Blake's Think Tank

Mickey Kaus announced that he would challenge California Sen. Barbara Boxer in the Democratic Primary. Mr. Kaus is a blogger for Slate, and a quite famous one. His decision sparked an interesting question in the blogosphere about the bloggers turned candidates (this is not be confused with blogging politicians, in many instances a dreadful experience for the reader).

Ross Douthat of The New York Times likes the idea.

So let’s have more of it! Let a thousand Kauses bloom! Come what may, there will always be a vast divide between the average wonk and the average politician — between people in the business of dreaming up ideas, and people in the business of winning elections. But our politics would be better off if there were a little more overlap between the two categories as well.

Andrew Sullivan of The Atlantic points out a contrarian view on his blog.

It seems to me that the chief barrier to bloggers getting elected to public office isn’t so much their typically introverted personalities or lack of access to money but the mere fact that we’ve accumulated a long paper (pixel?) trail of recording every fool thought that’s passed through our minds over the last several years. Even bright, thoughtful, decent types like Douthat and Klein — and Lord knows, Kaus and Joyner — have written things that would kill a campaign dead, dead, dead if it showed up in an attack ad.

I’ve always loved the idea of serious public personalities running for office whether that be Daniel Patrick Moynihan on the left or William F. Buckley on the right (both ran, one succeeded). I think they make campaigns interesting.

I wasn’t alive in 1965, but reading this piece on the mayoral election in New York makes me wish I was. In that race, Mr. Buckley drew comparisons to the writer Oscar Wilde and the stand-up comedian Mort Sahl. A public intellectual who founded a conservative magazine, National Review, his candidacy was a long-shot from the beginning. But as Mr. Douthat notes, “a pundit or public intellectual doesn’t have to actually win a bid for office to have a healthy effect on a political ecosystem.”

Political consultants are scared to death of blogs and Twitter feeds as much as they are of voting records, which is why most that I’ve talked to over the years discourage anyone desiring a run for office from doing anything lasting, like blasting away on social media Web sites. This is why the counterpoint above has practical merit.

Still, I like where conservative Jonah Golberg came down on the Kaus candidacy.

Obviously, I’d prefer a strong conservative Republican over a moderate liberal Democrat as the next senator from California. But Mickey Kaus would provide the sort of iconoclasm the Democratic party desperately needs, particularly in California. If more Democrats were as empirical and tough-minded as Mickey, the country and the state would be in a lot better shape.

How would he be able to render that opinion without a lengthy public record on which to rely?

Here’s a fascinating take from the company that served as the digital consultant for Massachusetts senate candidate Scott Brown about their online grassroots campaign strategy. His campaign, like Barack Obama’s before it, provide candidates now and in the future with a wealth of strategic thinking to help their campaigns . . . if they’re willing to see the opportunity (still a BIG if in Arkansas).

Here are some lessons learned from the Brown campaign:

• Put someone in charge of social media immediately.
• Invest time and money online even when the results are few and far between.
• Respect the “Web guy.”
• Understand that social media is meant to be SOCIAL. Don’t use Twitter and Facebook just to post news releases.
• Create a lot of content, particularly video, and feature it prominently on the campaign Web site.
• Understand your audience and give them options to participate that are relevant to them. The Brown campaign instituted a “call from home” program, for example.

If you’re still one of the few that don’t believe that these types of investments make a difference, compare Mr. Brown’s efforts to Martha Coakley’s. Her online effort was horrible all the way down to her pointless Twitter stream and stagnant Facebook effort.