouTube and other media sites. Many tout text messaging as the next step in online campaigning, yet only 24% have sent or received a text message at least monthly regarding a political candidate.
• And the Winner Is: Although the Internet clearly emerged as the medium of choice among this group, young voters also weighed in on the efforts of political parties to connect with them online. Overwhelmingly, 56% felt that the Democrats are doing a better job as compared with 13% for Republicans. When asked who they would vote for if the presidential election were held today, 49% chose Democratic Sen. Barack Obama, while 29% indicated they would support Republican Sen. John McCain – with 78% responding that they were certain to vote on election day or early/absentee.

These numbers should serve as a baseline for future campaigns, especially when targeting the growing Millennial generation. As they continue to age, their use of technology to communicate – and their ability to influence elections – will only increase.

Of course, turnout has always been the key to winning elections and it still remains to be seen whether online activity will translate into actual votes in November.

Related

Young Internet Voter.com (The Next Right)
[Promoted - The internet is becoming more and more important in politics, and Republicans are not doing well in that space. This is going to have an impact that lasts for generations. - Jon Henke]

It’s the Medium, Not the Messenger (Washington Post: The Trail)

The Web Is Where It’s At for Youth Vote (Advertising Age)

Reaching Young Voters Online (Porter County Politics)

On Message: With blogs, texts and Web videos, marketers pitch their products to young voters (AdWeek)