If you are from the Gulf Coast, the other guy running for lieutenant governor in the Republican primary is Tate Reeves. As I mentioned in an earlier entry, Tate is the state treasurer, a low profile office even if it is a state elected office. For the Coast, he is the other candidate because five-term State Sen. Billy Hewes of Gulfport also is running. At last reading, however, Reeves was ahead in the polls with Hewes gaining.
I wouldn't put much faith in the latest poll because it is only a snapshot, and the primary is in August -- more than four months away, which is an eternity in a close political race. Since the race is so close, the internet is likely to play a role in the outcome.
As we have seen already, Billy Hewes is pretty active on the internet. Tate is pretty active as well.
He has everything linked. He has a page on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/user/friendsoftatereeves with all of his campaign videos and interviews posted. He has a Flickr site http://www.flickr.com/photos/tatereeves/ with 17 pages from all of his campaign stops. The 17 pages tell you that he has been all over the state. It in fact buries you with that fact.
I find his website a little too hard sell. The first thing you see is a big picture of Tate that changes and http://www.tatereeves.com/ banners that change, screaming for visitors to get involved in the campaign -- contribute, volunteer, support on line. I prefer a gentler sell. Tell me who you are, first. Tell me what you are about. Tell me what issues are important to you. Tell me your stands. He does these things, but you have to look for them. They aren't hard to find, but you have to look for them, and they aren't the first thing you see.
His Twitter site, http://twitter.com/#!/tatereeves , is a lot like most of the others -- I am here today; We had a great time in Oxford; etc. He also links to stories about him in state media. But he doesn't seem to have a lot of chatter on twitter. He has no hashtag that I could find and not many comments under his name.
His Facebook site http://www.facebook.com/?ref=home# is clearly his most interesting. For the most part, his entries are standard stuff -- thanks from supporters, bits about campaign stops, links to other media about some appearance and links to his other sites, but he does seem to engage more than the other candidates I have seen. He missed a perfect opportunity to take a stand on education, but he didn't respond to the guy's question. However, in one of the more interesting exchanges I have seen in this internet politics Mississippi-style, one of his supporters responded to a criticism/challenge. The guy with the question/comment seemed to be from the lunatic fringe, but someone for Tate stood up. I was impressed. It tells me that he has passionate followers.
We will keep following to see if that observation is close to the mark. Don't look now, but Mr. Reeves may be building a formidable internet presence. I will check back with Billy Hewes to see if he is keeping up, but he better be. This race could get interesting by August, and we have a ringside seat right here on the internet.
Like I said before, this lieutenant governor's race could be the most interesting of the year.
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Sunday, April 17, 2011
Wherefore Art Thou Connie?
I am taking a look at Connie Moran's presence on the internet today. Connie is the two-term Ocean Springs mayor and Democratic candidate for state treasurer. I am making this entry in response to a friend of mine, who messaged me on Facebook. My friend said, "[Connie] said she wanted to use social media in a big way." Connie apparently hasn't figured it out yet.
She has no Democratic opponents, so she won't face a test until November, which is a good thing because she has very little presence on the internet that I have been able to find.
The only Facebook page that I could find of her was a personal Facebook page -- no asking for volunteers, no asking for money, no opportunity to get involved. The only mention of any candidacy is in the small print under, "About Connie: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1395451067 Her Facebook page reads like a personal page, not even any notice of appearances.
The only website that I have been able to find on Connie a city of Ocean Springs website with a picture and bio because she is mayor.
At first I didn't think she had a Twitter account, but then I noticed it -- with no photo and only one tweet. It apparently is a "I'm learning how to twitter" account. http://twitter.com/#!/Csmoran378
In short, Connie has a looooooong way to go. She is a bright woman, but she doesn't seem to have a clue about social media. Even Phil Bryant has a clue.
She has no Democratic opponents, so she won't face a test until November, which is a good thing because she has very little presence on the internet that I have been able to find.
The only Facebook page that I could find of her was a personal Facebook page -- no asking for volunteers, no asking for money, no opportunity to get involved. The only mention of any candidacy is in the small print under, "About Connie: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/profile.php?id=1395451067 Her Facebook page reads like a personal page, not even any notice of appearances.
The only website that I have been able to find on Connie a city of Ocean Springs website with a picture and bio because she is mayor.
At first I didn't think she had a Twitter account, but then I noticed it -- with no photo and only one tweet. It apparently is a "I'm learning how to twitter" account. http://twitter.com/#!/Csmoran378
In short, Connie has a looooooong way to go. She is a bright woman, but she doesn't seem to have a clue about social media. Even Phil Bryant has a clue.
Tuesday, April 12, 2011
Billy Hewes is on Track
Tonight we take a first look at the lieutenant governor race in Mississippi, specifically, State Sen. Billy Hewes' campaign.
The Republican nominee will probably be lieutenant governor because no one is running as a Democrat. Sid Salter, probably the most authoritative political columnist in the state now, says the lieutenant governor race is the one to watch. http://bit.ly/hjGiUl
The race is between State Treasurer Tate Reeves and State Sen. Billy Hewes from Harrison County. As you saw from Sid's column if you read it, Reeves is a little ahead in the polls, but Hewes is catching up. They have four months, which is a very long time in a political race.
It looks like it will be a pretty close race. Reeves is a two-term statewide elected official, but state treasurer is a pretty low profile office. I expect most voters couldn't name any of the last five state treasurers, and I expect that the only way voters know Reeves is the treasurer is because he is running for lieutenant governor. That said, he has run two statewide campaigns, and he has to be connected to the Republican Party. He also probably doesn't have much political baggage that turns off voters.
Billy Hewes is a five-term (20 years) state senator. He hasn't run for statewide office, but he has been in Jackson for those 20 years. He is presently serving in the senior senate leadership role, President Pro Tempore. He also has a couple of marks against him. First, he is from the Coast. Coast politicians are notoriously unsuccessful statewide, way out of proportion with our population. I don't know if it is a bias or if they just can't get their stuff together enough. I just know its true. Steve Simpson, another Coast product, is starting to have a rocky time in his race for attorney general. More on that some other time.
The second thing Billy Hewes has to overcome is his political baggage. You don't serve in the state Legislature for 20 years without making somebody mad, unless you are asleep. While Billy may not have been the chair of one of the high profile committees, he has not been asleep. Agree with him or not, he has answered the roll, and he seems to have gotten bolder in his last three or so terms. He also is a strong ally of Phil Bryant. I think he got the Pro Tempore job because of Phil, so he may have some baggage from his association with Phil's positions. But don't count out Billy Hewes.
So how is he using the internet?
My first observation is that Billy Hewes gets the fact that the internet and social media are about connecting with people. We will see if we can say the same thing about Tate Reeves next time. I didn't find any candidate-sponsored blogs, but they are both on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube.
Billy Hewes put his campaign commercial on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01xesnnbKls. I figure he is trying to create buzz with it because it doesn't say anything except he is running for lieutenant governor, he wants to create jobs, he has a family and he drives a van. He comes across as likeable. But he doesn't have much substance there. He also doesn't have much buzz. The video has had 14 views with no likes or dislikes -- no buzz there.
But Billy really seems to get what is going on on the internet and in social media. He had a streaming video link from the MSU political forum on his Facebook and Twitter pages, and he has a link on his Facebook page of the recorded session for people who missed it ( got plans for Saturday night?). He may not have hit a homer with his YouTube offering, but he apparently understands enough to know that he has to give it a shot. Face it, politics isn't sexy.
His web site http://billyhewes.com/ doesn't bombard you with offers to register and donate. His family seems his biggest selling point, and he includes them in everything he puts on the web. The Facebook page looks like a regular Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/cabrunsman#!/pages/Billy-Hewes/177096772324929 . And like the political Facebook pages we have seen, it is heavy with supporters. In fact, I didn't see a negative comment or a question about a position. But he is engaging with -- conversing with -- the people that post, a sign to me that he is on top of social media.
I will be interested to see how he may handle challenges or position questions. I saw his reaction to a challenge a long time ago about funding education, and it cost him a vote -- for life. It will be intersting to see if he has learned any lessons.
He seems to use Twitter for campaign announcements, http://twitter.com/#!/BillyHewes . He put the link to the candidate forum at Mississippi State on his page, and he had a link to his campaign announcement on YouTube, but the video is no longer at the link. And he hasn't been taking any negative hits on Twitter, which may be a sign that people don't know him enough to have any strong negative opinions about him.
Bottom line: Billy Hewes, at least so far, seems to be doing everything right on the internet. I think this could be anybody's race, and I think the internet side of things could play a big role. Billy just hasn't found the magic formula yet to make it take off. Stand by.
The Republican nominee will probably be lieutenant governor because no one is running as a Democrat. Sid Salter, probably the most authoritative political columnist in the state now, says the lieutenant governor race is the one to watch. http://bit.ly/hjGiUl
The race is between State Treasurer Tate Reeves and State Sen. Billy Hewes from Harrison County. As you saw from Sid's column if you read it, Reeves is a little ahead in the polls, but Hewes is catching up. They have four months, which is a very long time in a political race.
It looks like it will be a pretty close race. Reeves is a two-term statewide elected official, but state treasurer is a pretty low profile office. I expect most voters couldn't name any of the last five state treasurers, and I expect that the only way voters know Reeves is the treasurer is because he is running for lieutenant governor. That said, he has run two statewide campaigns, and he has to be connected to the Republican Party. He also probably doesn't have much political baggage that turns off voters.
Billy Hewes is a five-term (20 years) state senator. He hasn't run for statewide office, but he has been in Jackson for those 20 years. He is presently serving in the senior senate leadership role, President Pro Tempore. He also has a couple of marks against him. First, he is from the Coast. Coast politicians are notoriously unsuccessful statewide, way out of proportion with our population. I don't know if it is a bias or if they just can't get their stuff together enough. I just know its true. Steve Simpson, another Coast product, is starting to have a rocky time in his race for attorney general. More on that some other time.
The second thing Billy Hewes has to overcome is his political baggage. You don't serve in the state Legislature for 20 years without making somebody mad, unless you are asleep. While Billy may not have been the chair of one of the high profile committees, he has not been asleep. Agree with him or not, he has answered the roll, and he seems to have gotten bolder in his last three or so terms. He also is a strong ally of Phil Bryant. I think he got the Pro Tempore job because of Phil, so he may have some baggage from his association with Phil's positions. But don't count out Billy Hewes.
So how is he using the internet?
My first observation is that Billy Hewes gets the fact that the internet and social media are about connecting with people. We will see if we can say the same thing about Tate Reeves next time. I didn't find any candidate-sponsored blogs, but they are both on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube.
Billy Hewes put his campaign commercial on YouTube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01xesnnbKls. I figure he is trying to create buzz with it because it doesn't say anything except he is running for lieutenant governor, he wants to create jobs, he has a family and he drives a van. He comes across as likeable. But he doesn't have much substance there. He also doesn't have much buzz. The video has had 14 views with no likes or dislikes -- no buzz there.
But Billy really seems to get what is going on on the internet and in social media. He had a streaming video link from the MSU political forum on his Facebook and Twitter pages, and he has a link on his Facebook page of the recorded session for people who missed it ( got plans for Saturday night?). He may not have hit a homer with his YouTube offering, but he apparently understands enough to know that he has to give it a shot. Face it, politics isn't sexy.
His web site http://billyhewes.com/ doesn't bombard you with offers to register and donate. His family seems his biggest selling point, and he includes them in everything he puts on the web. The Facebook page looks like a regular Facebook page.
http://www.facebook.com/cabrunsman#!/pages/Billy-Hewes/177096772324929 . And like the political Facebook pages we have seen, it is heavy with supporters. In fact, I didn't see a negative comment or a question about a position. But he is engaging with -- conversing with -- the people that post, a sign to me that he is on top of social media.
I will be interested to see how he may handle challenges or position questions. I saw his reaction to a challenge a long time ago about funding education, and it cost him a vote -- for life. It will be intersting to see if he has learned any lessons.
He seems to use Twitter for campaign announcements, http://twitter.com/#!/BillyHewes . He put the link to the candidate forum at Mississippi State on his page, and he had a link to his campaign announcement on YouTube, but the video is no longer at the link. And he hasn't been taking any negative hits on Twitter, which may be a sign that people don't know him enough to have any strong negative opinions about him.
Bottom line: Billy Hewes, at least so far, seems to be doing everything right on the internet. I think this could be anybody's race, and I think the internet side of things could play a big role. Billy just hasn't found the magic formula yet to make it take off. Stand by.
Saturday, April 2, 2011
How do you create buzz!!??
I still want to talk about the Republican lieutenant governor's race, but first I want to talk about something that has been eating at me -- how do you create buzz? I guess everyone wants to know that, but it seems particularly important to political neophytes trying to generate some excitement about their campaigns.
The less well known you are and the less political experience you have, the more you need buzz, which brings us back to the Republic governor's race in Mississippi. I pick the Republican governor's race because it is interesting on a couple of different levels.
The acknowledged front-runner, Lt.Gov. Phil Bryant, is a veteran of three state-wide campaigns and a number of local ones. He knows the Republican party from the inside. He knows the people. He knows all the stuff that experienced politicians know because they learned their lessons running for office and working with the state and local parties. Phil is the only Republican running for governor with statewide campaign experience.
His chief opponent -- although not his only opponent -- is Dave Dennis. I included this website if you want to see all of the Republican candidates http://www.politics1.com/ms.htm. Dave is a businessman from the Coast with no experience as a political candidate. In addition, he and his wife grew up in Alabama, and they are graduates of Auburn University, which is located in Alabama. I mention these to show that he doesn't have those home grown networks that most successful statewide politicians have in Mississippi. The Coast may as well be Texas or even "somewhere up North" in the eyes of the rest state. Dave has been a successful businessman and well connected with the Republican Party, but he has to overcome that "outsider and from the Coast" label first.
It is not impossible. Kirk Fordice was a native of Memphis and was educated at Purdue, but he defeated a sitting Democratic governor when being a Democrat in Mississippi was worth something.
What does all this have to do with internet pr? If Dave is going to catch Phil Bryant, he is going to have to create some buzz. Dave's good news is that he has a pretty good presence on the internet, and he is in a good position to take advantage if he can make something happen. In addition, Phil seems to have only an obligatory presence on the web. He seems to have relinquished those voters and those venues to Dave. The bad news -- for Dave, at least -- is that Dave doesn't appear to have figured out how best to use the internet and/or he doesn't have anyone on his campaign staff saavy enough or creative enough to take advantage of Phil's absence in social media and to come up with some creative internet pr idea, aka the escaped cobra in New York.
So what is Dave not doing on the internet that he should? He is not addressing questions. He seems only to be announcing events/appearances in his campaign on Twitter and Facebook, and he seems to be speaking only to people who already like him and already are supporting him. Look at his Twitter postings. http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23dd4g On the Facebook page, a young African American preacher asked about Dave's stand on education. No response. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/DaveDennisForGovernor?sk=wall. That doesn't give voters a reason to follow Dave instead of Phil. It doesn't give the state's African Americans a reason to move to the Republican Party. It may be only one item, but people notice. I did.
Of course, Phil doesn't respond to questions, either, although he has a Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/DaveDennisForGovernor?sk=wall#!/pages/Phil-Bryant/149191811767085?sk=wall He also has taken heat on Twitter and in blogs on his stands, which I have not seen him answer. But as I said, Phil has already surrendered most of the internet to Dave, and he is the front runner.
Dave needs buzz, and I don't think he is going to get any until he understands that social media is about dialog and connections.
Phil apparently doesn't care. Dave apparently doesn't understand. I think it is worse for Dave because Dave can't afford to misunderstand anything. What do you think?
The less well known you are and the less political experience you have, the more you need buzz, which brings us back to the Republic governor's race in Mississippi. I pick the Republican governor's race because it is interesting on a couple of different levels.
The acknowledged front-runner, Lt.Gov. Phil Bryant, is a veteran of three state-wide campaigns and a number of local ones. He knows the Republican party from the inside. He knows the people. He knows all the stuff that experienced politicians know because they learned their lessons running for office and working with the state and local parties. Phil is the only Republican running for governor with statewide campaign experience.
His chief opponent -- although not his only opponent -- is Dave Dennis. I included this website if you want to see all of the Republican candidates http://www.politics1.com/ms.htm. Dave is a businessman from the Coast with no experience as a political candidate. In addition, he and his wife grew up in Alabama, and they are graduates of Auburn University, which is located in Alabama. I mention these to show that he doesn't have those home grown networks that most successful statewide politicians have in Mississippi. The Coast may as well be Texas or even "somewhere up North" in the eyes of the rest state. Dave has been a successful businessman and well connected with the Republican Party, but he has to overcome that "outsider and from the Coast" label first.
It is not impossible. Kirk Fordice was a native of Memphis and was educated at Purdue, but he defeated a sitting Democratic governor when being a Democrat in Mississippi was worth something.
What does all this have to do with internet pr? If Dave is going to catch Phil Bryant, he is going to have to create some buzz. Dave's good news is that he has a pretty good presence on the internet, and he is in a good position to take advantage if he can make something happen. In addition, Phil seems to have only an obligatory presence on the web. He seems to have relinquished those voters and those venues to Dave. The bad news -- for Dave, at least -- is that Dave doesn't appear to have figured out how best to use the internet and/or he doesn't have anyone on his campaign staff saavy enough or creative enough to take advantage of Phil's absence in social media and to come up with some creative internet pr idea, aka the escaped cobra in New York.
So what is Dave not doing on the internet that he should? He is not addressing questions. He seems only to be announcing events/appearances in his campaign on Twitter and Facebook, and he seems to be speaking only to people who already like him and already are supporting him. Look at his Twitter postings. http://twitter.com/#!/search/%23dd4g On the Facebook page, a young African American preacher asked about Dave's stand on education. No response. http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/DaveDennisForGovernor?sk=wall. That doesn't give voters a reason to follow Dave instead of Phil. It doesn't give the state's African Americans a reason to move to the Republican Party. It may be only one item, but people notice. I did.
Of course, Phil doesn't respond to questions, either, although he has a Facebook page. http://www.facebook.com/DaveDennisForGovernor?sk=wall#!/pages/Phil-Bryant/149191811767085?sk=wall He also has taken heat on Twitter and in blogs on his stands, which I have not seen him answer. But as I said, Phil has already surrendered most of the internet to Dave, and he is the front runner.
Dave needs buzz, and I don't think he is going to get any until he understands that social media is about dialog and connections.
Phil apparently doesn't care. Dave apparently doesn't understand. I think it is worse for Dave because Dave can't afford to misunderstand anything. What do you think?
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