tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-89144148098355968022024-03-13T21:43:19.564-07:00PolitubingAct of using, watching or creating
online Web videos for political issues & campaignsMarisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-24604209074589104882012-10-02T09:59:00.001-07:002012-10-02T09:59:57.869-07:00Alameda 2012 Election - Candidate VideosOMG, OMG, so excited to see an excellent use of "Politubing" at my homey local level! <a href="http://www.thealamedan.org/">The Alamedan</a>, Michele Elson's online hometown newspaper blog about all things Alameda, just posted some great videos asking each City Council and School Board candidate the same list of questions.
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Alameda Local Election '12: <a href="http://www.thealamedan.org/alameda-elections-12/candidates_12/videos"><b>Candidate Videos</b></a>
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Can I just say THANK YOU. Baby #3 was born last November and there is NO CHANCE, I was going to have any kind of spare moment to actually attend meetings and speeches to get even a baseline understanding of each candidate. I do care about Alameda. I really do. Have always thought it was a hidden gem. But there's caring and there's reality.
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Raise your hand if you have one of those little calendars at home with multi-colors each depicting a certain member of your family and their frazzled schedule? Mine happens to be of the Google Apps variety and I love it. But I have run out of colors and frankly could not put one up for election to-dos.
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This has saved me so much time and has alleviated the guilt when you're checking off your voting boxes and quite honestly have no clue about the candidates other than maybe they rhyme with something fun or you think you may have liked one of their lawn signs (and I won't be shy, I LOVE <a href="http://www.facebook.com/TomLynchForAlamedaSchoolBoard">Tom Lynch's yard sign</a>...but I also know him, great guy, President of my kid's PTA a couple of years ago, know he cares and is smart, so he gets my vote sign or no sign).
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Alameda, making me proud...
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<iframe width="560" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/vkeeASVpnus" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-21591985081946276122010-11-24T01:30:00.000-08:002010-11-24T01:36:33.114-08:00Bay Farm Elementary PTA Auction Win = $100, Time & Material = $100, teaching an 8 yr old importance of city government = pricelessWOW! All I can say is WOW. Today my daughter turned 8 years old. That is so young in so many ways and yet it feels like time is ticking away. That's why today was more meaningful to me than most. My favorite saying is "A day is not wasted if a memory is made". Today, was certainly not wasted.<br />
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Today Maddie had a tremendous opportunity to become Alameda City Council Member for the day. We won this at the Bay Farm Elementary PTA Auction last winter. Mind you, this was a silent auction win in which I don't remember being a hot item or having that many bids. Frank Mataresse, current Council Member who recently ran for Alameda City Mayor was offering the chance for a child to become city Council Member for the day.<br />
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At the time, I remember thinking it was cool but deciding it couldn't be that special if it wasn't getting as many bids as the boating trip with the PE teacher. Was I in for a pleasant surprise! By far this auction item was worth more than any other auction item we could have combined to win. What a tremendous lesson for a school-aged child! I encourage anyone considering a PTA auction item to reach out to your fellow Alameda City Council people and petition for this amazing offering. <br />
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All of us take for granted the life lessons we could teach a child each day if we just let them into our world. It's no wonder most kids want to become "teachers". It's what they know! They don't know they may be interested in politics, or police work, or corporate world if they don't know what that's like.<br />
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So thank you Frank Mataresse, for inspiring a young child's mind today and for organizing such a wonderful experience. And thanks City Clerk Lara Weisiger and Detective Jill Ottaviano and to Alameda Police and Fire Department who made me proud to be an Alamedan today! This town has some of the nicest, most down to earth people we could hope for. Our daughter (who happened to celebrate her 8th birthday today) will not forget this. You have made a profound impact today. You have made a memory, THANK YOU!<br />
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Here's a video medley of the day's event:<br />
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You Tube Link: <br />
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgX04RAXXHQ">http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JgX04RAXXHQ</a><br />
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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/JgX04RAXXHQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/JgX04RAXXHQ?fs=1&hl=en_US&rel=0&color1=0x402061&color2=0x9461ca" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-39424106277836186182010-10-08T23:31:00.000-07:002010-10-08T23:32:28.597-07:00Dear Mr. Spangler...Dear Mr. Spangler,<br />
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Thank you for the welcome to Alameda. I've given your <a href="http://politubing.blogspot.com/2010/10/candidates-for-alameda-school-board.html">comments</a> thoughtful consideration and here they are. <br />
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With all due respect - First, a quick Google search of your name and I can see you indeed have attended an impressive amount of council meetings. <br />
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Anyway, let's dissect your comments. You've been following since 1997. So chances are you don't have a preschooler or a grade-schooler that will be in said AUSD schools for the next 13 years. We potentially have differing opinions on how it should be run.<br />
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You mention "Mike McMahon is one of the dedicated school board trustees who has been minimizing the damage to AUSD students and their education due to state budget problems since he was first elected eight years ago." But you see sir, I don't want someone who "minimizes" anything. I want someone who PREVENTS it. Remember, I'm pretending to be <a href="http://politubing.blogspot.com/2010/10/alameda-city-manager-salary-perspective.html">CEO of Alameda</a> and you don't get a second swing at the bat if you simply "minimized" for eight years. If someone else isn't pulling their weight on the Board, by all means, lets get some names and get some bat swinging started.<br />
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You state "governance and business are not the same activity and they require different skill sets". California - how's that working out for you? Oh wait, California is actually run by clowns like me who unknowingly sign petitions that lead to propositions that spring on the demise of the entire state (I'm looking at you Proposition 13). If we would actually let our honest, capable politicians do their jobs, maybe it would be slightly better. But I still don't think they are different skill sets. The skill set is being simply awesome and running/leading something better than anyone (<a href="http://politubing.blogspot.com/2010/10/alameda-city-manager-salary-perspective.html">Remember? If you're going to be a bear be a grizzly</a>). You know how top executives can go from one company to a completely different one and still make it rock? That's the skill set.<br />
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So Mr. McMahon worked as an executive in a large retail chain so has business experience. You mean Mervyns? Aren't they bankrupt? From Wikipedia:<br />
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<blockquote>Mervyns was an American middle scale department store chain based in Hayward, California. It carried national brands of clothing, footwear, bedding, furniture, jewelry, beauty products, electronics, and housewares. Many of the company's stores were found in shopping malls. Based on 2005 revenue, Mervyns was the eighty-third largest retailer in the United States.<br />
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In December 2006, Mervyns had 189 stores in 10 states. However, Mervyns closed all of their locations in Oregon and Washington by February 2007, reducing its store count to 177 stores in 7 states. The company said it closed underperforming locations that did not contribute to the company's success. In July 2008, Mervyns announced it filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection. Three months later (October 17, 2008), the company announced that it would liquidate its assets through a Chapter 7 filing. On October 31, 2008, Mervyn's began the process of liquidating its entire inventory in an effort to repay its creditors, and, by December 31, 2008, all remaining locations were closed. Then, on February 11, 2009, the Morris family announced that they had bought back intellectual property as well as naming rights to the company, their hope being to relaunch as an internet-based enterprise.</blockquote><br />
I'm sure Mr. MacMahon was not responsible for its demise but that comment doesn't buy me the street cred I'm personally looking for. And don't worry, he's still on my "potential" list. I saw him during the Board's school closure meeting and he impressed me much more than at the candidate forum and I'm still leaning towards partnering "old ways" with "new ways". It's just a matter of which one.<br />
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Finally you say "You will sleep better at night if you vote for the best. I did, and I do." The problem is, I was sleeping just fine. Then I started worrying about my children's future. Now I don't sleep at all and had to dust off my old blog site to rant and rave at wee hours of the night. <br />
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So honestly, I do appreciate how respectful your comments were in trying to convince me otherwise. My writing style is somewhat sassy but please note that I am truly a nice, respectful person too. And I may still vote for Mr. MacMahon. I'm going to look into it further. Lack of sleep sometimes makes me cranky.<br />
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For politubing's sake, can't find a Mike MacMahon video, but here's an inspiring little diddy, I think this organization isn't doing much now but is somehow tied with <a href="http://www.csba.org">CSBA.org</a>. I'm not endorsing it, I just liked it...<br />
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<object width="400" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/IrTsuAGfD9Y?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/IrTsuAGfD9Y?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="400" height="385"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-76479447012725193022010-10-08T04:55:00.000-07:002010-10-08T11:29:50.568-07:00Alameda City Manager Salary - PerspectiveI need ambien...Anyway, I just read <a href="http://www.action-alameda-news.com/city-manager-salaries-for-bay-area-cities/"><b>Action Alameda</b>'s post</a> where they normalized the data reported by <a href="http://articles.sfgate.com/2010-09-23/bay-area/24085213_1_bell-scandal-city-manager-charter-city">SF Chronicle</a> on <b>what City Managers get paid in the Bay area</b>. <br />
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Personally, if someone is doing a kick-ass job, by all means, pay them what they're worth. What? Here's a perspective.<br />
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Palo Alto rocks. It is in so many ways a wonderful place to live. So much so, that I can't afford to live there. But that's OK. I'm not the jealous type. So their City Manager gets a $1.5 million dollar stipend for a home there (that the city gets back when he/she moves and sells it). Most would just be appalled and decry the evilness of the disparity. But look, if the City Manager is responsible for making Palo Alto the one place everyone wants to live and no one's home is decreasing in value and they have plenty of funds to cover city functions and one of the best school systems around, then it's fair. Pay the people what they're worth, period. Make them earn it, fire them if they suck, but it's OK to incentivize them and have all the weapons in your arsenal to get the best of the best. I want our City Manager to be actively recruited by Google. This is how America should work (oh pipe down Democrats, I'm a registered Democrat and voted for Barack.)<br />
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So, the chart is interesting. Alameda falls right around the middle. <b>Alameda City Manager earns about $285K a year</b> and there are about 74K of us. I'm not sure I agree with comparing it to purely population but whatever, I'm OK with this as long as the City Manager is killing it. I don't even know who that is actually (you see know why you're wasting your time reading this? I honestly don't matter much). I know something about an interim City Manager in place but I don't know the details. <br />
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So in my wee little blogosphere universe, I'm pretending to be CEO of Alameda (I'd be just a HORRIBLE CEO...), and this CEO wants her minions to be nothing but the A team. I want them going out there making every Bay Area resident just dying to get across our little bridge to get a glimpse of our heaven. Our houses are bigger than most of those in Palo Alto. We have a beach and boats. It takes us 20 minutes to get to the city on a scenic ferry ride. We have a freaking awesome view of the city. You want to be us. You want to live in our houses, shop in our shops and go to our schools because we are heaven on earth. Do what it takes, brand us that way, use all creative (but ethical) means of making every Alameda crazy proud to be here and never wanting to leave. Keep that hometown feel, that's great branding. Everyone wants to live on Birdwell Island (Clifford the Big Red Dog's home...that place is just dreamy). And keep the best and the brightest here too. The money will follow. And by all means, make it so random moms aren't compelled to blog about the city. In fact, during elections, people should forget there even is an election and there should be no one running because it's just running so swimmingly. Like we tell our kids - "If you're going to be a bear, be a grizzly." I'm sure we stole that from some place but whatever.<br />
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My husband is right, Alameda is so focused on chiseling away at costs but costs are easy. You basically know what they're going to be and can only do so much to get them down. But the sky's the limit if you get creative on how to bring revenue into the city. You won't need to shut down an elementary school to save $304K (that number is ridiculous by the way, I won't get into why here). And all you die hard Alamedans that have been here 20+ years and don't want anything changing - wake up, 1/3 of the island left years ago along with its revenue. It already changed. <br />
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<i>(And I'm not talking creative ways of getting revenue like lets fine responsible homeowner $1,500 right before Christmas for failing to get a permit for like-for-like replacement of her windows and do it by stopping the work while there were gaping holes in her house so of course we had to pay. Merry Christmas to you too Grinch. Yup, I'm still bitter. Like-for-like! Why would you need a permit for that? It's not a fire hazard??? Our licensed contractor had never heard of such a thing, paid for half of the fine and decided never to work in Alameda again.)</i><br />
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I'm talking creative revenue that thinks big and beautiful. That Farmer's Market you shut down here on Bay Farm a couple of weekends ago for failing to get their little license that takes 2 months? Don't make them pay $1.5K or whatever it was for their little permit. Make them pay a percentage of their profit and not a crazy amount but enough that makes it so that you want their Farmer's Market to succeed. That steady stream of revenue will be more than $1.5K I promise. I've yet to see a Farmer's Market that brings a town down. Maybe that's not legal, I don't know California is crazy.<br />
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Anyway, so that chart would have been even more interesting if it compared how much revenue the city generates. Fine if the City Manager makes x% of total revenue. If you base it just on population, poor little San Jose City Manager gets peanuts and should think about quitting soon. So $285K for a town that is running on red does sound like a lot, unless that person is going to be the next <b>Mark Hurd</b> (no I don't mean that little scandal, I mean, he got into HP, shook things up, took out dead weight and turned things around sometimes while being wildly unpopular).<br />
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Anyway, for Politubing sake, here is a snippet of Alameda's interim City Manager Mary Gallant talking about Chuck Corsica Golf Course. (Why 'interim', isn't the City Manager hired by the mayor? I'm not looking it up, I need to sleep)...<br />
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<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/xRTMiBs9ihU?fs=1&hl=en_US"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/xRTMiBs9ihU?fs=1&hl=en_US" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-28454857847883721042010-10-06T04:20:00.000-07:002010-10-07T08:54:10.094-07:00Candidates for Alameda School Board 2010Tonight I attended a meeting at Earhardt school that presented five of the six candidates who are up of for election to Alameda's School Board in November 2010. Or at least most of the meeting. Crazy insomnia has me up writing about this again. Here is my take...<br />
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First, dear candidates...this meeting was nothing less than an interview for your desired job. So what I'm looking for is someone who is prepared and qualified enough for me to offer him/her the position. The room had maybe between 100-200 people attending and I heard the mutterings "Oh, this is a full house". Really? Aren't there like over 70,000 Alamedans? Sure this was a Bay Farm forum but even then, guessing there are at least 7-10K Bay Farmians (hahhaha!). Point is, I'm willing to bet most of us lead fairly busy lives and don't pay close attention to this level of politics. For the most part, I've left your position blank when I've voted because I don't know who you are. So for me to actually come here what you have to say, well let's just say the adage "You never get a second chance to make a first impression" is spot on. I probably won't have time to research you any further than tonight. So I would expect nothing less than for you to dazzle me.<br />
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So who dazzled and who fizzled in my mind, let's go in order of this handy little sheet that was given out...<br />
<a href="http://www.blogger.com/goog_1764111295"><br />
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<a href="http://www.rand4schools.com/"><b>Randy Wrobel</a> - The Rebel</b><br />
At first Mr. Wrobel, you scared me with your initial presentation that you were against Measure E. I thought, "Oh no, he's here to just stir up trouble." But you know what, in the end, you were one of the candidates that impressed me the most. Mr. Wrobel is running on a platform that calls for us parents to take back control of our child's education and if needed, turn that energy and financing into opening up Alameda charter schools so that we are not dependent on state under-funding or crazy union sanctioned regulations. That sounds good to me. <br />
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A friend is suggesting I go see <a href="http://www.waitingforsuperman.com/">Waiting for Superman</a> that pretty much talks about our existing messed up public school system and the inevitable change that is needed. Trust me, if you think public opinion about our existing school system is a passing fad, I think you're missing that we are in the midst of "the winds of change". <br />
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I also appreciated that he wasn't flat out against a parcel tax. His vision is getting a parcel tax approved that fits within the realistic abilities of most business owners here in Alameda while funding the schools for at least the immediate future. My take is he doesn't want giant parcel tax, just enough to get us through the crunch then spend the resources and time to figure out if there are indeed charter school options. As a vocal advocate of <a href="http://alamedasos.org/">AlamedaSOS.org</a>, this still sounds good to me. I don't want a Parcel Tax for the sake of plugging a hole. I want the zeal that is surrounding this to translate into real change. <br />
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So Mr. BPM consultant, I'll be looking for you to be able to action said plans. I was a BPM consultant in my time and made lots of pretty PowerPoint but had little practice actually getting things done, not to say that's you. The way I see it, there are 2 public hearings scheduled to discuss the Parcel Tax. Let's see if you are not too busy with the campaign and actually show up to these to help drive the consensus you'll need from lots of vocal groups. Oh, and do a little spell-checking next time you write up something that will be given to the general public that is deciding your future. (points deducted for pointing out my mispelling and grammar errors) Just sayin'...<br />
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<b><a href="http://www.margieforschoolboard.org/">Margie Sherratt</a> - The Cheerleader</b><br />
Impressive lady indeed. I heard something about Principal at Alameda High, teacher, counselor, District Administrator...you go girl. Why anyone would want to come out of retirement to take on another monumental task, let's just say I'm glad that we have you. You didn't overly dazzle me with responses to your questions but I like that you have experience from "the other side". I can see you partnering up with one of the renegade board members and creating a nice checks and balances. The more I get to know public schooling, the more I'm appalled at how poorly it's run. One of my daughter's favorite, ridiculously talented, and ambitious young teachers (Ms. Bianka Hamil from Bay Farm Elementary), was let go this year because she was a first year teacher. Really? Because that's how I'd run my business for sure. Let's fire the gung-ho young workers since they have nothing on the stale-would-like-to-be-retired-soon alternatives. So you have that working against you. You're part of the system that I feel needs fixing. However, I know things just don't change on a dime and I'm willing to give you the benefit of the doubt that you could take your experience to spearhead a change that works within the confines of what we have today. Rome wasn't built in a day.<br />
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<b>James Pruitt - The Comic</b><br />
My favorite line of the night was when the question whether a candidate would need to preclude him/herself from making a decision on any specific school issues because of conflict of interest Mr. Pruitt responded "When I left Haight School, Lyndon B. Johnson was still president". HA! I like that you have experience with labor relations and building consensus, that seems important to me in this divisive atmosphere we're brewing. However, I wasn't feeling that you would have the ability to actually lead a board into consensus for a true renovation of the system. I get the feeling that especially us new Alamedans, we are really amped about a revolution, not just a change. This town has ridiculous potential but moves like molasses in implementation of anything truly innovative. I'm skeptical you would foster that fast enough unfortunately.<br />
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<a href="http://www.claypollard.com/"><b>Clay Pollard</a> - The Class President</b><br />
When we walked in the room my 4 year old (yup, couldn't pay a babysitter for this, sorry) piped up "Mommy, is that Barack Obama?" Now before you get riled up about the obviously racial remark, note that he doesn't think all black men are Barack. Only stately and impressive ones. I was definitely impressed by Mr. Pollard. <br />
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I like that he was the first to mention that we are building a sense of doomsday within Alameda that isn't helping anything. A good portion of my preschooler parents who will have their children starting Kindergarten next year are changing their minds about public and deciding on private institutions. The more kids go to private school, the less public funds there are for Alameda. With the degeneration of our public school system, comes the reduction in our housing prices. With less affluent families moving in, less sales dollars are generated for Alameda. Maybe that's not how it works but that's how I view it. <br />
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He mentioned the schools needed to be focused on the children and the academics and that we needed to find good alternatives for funding. Yup, yup and yup. He mentioned that we are tainting the reputation of Alameda and not doing enough to foster respect from the community about the capabilities of the Board and Alameda schools in general. He has home-schooled, private schooled and public schooled his own child. All options that constantly run through in my head. Would I want a successful business owner that has experience in these arenas running my Board? So far so good. His Parcel Tax plans calls for a fair tax that spans a shorter period, is accountable and line item specific and directed at maintaining minimum student/teacher ratios. Again I say yup. I'd rather my child attend less days (I can make those up with enrichment camps) versus having everyday be a struggle for attention. His written responses where the most eloquent and well thought out of all of the candidates. Now I'll be looking for Mr. Pollard to be involved in the upcoming Parcel Tax debates and put his plans into action as well.<br />
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<a href="http://www.mikemcmahon.info/"><b>Mike McMahon</a> - The Incumbent</b><br />
Ah Mr. McMahon. Was that smugness I detected in your demeanor? You do know this is your job interview right? You're running for a controversial third-term and yet you seemed at times bored at having to be present at all. Yes, I did agree with many of the points you made but sir, you did not impress mama-newbie here. Maybe I voted for you before, can't remember. You're probably great. You get extra points for having a Twitter account and following Bill Gates (but one deducted for not following me back). I know how elections go too, incumbents usually win. I would just ask that if re-elected, you take this as an opportunity to start a new job, not just continue the one you have. You have the experience that we would need to get plans into actions but do you have the ability to convey revolution, consensus and optimism? Your short answers to the written questions only solidified my thoughts that you were not serious about your commitment to the task. These are of course, my personal gut feelings so take them with a grain of salt. Good luck and please, I'm a parent of a student in one of your schools, do what it takes sir.<br />
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<b>Sheri Palmer - The No Show</b><br />
Well Ms. Palmer, I'm sure you had a perfectly good excuse not to attend your interview. The thing is, you need to interview to get the job. Also, in your written description you write "I am a parent of three daughters, 2 dogs and a parakeet"...blink, blink...OK, maybe our daughters know each other so I'll be kind but sorry, not getting my vote.<br />
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Points deducted from any candidate without a web site or Twitter account. What? Well sorry but I want a 2010 candidate using all out of the box technologies at your disposal.<br />
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Finally, because this is of course a "politubing" blog and online videos need to be a part of it, here's a great snippet from Bill Gates talking about America's public education....<br />
<br />
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Here are my initial two take-aways:<br /><br />1) Holy crap<br />2) Alamedans are a brave, eloquent and inclusive bunch.<br /><br />I went to the meeting thinking "Wait, wait, wait, let me get this straight. You want to close Bay Farm? Wha? I bought a house across the street from it at the height of the market 3 years so my wee-ones could that school that scored 10 on <a href="http://www.greatschools.org/california/alameda/2-Bay-Farm-Elementary-School/">greatschools.org</a>! Bring on mama bear."<br /><br />Some pissed off Washington parents spoke (and I was very impressed with their extremely valid points), then a <a href="http://bit.ly/9XlNLb">presentation</a> was given with several options of the different (but same) crazy scenarios with impending MEGA-elementary schools and potential 7th grade High School freshmen who aren't even wearing training bras (OMG, I just did the math, my daughter would be 11!!! double holy crap).<br /><br />Then the floor was given to the community to sound off. First, I was half expecting people with picket signs and marauding manic moms to just have a go at the board. Was that disappointment I felt when lo and behold, people ever so patiently waited politely in line to state their opinions? Wow, this ain't no Jersey Shores.<br /><br />Almost every person had a question or comment that made sense, effectively made their point, and was considerate of other people's opinions. Pat yourself on the back Alamedans, nice job.<br /><br />The part I was less impressed with was when the floor was given back to the Board. Many Board members (nice to meet you Board, this apathetic mom hadn't even known who you were until tonight, sorry about that) also had eloquent responses.<br /><br />But I wasn't really wanting to hear what they thought at this point because I know they've been thinking about it for way longer than me (thank you by the way).<br /><br />However, I would have rather seen this meeting being actually facilitated by someone (maybe from Switzerland), who wrote down specific questions the community had asked then gave the board the ability to respond directly to those questions. We would understand if they didn't have all the facts at that time but some questions were probably already easy to answer. Some questions were answered but it was somewhat confusing.<br /><br />The way it was done, I'm not sure what happens to those comments and questions that the community voiced. Will there be a website that lists them with the answers below? That would be nice. I would have also preferred that they put the options back up on the screen because it seemed the Board was saying they prefer option 1 & 4. Um, I couldn't remember either option, can you repeat?<br /><br />I also don't get the time line. If today was a public hearing and most community comments/questions asked that the Board go back and present a plan that had less "close this, save that" and more enlightened alternatives that takes the essence of Alameda into consideration first, I don't get when they would have time to do that. So why have a public meeting? They have to present their plan by law by December 14th. I'm thinking they are not going to go back and take a retreat in some secluded island to come up with a totally innovative and completely out of the box alternatives to what they've already spent most of their time on.<br /><br />So I heard basically (sorry, I was busy searching Trulia on my iPhone by that point) "something, something, present our school closure options by December 14th, something, something, Parcel Tax is the only way to cover us for SOME of the money, something, something, Parcel Tax option needs to be presented in November so it can be in the March ballot." Oh, and I also heard most board members stating they also agreed mega-elementary is not the way to go, whew...for now....oh.<br /><br />So I came back home, looked up <a href="http://bit.ly/9XlNLb">Option 1</a> and that looks like to me that proposed scenario saves Bay Farm for next year but closes Lincoln & Wood and brings class sizes up to 32. And again, that's for now. What was that name of that Realtor again? Kidding...kind of...<br /><br />So for concerned Alamedans that don't have insomnia (again) or time to digest this, here is my suggested action plan. Rest up because it will be a busy Fall...<br /><br />1) Attend Monday's (Oct 4th) <a href="http://alamedasun.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7606&Itemid=10">Alameda Mayoral Candidate Debate</a> (I don't know how all of this works but something tells me we need a Mayor that's going to start kicking some ass around here).<br /><br />2) Research why Measure E didn't pass, from what I've seen, the opposition had tons of valid points. Turns out they are eloquent like-minded Alamedans too.<br /><br />3) Decide your educated stance on this whole thing and then tell a neighbor. I don't like Measures either or the words "only way" but it sounds like unless Bill Gates decides to take Alameda under his wing, we need a Parcel Tax to avoid immediate doomsday scenarios and frankly, we don't have enough good Realtors for that option.<br /><br />4) Attend the next <a href="http://www.alameda.k12.ca.us/index.php/home/master-plan">Parcel Tax</a> public hearing (October 14th) - there are only two public meetings on this, then you can't whine that it's a terrible tax plan.<br /><br />5) Pay attention and vote in November 2nd election and please don't write in Mickey Mouse, doesn't help any of us.<br /><br />6) Attend <a href="http://www.alameda.k12.ca.us/index.php/home/master-plan">November 23rd Parcel Tax Public Hearing</a> meeting. Wait a minute, that's the day before Thanksgiving (and my lovely daughter's birthday). Seriously? Come on people. This is the last one before it goes to vote. Happy Birthday honey, we're off for a fun evening in your first civic lesson. Mama doesn't want you dating burly seniors at age 12.<br /><br />7) Join <a href="http://www.alamedasos.org/">AlamedaSOS.org</a> so you can help spread the word. They are not coming up with the Parcel Tax plan. They are just smart enough to think ahead and organize so they can help communicate the Measure so doomsday doesn't happen immediately.<br /><br />If you are opposed to Parcel Tax or thought it was poorly written, now is your chance to get a smart option in place. Don't just oppose it later because you're freaking Goldilocks and need the perfect option either. I don't want a stupid Measure that I pay into either but it's probably still cheaper than private school and if it comes to this, I'll just start shopping at the next town I move to which won't be yours. I'm starting to swear, that's a cue I need to go to bed.<br /><br />Good night whoever cares out there.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-59792772458913693592010-09-30T10:59:00.000-07:002010-09-30T11:12:33.524-07:00Alameda SOS Proposed Lawn Sign<a onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}" href="http://www.alamedasos.org/"><img style="float: left; margin: 0pt 10px 10px 0pt; cursor: pointer; width: 300px; height: 250px;" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_2K138v4t5a0/TKTSgOYAD9I/AAAAAAAAACs/TiUZJDKisOo/s320/alamedasos.gif" alt="AlamedaSOS lawn sign" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5522770494119481298" border="0" /></a><br />Wee, found my old blog site. Still seem to be completely apathetic. Life is too busy. But found a couple of new causes that is "stirring" me. So using my old platform for it.<br /><br />We live in Alameda (great, now my identity theft score is probably rising). Anyway, schools have no money and they are proposing shutting some down in a couple of years. The Measure that was meant to keep things alive did not pass over the summer and others are expiring. Not that I think those are the right answers but for what it's worth - it's really, really bad now. Did I mention we moved here because of the school? Did I mention we bought at the height of the market? Niiiice. It's a perfect town storm brewing.<br /><br />I'll post some content on this topic here later but image here is a tongue-in-cheek proposal of what our next lawn sign should be. Have to give credit to husband for funny idea. But his idea is to actually have most of Alameda put their houses up for sale for real to drive media attention. Hmmm....<br /><br />Read more about AlamedaSOS <a href="http://www.alamedasos.org/">here</a>.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-71138507619487541062010-02-04T11:13:00.000-08:002010-02-04T11:14:36.435-08:00Yup, another year, no postsYup, another year has past..no post...same ol' same ol..<br />Family growing up, life taking on new demands. Health care, Haiti, but for me, life is great... I'll find the time at least once this year to post a politubing blog. Or maybe in my 50's...<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-61149983375383699052009-01-17T00:14:00.000-08:002009-01-17T00:17:02.177-08:00Inauguration weekendOK, so I hadn't blogged for over a year... no excuses - just life. But the down-lo for what it's worth... I voted for Obama both in the primaries and in the election. The world is just horrible right now and I'm looking forward to next week. Let Obama be the answer to our prayers...(but I still like Mitt Romney.).<br /><br />Here's to 2009!<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-11607887692241908942007-04-25T11:32:00.000-07:002007-04-25T11:38:49.856-07:00Citizentube You Choose '08 - Politubing dream come trueMAN, I feel so out of touch. This has been around a while (a few weeks) but real-life duties were keeping me from highlighting this which is probably the quintessential politubing activity out there today.<br /><br />YouTube's <a href="http://www.youtube.com/user/citizentube">Citizentube </a>has launched a process by which they will highlight a presidential candidate for a week and you get to virtually townhall with the candidate. This just makes me giddy. Who knows, I may bust out of my shyness and make my own YouTube video finally. Check it out:<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/oBYdDZX5aoU' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/oBYdDZX5aoU'></embed></object></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-90659741616638896492007-04-25T10:04:00.000-07:002007-04-25T10:13:44.772-07:00Hillary Clinton - a mom's perspectiveFor those reading this <a href="http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/politubing">politubing</a> blog, you may have noticed that I had not yet blogged about a pretty obvious candidate - <a href="http://www.hillaryclinton.com/">Hillary Clinton</a>. I mean, she's a woman, I'm a woman; she's a mom, I'm a mom; she's a wife, I'm a wife; she's an ex-first lady and a senator, I'm, ummm, not. Anyway, you would think I would relate enormously to her right? Well not so fast... <br /><br />Let me start off by saying that the reason I haven't blogged in a couple of weeks was due to kids with stomach flus, spring breaks, work-related deadlines, and things like piles of laundry. Now I can imagine Senator Clinton is EXTREMELY intelligent, motivated and WAY more organized that I'll ever dream to be. But it's hard for me to relate to someone that can do so much and supposedly be on par with me. Now it may be that I have a 4 and a 1 yr old, a job, and a super motivated husband who can start his own company while still finish up his full-time UC Berkeley MBA (read "way too busy"). Maybe a few years from now when the kids are grown I'll have more time for grown-up type stuff. But right now my big plan for that time period is to sleep.<br /><br />Basically we’re not at the same level. Just because she is a woman, that’s not enough to win me over. I think all of the candidates are intellectually capable of understanding where I stand regardless of gender. Of course I would love to see a woman running things and would fully support that. But other than say childbirth (which in my opinion should not be a political issue), most of the political issues that are important to me I would say should be gender neutral. In my opinion, the focus of finding the best presidential candidate needs to be on figuring out who is the most competent, well-intentioned, common-sense type candidate. <br /><br />So wiping that slate clean, what is my take on Senator Clinton? My first reaction I would have to say is that she's a bit staged. Is that a problem or important? Maybe not, we can't all be Bill. Doing politubing due diligence I’ve checked out many of her <a href="http://www.youtube.com">YouTube</a> videos. She has the Hillcast videos. Normally I think this is a good approach, but frankly, I tuned out many of her Hillcast videos as they somehow seemed insincere. Maybe because the setting looks like a Phillips soft-light commercial. This notion of “keeping the conversation going”, c’mon- you’re in a mansion with a camera crew and speech writer. Now meet me at Starbucks and we then you can talk to me about keeping the conversation going. Just don’t call it what it’s not. This isn’t some kind of video conference thing. Jab aside, I am glad she’s in the Senate. She is truly a very smart woman with conviction and the means to get things done. That’s a good thing. My favorite Hillcast video is her video on getting troops out of Iraq (apparently others think so too, it’s her most viewed). So I don’t fully agree with all of her plans and actions, for example, I don’t think she should polarize the issue and say “All Democrats should ban together to force the president to change course…” (what about the Republicans). But in this video she’s not playing the female card and is discussing plans for a topic on which she has strong opinions. But in general, the Hillcast keep the conversation going videos, zzzzz. Take a look yourself.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/jAKQR86lUMY' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/jAKQR86lUMY'></embed></object></p></div><br /><br />Now watching the videos where she speaks to a crowd, those I felt myself more engaged. My favorite so far was the Rutgers University video. I think for Hillary these are the types of venues she has a better chance of shinning. Maybe not surprisingly I see a trend that her recent videos are more of this type and less “Hillcastish”. Now, I am always annoyed at watching politicans playing up their specific audience (the Red Hat Ladies video) but I fully understand you don’t win the Presidency by simply stating exactly what you believe, damn be all that don’t follow. So OK, I’ll tolerate. In the Rutgers video, Senator Clinton was her eloquent self and because it was set up to be a presentation in front of a crowd, it didn’t feel as contrived as the Hillcast videos. The part of about “Dare to Compete”, that was good. Unfortunately especially because she is a woman, I think she’s going to have to be very, very careful how she presents herself. But in my humble opinion, she needs to just be herself. Don’t overplay the woman/mom/wife card, just be yourself, pretend your gender doesn’t matter. Take a look at Rutgers…<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/mO5pyXuiwSc' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/mO5pyXuiwSc'></embed></object></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-20319030891842475862007-04-06T01:42:00.000-07:002007-04-06T02:07:19.722-07:00Election 2008 First Quarter Fundraising ResultsOK, so now I know why I was getting email bombarded by the Presidential 2008 hopefulls all last week (<a href="http://www.hillaryclinton.com/">Hillary Clinton</a> was on a ROLL!). The first quarter campaign finance deadline was looming and now their <a href="http://www.tubemogul.com">TubeMogul</a> viewership peak trend makes sense to me, duh...<br /><br />Now I can't find a cool politubing video explaining the results. If anyone has one, comment away. But this is my take:<br /><br /><blockquote><a href="http://www.hillaryclinton.com">Hillary Clinton </a>(What Hill?): $26 million<br /><a href="http://www.barackobama.com/">Barack Obama</a> (Barack oBAM!a): $25 million <br /><a href="http://www.mittromney.com">Mitt Romney</a> (Mitt I've-got-tons-of-roMONEY): $23 million<br /><a href="http://www.joinrudy2008.com">Rudy Giuliani</a> (Rudy apparently-not-enough-jewels-IANI): $15 million<br /><a href="http://www.johnedwards.com">John Edwards</a> (President McDreamy is just too fitting, isn't it?): $14+ million <br /><a href="http://www.johnmccain.com">John McCain</a> (John McCan't): $12.5<br /></blockquote><br /><br /><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com">The Washington Post</a> has a good article about these <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/04/AR2007040401707.html">campaign fundraising results</a>.<br /><br />I don't know why they need 20 gagillion dollars but if I were a betting lady (and I'm not, I always lose miserably), my money is on <a href="http://www.barackobama.com">Barack oBAMa</a> or <a href="http://www.mittromney.com">Mitt roMoney</a>. Now I am completely unqualified to pass judgment but out of curiosity I looked up who was essentially running <a href="http://www.johnmccain.com">John McCain's</a> campaign versus <a href="http://www.mittromney.com">Mitt Romney</a>. My intuition told me McCain is probably using old school political network methods, and Mitt Romney has whiz-bang kid. I mean, this is the founder of <a href="http://www.baincapital.com/">BainCapital</a>. Hello...he knows money, as my husband says "Why was it a surprise he could raise money?" <br /><br />Please, do not quote me but as I understand according to Chris Cilliza from the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com">Washington Post</a>, <a href=”http://blog.washingtonpost.com/thefix/2007/03/mccain_elevates_loeffler.html”> John McCain's campaign man is Tom Loeffler</a>. <br /><br />I don't know if they're the same role but one of Mitt Romney's main men is <a href="http://www.natmedia.com/about/castellanos.htm">Alex Castellanos</a>. Oh, and apparently the ivory tower word for these savants is <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consigliere">"consigliere"</a>. Doesn't that just mean "an advisor", why the heck don't they just call them advisors? They must get to wear special tights or a crown or something. <br /><br />Funny thing is I see Mr. Loeffler mentioned as a consigliere but Mr. Castellanos as I think a strategist. I also read and probably just juicy unfounded gossip that Romney's campaign wants to shy away from anything France-like as they will play the card that people like Hillary Clinton want us to just become a whiny socialist country like France (ca n'est pas possible) so maybe that's why Havana boy is media-guru and Loeffler is still a consiglieremajig.<br /><br />So the difference in the two:<br /><a href="http://www.loefflerllp.com/TLG/ourpeople_1.asp?id=57">Tom Loeffler</a>, an ex-Texas Congressman, a lawyer and lobbyist, and obviously politically tremendously well connected. Maybe he's not anymore after this week, who knows. I read this as “old school”. <br /><br /><a href="http://www.natmedia.com/about/castellanos.htm">Alex Castellanos</a> - Media mogul-type man. Not sure how to read this since he’s been the political go-to guy for many but sounds FLASHY to me.<br /><br />But way more interesting than Castellanos (for me at least) is Mitt Romney's apparent use of <a href="http://www.salesforce.com">SalesForce.com</a> for his campaign fundraising toolset:<br /><blockquote><p><a href="http://blogs.zdnet.com/BTL/?p=4783" rel="bookmark" title="Permalink"> Salesforce.com gets into politics</a> by <a href="http://zdnet.com">ZDNet</a>'s Dan Farber -- Mitt Romney’s Republican presidential campaign has raised about $20 million so far in 2007 with the help of “com-Mitt” software for interacting (fundraising) with donors. The activity is otherwise known as CRM, customer relationship management, and salesforce.com's on demand platform is the foundation of com-Mitt. Not one to miss a new, and timely, market opportunity, [...]</p></blockquote><br />Now THERE's a businessman for ya!<br /><br />Anyway, in my peace and love world, I would collect all the money that the candidates who don't stand a chance collected (<a href="http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2007/04/03/MNGTFP0JQD1.DTL">why on God's green earth did MORE candidates just make a bid for the presidency???</a> ), plus the extra gazillion these guys collected, and maybe help pay off our national debt, help our little planet with its fever-thing, make sure our kids don't come butt-last in all areas of education, or make a really pretty park somewhere.<br /><br />I'm probably not going to be anyone's consigliagagaga anytime soon…<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-2493525659062274532007-04-02T21:52:00.001-07:002007-04-03T01:37:27.409-07:00Al Gore 2008? HmmmSidetracking for a moment here. My husband mentioned that Al Gore just bought a Mercury Hybrid. I'm too tired to go verify it right now but he is usually right about these things. He also says the United Auto Workers (an apparent political force) don't tend to back a president that does not buy American. Hmmm, now that the Oscars are winding down, could the VP be looking for the P?<br /><br />Anyway, it's Monday, I needed levity, here's a fun Al Gore Global Warming spoof video I wanted to share. But for what it's worth, I really liked his Inconvenient Truth documentary...<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/gNrGhekg8GI' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/gNrGhekg8GI'></embed></object></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-47252898883897647522007-03-31T20:17:00.000-07:002007-03-31T21:19:30.526-07:00Presidential Candidates - 2008 "Final Four"Here is some analysis that's helping me narrow my March Madness Final Four, er, Six...<br /><br /><strong>TubeMogul Stats<br />Republican YouTube views March 2007</strong><br />(I know, numbers are hard to see, basically Romney was ahead and the total views of any given day of the three combined was around 9K - nothing to write home about I tell ya)<br /><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/Rg8p5QVIdJI/AAAAAAAAABE/xkUZdc8i5Vk/s1600-h/Republicans+March.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/Rg8p5QVIdJI/AAAAAAAAABE/xkUZdc8i5Vk/s400/Republicans+March.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048299770918499474" /></a><br /><br /><strong>TubeMogul Stats<br />Democrats YouTube views March 2007</strong><br />Barrack so out skews this graph it seems just plain silly. <a href="http://www.techpresident.com">TechPresident</a> had thought something was going crazy with his views so don't quote me on these...but if it's right, wow...<br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/Rg8qHwVIdKI/AAAAAAAAABM/Ntnolbsjj6c/s1600-h/Democrats+March.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/Rg8qHwVIdKI/AAAAAAAAABM/Ntnolbsjj6c/s400/Democrats+March.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048300020026602658" /></a><br /><br /><br />So I'm on the phone with my dad telling him I've started a blog (a "wha?"). Anyway, I tell him it's about watching online videos about the Presidential candidates. And he says, "You mean the 2008 election, you have a ways to go no?" Then I say, "Well, not really, you know how now you go into Target right after 4th of July and you start seeing Halloween stuff with the Christmas tree lights in the back? It's like that". I absolutely know where he's coming from but I have to tell you, it's way too late if you start thinking of this stuff by that time. You should basically be in your "Final Four" mode right now if you want to matter diddly squat. <br /><br />I'm in California and they moved the primaries to I think February. Here you also have to be registered for the party (as I remember) to even be able to vote for a candidate for that party. So I figure I have to do my homework, pick a candidate, register for that party so that I can even vote him/her to be a candidate and then maybe sit back and relax. Because at least in this state, as much as we would like to consider ourselves individuals, the Nov 2008 election, is not as critical the "before" stuff. This notion needs to be more publicized I think. People are just waiting before the final exam and frankly, it's usually too late. <br /><br />With that in mind, unless I see something just truly amusing, I'm going to stick to watching the top six candidates and what they have to say. No doubt someone is going to argue with me but really, cmon, I'll be the first to be seriously amused if this isn't the list (in no order): Dems: Clinton, Edwards, Obama. Reps: Giuliani, Romney, McCain. I'm just guessing of course. <br /><br />Fun little heavy hitters Republican vs Democrats comparison, Romney vs. Obama (it's not even fun watching this...). Now keep in mind, Romney has 66 videos posted as of today and Obama has 26.<br /><a href="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/Rg8qOwVIdLI/AAAAAAAAABU/lvPB5_IUUXA/s1600-h/Barrack+vs+Romney+March.png"><img style="cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp0.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/Rg8qOwVIdLI/AAAAAAAAABU/lvPB5_IUUXA/s320/Barrack+vs+Romney+March.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5048300140285686962" /></a><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-88871639555302957362007-03-31T19:47:00.001-07:002007-03-31T21:22:20.184-07:00Rudy Giuliani's "A Proven Record"<div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/B5oXeMgY5Is' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/B5oXeMgY5Is'></embed></object></p></div><br /><br />Here is the quintessential New Yorker, discussing his proven record. Now I liked Rudy (we're on a first name basis of course) during 9-11 and I've been to New York before and after Time Square was Disneyland and frankly I like Disneyland better than the scary ghetto drug thing it was way back before he was mayor. The very few New York friends I have did have positive things to say about Mayor Giuliani so right away, even though I'm a little leery of his ability to make good personal judgement calls, I'll keep watching. What I'll be watching for are signs of pig-headed stubbornness. That's my major beef with our current President (and I voted Republican plenty of times so back off, I'm still very much a down-the-middle person). I can appreciate someone following their conviction, but sometimes your conviction may have drank someone else's Kool-aid a little too hard and it's OK to take a step back and hear what everyone else has to say. <br /><br />I don't think you can be President if you're not first of all, absolutely a Type A, and secondly, somewhat enchanted by the personal fame. And that's totally OK. But I'll want a President that has enough Type A in them to get the job done, but not so enthralled with himself that he forgets who his/her boss is (we may be tiny but we're many damnit!).<br /><br />So Mr. Mayor Rudy Giuliani, the way I "saw'r" it, keep it real, take it down a notch on some issues, and keep making me believe you'll do a better job running our country that some of your personal affairs and I'll keep watching.<br /><br />This was a good politubing video in my opinion. Got his points across, not overedited, not politube contrived, and for whatever it's worth, he may be a good spokesperson, but he made me believe him. So I'll say thumbs up.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-36652050267075634582007-03-30T10:44:00.000-07:002007-03-30T15:03:49.417-07:00ParkRidge47 explains "Vote Different" adTwo great videos explaining how ParkRidge47 (a.k.a. Phil de Vellis - my very first blog post, awww) happened. Truly, truly fascinating. I wrote Phil telling him he seriously left a legacy. Sure, things like this may be fleeting, but he will no doubt be referenced for a very long time I predict. I also told him he was like the Kevin Bacon of politubing. For anyone involved in politubing or its outskirts, you'll figure out what degree you are away from him. Hmm, I'm going to look him up in <a href="http://www.linkedin.com">LinkedIn</a>, this just keeps getting more fun.<br /><br />ParkRidge47 explains "Vote Different" ad:<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/UtgfYMDHJfs' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/UtgfYMDHJfs'></embed></object></p></div><br /><br />YouTube's news and politics editor Steve Grove interviews Phil de Vellis on the making of "Vote Different"<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/HWH7hB57aSk' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/HWH7hB57aSk'></embed></object></p></div><br /><br /><br />What he says about politubing's affect on the political homefront, it's like I'm talking. When my (very smart already by the way) 4 year old gets to be of voting age, there will be no townhalls. She'll just make a 2 minute video of what she fervently believes in and why, and I will expect that she also provides thoughtful consideration on how it could be solved (otherwise it's just whining) and the candidates will be having to schedule time to watch the million videos the citizen's create so they truly get to know what is important to the country and some really good ideas on how to solve things. THAT would be cool.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-83063983249729455722007-03-28T12:48:00.000-07:002007-03-28T12:49:47.687-07:00TubeMogul John Edward's Stats<a href="http://www.tubemogul.com"><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/RgquxgVIdDI/AAAAAAAAAAU/TPaRr21B5ac/s1600-h/John+Edwards+Stats.png"><img style="display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/RgquxgVIdDI/AAAAAAAAAAU/TPaRr21B5ac/s400/John+Edwards+Stats.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047038497937454130" /></a></a><br />This is a screen capture of <a href="http://www.tubemogul.com">TubeMogul</a> stats for John Edward's YouTube videos. I don't know but my point about the news conference being "big" is spot on (OK, so it didn't take rocket science to figure that out).<br /><br />If you are into the YouTube, MySpace, Revver, video "thing", you should know TubeMogul. You sign up, it's free, and tada, you get really, really cool charts and info. You can compare across videos, publishers and sites. I just started tracking the candidate's YouTube video viewership so I'll try to remember to keep posting some interesting info...<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-28826662829093926842007-03-28T12:34:00.000-07:002007-03-28T12:41:36.140-07:00ExpertVoter Candidate Issues Chart - Way Cool<a href="http://www.expertvoter.org"><a href="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/RgrEXwVIdEI/AAAAAAAAAAc/6WPj9OeWPYs/s1600-h/ExpertVoter+Chart.png"><img style="float:right; margin:0 0 10px 10px;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp3.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/RgrEXwVIdEI/AAAAAAAAAAc/6WPj9OeWPYs/s320/ExpertVoter+Chart.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5047062244811633730" /></a></a><br />Now here's some politubing at it's finest. <a href="http://www.expertvoter.org">ExpertVoter.org </a> lays out YouTube videos in a chart that list specific topics. How cool is that!? For me it's perfect, I don't necessarily care about all of their views on every topic. So being able to easily scan what's important for me and click what they have to say!! Niiiiiice. OK, I wouldn't be a girl if I didn't comment on their colors though. A little jarring, a more subdued professional choice and this site is on to something.. Check it out:<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-58512755122055103042007-03-28T10:43:00.000-07:002007-03-28T10:50:13.194-07:00OnlineMaven talks politubingI don't know OnlineMaven guy but I just happened to watch this video which I very much agree with in regards to politicians needing to build some "politubing" savoir-faire when it comes to posting their campaign videos to real people TV (YouTube, etc.). Who knows, maybe Hillary Clinton's campaign will watch and take note of the tips from the commoners...<br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/0DXU5tC4FoE' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/0DXU5tC4FoE'></embed></object></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-16960820443546638692007-03-26T00:29:00.000-07:002007-03-26T00:32:23.562-07:00Mitt Romney - prolific polituber but needs substanceDecided I needed to branch out and take a peek at some of the heavy hitters out there so let’s pick on Mitt Romney this time. What do I know about him? Let's see,... I know he led the Salt Lake City Olympics and I heard that they were the first well-run, I think even profitable Olympics we've ever had - a definite plus in my book. I remember seeing him during the ceremonies and thinking he was a poised, intelligent and stately man – also a plus. I like the idea of a savvy poised businessman running our country. Our country should be run like a well-oiled machine. I’m not here to Bush-bash at all but compare Romney against Bush from a “poised” perspective, well, you can just see the visual.<br /><br />I just took a very quick peek at his YouTube video repertoire since it seemed pretty "prolific". He has 65 videos posted to his official YouTube campaign site. Now keep in mind that YouTube heavy-hitter Obama has 24. Given that there is no way I'm going to sift through 65 videos, I clicked around and found that a mighty large portion of them are I'm guessing politicians doing the Mitt Romney love-fest thing. That's all well and good but unless I'm having these guys over for Sunday dinner, I'm not just going to assume if they think he's great so should I. He also has a good chunk of videos from his vast array of news interviews he's done (many from Fox which unfortunately is a bit of a minus for me since they tend to be a little on the "dramatic" side).<br /><br />Again, I know nothing about how this should get done but speaking from the gut, instead of blasting all of these videos out there (many hardly get any views at all, somebody this famous should be getting some VIEWS no?), wouldn't it be somehow refreshing if one day while he's in his little flannel button-down PJ's and a cup of coffee, he gets on his laptop with his built-in Web Cam and just says, "Hey America, this is my take on such and such". Just a little heart-to-heart with some real substance. So OK, realistically, maybe not exactly this scenario, not sure if I want footage of our future president in his PJ's at the next World Summit of course, but you get the idea.<br /><br />Take this video for example. This is one of his official YouTube videos and it seems to be one of his most viewed, that's not saying it's the best, most popular etc. But whatever, I'm guessing one of the reasons for the viewership is that it's not just a CNN interview news replay or one of his cronies asking us to vote for him. It's his response to a dicey situation when an ancient video of a debate with Ted Kennedy he had 13 years ago surfaced. Now I don’t actually agree with some (most) of his beliefs that he covers. But what I could appreciate was his candid and brave response to some truly SAUCY issues.<br /><br />So maybe next time, loose the 1980’s phone, get a headset, and every once in a while, take a peek at the “Web cam” and let us feel you’re reaching us (but um, maybe next time pick some slightly less salty topics too. I know they’re important, but to me Presidents are here to run our complex country and properly represent our global leadership role, we’ll take care of the nuclear family on our own thank you, just please trust us …).<br /><br />Here, what do you think?<br /><br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/eYXV9SbyKLo' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/eYXV9SbyKLo'></embed></object></p></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-55367575632919091912007-03-24T23:25:00.000-07:002007-03-31T22:00:42.155-07:00Hunter, ummm why are you bothering?Newbie girl here again to talk about a topic that has always plagued me but I've always been too apathetic. But as I've said, this time, I'm trying to care since now I see it probably is important and I've got some kids to think about. Let's talk about these Presidential 08 hopefuls. Off the top of my head without researching and if Jay Leno were to ask Joe Smith off the streets the same question, I'm guessing they'd come up with the same answers. So there's Obama, Clinton, Guliani, Edwards, Romney, McCain, I know there are more but couldn't tell ya who they were. Now let me check the list.... HEY, I'm pretty good! They are all hopefuls, I think I misspelled Giuliani, sorry. <br /><br />Ok, so my topic... now I realize we're way ahead of the real campaign yada yada but my message to, wait, let me go look up their names.... OK, let me pick on Hunter, my message to you is, umm, why are you bothering? Who are you playing golf with that is still funding your campaign? And I'm guessing there are still many, many more genuinely hopeful Presidents out there. But just picking on unfortunately Hunter, who I'm sure he's a fine fellow, is it that you want to be President next go around and you need your name in now? Let me show you guys a politubing stat from <a href="http://www.techpresident.com/">techPresident.com</a>:<br /><br /><a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/RgYjTAZCtVI/AAAAAAAAAAM/mxagyUDchGs/s1600-h/political+you+tube+views.png"><img style="float:left; margin:0 10px 10px 0;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_2K138v4t5a0/RgYjTAZCtVI/AAAAAAAAAAM/mxagyUDchGs/s320/political+you+tube+views.png" border="0" alt=""id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5045759241944741202" /></a><br />Already the "top" names are so beyond their league it's not even funny. And there are many, many, many "top" names actually. More than I would have ever known to blurt out. At the point where Mickey Mouse starts having a better chance of being a write-in candidate, don't you just say, "Well, that was fun, but now back to work..". <br /><br />Oh, I just saw one of Hunter's videos. I'll post if for you politubers, it's a classic - "VOTE FOR ME, I'll make sure we build us a GREAT BIG OL' WALL smack dab in the middle of Mexico and the US. Just think, it will be so grand, you'll be able to see it aaaaallll the way from the heavens. Now there's a legacy I want to leave my grandbabies with!" <br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/hNGCZ2LoYhU' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/hNGCZ2LoYhU'></embed></object></p></div><br />Oh man, now I know why he's in the dust. A wall? You post a low-resolution video of yourself pounding your chest about a wall that will be an ugly scar in the face of American History? <br /><br />I just don't get it, do you?<br /><br />Ok, well, at least I can say this is getting easier for me. I don't think Hunter would have my vote. <br /><br />Hey! This politubing thing just makes it so much easier for me, I don't have to get epileptic attacks watching multi-screens and fly screen-thingy's on any of the news channels.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-89450994006252873472007-03-22T23:26:00.000-07:002007-03-26T00:43:53.934-07:00President McDreamy's Cancer News ConferenceJust thought of a funny skit John Stewart from The Daily Show should do. It's horribly crass since it is based on John and Elizabeth Edwards' announcement today about her cancer. Probably too touchy of a subject buuut well, couldn't resist.<br /><br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/xWLHYQp0VFY' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/xWLHYQp0VFY'></embed></object></p><p><em>John Edwards News Conference regarding Elizabeth's Cancer</em></p></div><br />I lost my mom to cancer as a young teen, went through four years of remission roller coaster hell and unfortunately things did not work out. So yes, truly, my heart goes out to the family. It's certainly a defining moment in their lives and I can only sincerely wish them the best. <br /><br />I'm one of those wishy-washy middle America mom's that is both a Republican and a Democrat. Yes let's take care of our kids and the sick but let me keep my money thank you very much. So I truly don't have a strong opinion on which candidate I would vote for at this point. But today's press conference called by the John Edwards campaign on Wednesday night mindyou... well, let's just say it left a decent amount of suspicion in me on their handling of this topic. <br /><br />I'm trying to go through their thought process... She goes in Monday morning with a suspicious pain, gets scared to death, summons John home, they go through the necessary test, get them back UNBELIEVABLY FAST by the way (not that this is suspicious, just funny, I'm still waiting for some lab results taken 3 weeks ago...) find out that though things are not necessarily good, they could be worse... "HEY, I have an idea, let's call a press party together, invite our zillion friends over and announce this to the world! That's a fine idea indeed." <br /><br />I don't know, me... I would have taken say, the WEEKEND at least to simmer on things see how it pans out... Maybe send a press release about it, no doubt the media would have still picked up the story and it would have done them just as good, but a major news conference!? Somehow, it didn't seem like the appropriate and discreet venue for this. <br /><br />Somewhere though, some Desperate Housewife in middle America (I can say this, because I'm one of them, kinda...) is swooning over President McDreamy and his pure adoration for his lovely wife. She's probably thinking (in a Southern drawl - I can say that too, I'm from Texas)... "That's just so special. Isn't he just pure and good? Look at him, so strong and normal and white , a real man I tell ya... kinda cute too, tee hee. That Chapel Hill story of their wedding reception (birds chirp), I can just picture it now, lovely white dress, little children running around, they really are strong people aren't they? Sigh....Well I'll tell you Freda, they sure got my vote!". <br /><br />Edwards is then (with a reeeeeallly heavy drawl now) "Well if we can't be strong through what life brings us, than we couldn't be President now could we? So uh, we'll get through this folks and oh, while I have ya'll here - Vote for me! Thank you..." <br /><br />I don't know, it seemed sensational-milking to me. He lost some street cred in my book.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8914414809835596802.post-67072829700821910772007-03-22T23:06:00.001-07:002007-03-26T00:45:16.577-07:00Unveiling the father of politubers - Vote Different videoWell the guy who will no doubt be named the father of "politubers" has been unveiled (term coined by <a href="http://www.tubemogul.com">TubeMogul</a>). "Phil" from <a href="http://www.bluestatedigital.com">Blue State Digital</a> created a very cool YouTube video in wich he did a mash-up of a 1984 Apple ad and Hillary Clinton with Obama as the go-to guy. <br /><div xmlns='http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml'><p><object height='350' width='425'><param value='http://youtube.com/v/6h3G-lMZxjo' name='movie'></param><embed height='350' width='425' type='application/x-shockwave-flash' src='http://youtube.com/v/6h3G-lMZxjo'></embed></object></p><p><em>Hillary 1984 Video</em></p></div><br />He did this on a Sunday from his home (read "watch out big ad agencies who charge the big bucks for these things). Blue State Digital is responsible for creating the Obama 08 web site I believe. He didn't mean to represent his company but that's a side point (he got fired from there because of this). <br /><br />What we should all be reading from this is what the Internet has provided for the people. Joe Shmo really can influence now. Probably not for too long, Darwinism has a way of working its way into these things but for now, "Politubing" has exploded. Right now it's uncharted, feisty, frivolous, sometimes ridiculous, usually entertaining, chaotic and fun. Just like the wild west should be. YouTube viewership for Obama official video campaign has registered over 1 million views. Will YouTube be so influential as deciding who the next President will be? Crazy. Rest assured, by the next presidential campaign, politubing will become an art mastered by the few. So for now, let the people decide what the course of this chaos should be.<div class="blogger-post-footer">Revealing the art and power of using online videos for political campaigns</div>Marisa Meneely Wilsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07505876434615921389noreply@blogger.com0