Perry Bacon writes this week in Time Magazine that the netroots have reached their limits and are, "paradoxically," now going offline. I like Perry (I rode the Dean press bus with him briefly), and it's a fine article, but it misses the point that the earliest efforts that got attention for being "netroots" -- MoveOn and Dean, just as examples -- were profoundly offline.
Unlike the reigning online organizing at the time (GOPProgress), Moveon connected people in the same neighborhood to each other through marches and vigils, and the single most important use the Dean campaign made of the Internet was Meetup, a website that allows for monthly offline meetings. After Meetup, the second most important form was local listservs (over 1,000) that talked online about meeting offline. And Perry should know this, having ridden the Dean bus.
Continue readingWhose Substantive Agenda?
Though preferred solutions to these issues might differ, I think that the issues identified in these Gallup polls--which potential voters rank as the most important facing the country, or the most important in determining their votes in the congressional elections, would be hard to argue with: The situation in Iraq, terrorism, the economy & jobs, immigration, education and health care. Right now we are in the midst of the election season, and candidates are, to a greater or lesser extent, putting before the public their views on these issues, while trying, during the last few days that remain on the pre-election legislative calendar, to address some of these concerns (for example, building a wall to deter illegal immigration, adotping new rules governing the treatment of terrorism suspects held by the United States, and approving spending for operations in Iraq and Afghinistan. As citizens, we may or may not agree with what Congress is doing, we might prefer a more robust debate on these issues, we might even have preferred it if members of Congress had begun addressing these concerns much earlier in this legislative session rather than schedule so few working days.
Continue readingDo-it-yourself Data
Parke Wilde, writing at the U.S. Food Policy blog, has a pretty good idea: take data from different sources, line it up and organize it by congressional district, and then present it--either graphically (a map) or in a table, for easy analysis--to find out what individual members are up to. I'll return to this in a minute--and it's an intriguing notion that fits in with something I've been kicking around in my head for a while--but first let's look at what Wilde did: he looked at campaign contributions from C-Span, farm subsidy payments from the Environmental Working Group and earmarked pork projects from Citizens Against Government Waste all in a single disctrict -- that of Rep. Tom Latham, R-Iowa, a member of the House Agriculture Appropriations Subcommittee.
Continue readingMore Electronic Filing
Glenn Reynolds notes that both Sen. Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., are holding up legislation that would make the Senate have to electronically file their campaign finance reports. This process would save the Federal Election Commission about $250,000 and countless hours of work per election cycle, not to mention the numerous other benefits to campaign finance watchers. Now here's the crazy thing: both Trent Lott and Mitch McConnell already use electronic software to fill out FEC forms. In fact, it is highly likely that they are among the 95% of Senators who use the FEC's own or recommended software.
Continue readingBig Money Sticking with Incumbents
If you’ve been reading the latest New York Times/CBS poll numbers – Only 25% in Poll Approve of Congress – you might well wonder why despite all this, political insiders remain so confident that only a tiny percentage of members will be defeated at the polls in November.
The answer lies in the two big assets incumbents have going for them this election year: safely drawn congressional districts and cold, hard cash. In fact, if 2006 is supposed to be a tougher-than-normal year for incumbents, somebody forgot to tell the interest groups that fund congressional campaigns.
Continue readingGrowing Constituency for Good Government
Earlier in the week, my colleague Paul Blumenthal expressed justifiable dismay over a report in The Washington Post arguing that the ethical problems of Congress--which can be viewed both as failings of individuals and as the product of an institutional inability to come to grips with shady behavior--was having little resonance as an issue in the minds of voters. Paul offered plenty of examples in his post to counter that argument, and more here on the bipartisan, citizen-driven effort to make the doings of elected government officials more accountable to their bosses (that's us citizens, by the way).
Continue readingTariff Suspensions: Download Your Own Data
Thanks to the detective work of the Washington Post, the website of the US International Trade Commission, and the ingenuity of Sunlight’s computer wizards – thank you especially Kerry Mitchell – we’ve been able to put together a spreadsheet of all tariff legislation in the 109th Congress.
You can download it by clicking on the attachment link below. The file is a Microsoft Excel spreadsheet, which you can look at directly or easily import into the database program of your choice.
Continue readingWhat DO They Do All Day?
As Ellen writes above, the Sunlight Network launched a new project today. Watch the video here, and learn more about it at www.congressin30seconds.com:
Continue readingIt’s Time To Have Some Fun
The Sunlight Network is launching a Congress In 30 Seconds video contest as part of our Punch Clock Campaign. Check out the really neat web tool we've designed and play around with it. It's unbelievably easy to get the hang of how to do it. It will only take a few minutes to make a video on the theme of what you imagine lawmakers do all day.
We know you've always wanted to talk back to Congress. Now here's your chance to tell them what you really think. And in case you need an enticement, the winner -- picked by their peers -- of this 4 week campaign will win $5,000.
Continue readingToward Clarity on the House Earmark Reform
What exactly did the House do when it passed earmark reform? Dana Chasin at OMBWatch notes one major limitation -- that it won't apply to earmarks in appropriation bills that had already passed by the House. That would include the following appropriations bills: Agriculture, Science/State/Justice/Commerce, Defense, Energy & Water, State & Foreign Operations, Homeland Security, Interior & Environment, Legislative Branch, Military Quality of Life & Veterans Affairs, and, finally, Transportation, Treasury, HUD and DC. In case you're keeping score at home, that leaves Labor, HHS & Education as the lone bill to which full earmark disclosure would apply. (As for the other bills, if earmarks are inserted by House Members in conference, they would be identified, assuming that....
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