Does The Clark Campaign "Get" the Internet

[HFishbine]

or will they say "thanks, now move along" to his wired grassroots supporters?

Two pro-Clark sites, ClarkRecruits.com and DigitalClark.com, have already been shut down, and a third, DraftWesleyClark.com, is slated to be disbanded within the month, according to its founder. ClarkRecruits.com had helped would-be volunteers link up with other Clark supporters in their areas; now volunteers have to fill out a form on the candidate's official site (Clark04.com) and wait for the main campaign to figure out what to do with them. And on Saturday, DigitalClark.com was shut down at the behest of the Clark campaign. "Our apologies -- this website, and its content, is no longer available. For information about General Clark and his presidential campaign, please visit www.clark04.com," read a message on the site. DigitalClark had provided visitors with downloadable video files of past Clark media appearances; that information is no longer available. According to Ellen Dana Nagler of Santa Barbara, Calif., who maintained the video archives, the campaign was concerned about the possibility that the site violated copyright laws and prevailed upon its managers to shut it down.

"They are destroying the parts of the draft movement that worked really well and they are transforming the draft movement into people who want to lick envelopes," says one worried member of the movement. "They are rebuilding the Kerry campaign with a better candidate."

more: http://www.prospect.org/webfeatures/2003/09/franke-ruta-g-09-25.html

[StephNW4Clark]

1. From John Hlinko (co-founder of DraftWesleyClark.com)

Hey there, everyone. We've been battling this for months now -- the
media simply doesn't believe that grassroots citizens can build this
kind of movement. They are convinced that somehow, someway, "professionals" must be driving it.

Don't believe the hype. Just like the General himself, this
grassroots movement is indeed "the real deal."

Ah yes, there will be more and more stories like this, but if I can
throw in my two cents:

1) Don't believe everything you read -- the last article identified
me as "Greek-Lithuanian" (I am Slovak Italian), and I have never
once been correctly quoted;

2) The media loves drama, and when things are going well, drama
needs to be created.

3) Don't be discouraged -- every campaign has growing pains, but for
what it's worth... I am personally astounded by how well things have
already come together. Sure, it's still working to integrate the
draft movement fully, but it's happening more and more every day.

4) Keep your eye on the prize -- we've all been working to elect one
heck of a President... now we've got the chance to do it. Keep your
eye on the prize, and make it happen.


Now, re: DraftWesleyClark.com stuff specifically:

1) Yes, legally, we had to sell the names at "fair market value,"
but... believe me, we are not getting rich on this. In fact, I can
assure you that starting this effort was the single worst financial
decision I made in the last ten years (it even beat my purchase
of "Webvan" stock). That being said... knowing the quality of
General Clark, I don't regret it for a second. :)

2) Grassroots/McCurry connection: We are indeed in the same space,
but we are also in the same building as a French language school.
And I can assure you that neither Mike McCurry nor Jacques Chirac
had anything to do with this. :)

Keep the faith, keep on driving forward, and... keep making history!

John

[Wickerman]

2. And on it goes

if the Clark campaign were going to run 4 or 5 websites there would be no way to consistently monitor quality on all sites. Someone would screw up and then it would be, see, Clark is so incompetent that he can't even control his campaign.

The draft sites did their job. It is no longer a draft campaign, its a presidential campaign and all who cried that Wes didn't have the desired information on "his" websites now can complain about just one site. See, they made it easier for you...

[HFishbine]

4. You miss the point

It's not about the Clark campaign "running" 4 or 5 websites, it's about whether or not the Clark campaign has the wherewithal to understand the importance of grassroots bloggers and webmasters.

Here are some clues:

http://www.africanamericansfordean.com/AA/
http://deancore.blogspot.com/
http://www.gendeanblog.com/
http://www.latinosfordean.com/
http://republicansfordean.blogspot.com/
http://republicansfordean.blogspot.com/
http://www.bayareamanfordean.blogspot.com/
http://www.internforamerica.com/
http://www.tidewater4dean.org/
http://www.bolduchome.com/mallory/politics/Deannet/deannet.html
http://deafamericansfordean.blogspot.com/
http://dean04.portal.dk3.com/index.php
http://www.deanvolunteers.org/
http://www.gaysfordean.com/
http://howarddean.blogspot.com/
http://mormonsfordean.com/
http://pcdean.org/
http://deanblog.geometaphors.com/
http://www.womenfordean.com/
http://pilotsfordean.com/


And many, many, many more -- all independent of the Dean Campaign and all promoted on the official site at www.deanforamerica.com

[bicentennial_baby]

5. And this

is on Clark's website:


"By State/Location

» Arizona for Clark
» Arkansans for Clark
» CA - East Bay for Clark
» Central Nebraska for Clark
» Charlottesville for Clark
» Chicago Students for Clark
» Colorado for Clark
» Connecticut for Clark
» Florida for Clark
» Georgia for Wesley Clark
» Illinois for Clark
» Iowa for Clark
» Kansas for Clark
» Kentucky for Clark
» Los Angeles for Clark
» Louisiana for Clark
» Maryland for Clark
» Mass for Clark
» Michigan for Clark
» Minnesota for Clark
» Mississippi for Clark
» Missouri for Clark
» Montana for Clark
» Nebraska for Clark
» Nevadans for Clark
» New Hampshire for Clark
» New Mexico for Clark
» New York for Clark
» NJ for Clark
» North Carolina for Clark
» Oklahomans for Clark
» Orange County for Clark
» Pennsylvania for Clark
» Pittsburgh for Clark
» Santa Barbara for Clark
» South Bay For Clark
» Staten Island for Clark
» Syracuse for Clark
» Tennessee for Clark
» Virginia for Clark
» Virginia for Clark (2)
» Washington State
» Washington State for Clark
» Western New York for Clark
» Wisconsin for Clark

By Group

» Blacks for Clark
» Clark Sphere
» A Grassroots Daily Newsletter - The Clark Tribune
» Clark Web Sites - Steal This Code!
» Disabled Americans for Clark
» Environmentalists for Clark
» George Washington University
» GLBT for Clark
» Hispanics for Clark
» Hispanos Con Clark
» Independents for Clark
» Latinos for Clark
» Leadership For America
» MSNBC Clark Blog
» Republicans for Clark
» Republicans, Independents, Dems for Clark
» Students for Clark
» Support Wesley Clark
» The Clark Coalition
» The Wesley Clark Weblog
» US 4 Clark
» Veterans for Clark
» WesleyClark.us
» Wolf P.A.C.
» Women for Clark

http://www.clark04.com/grassroots/

[HFishbine]

9. That's good.

I didn't see those. Are they on a sub-page?

[bicentennial_baby]

12. Yep

There's a tab at the top of the page that says "Grassroots Efforts"

[KittyWampus]

7. THE POINT IS DRAFT CLARK WEBSITES ARE OBSOLETE!

He is RUNNING!

And just out of curiosity, are all those links you posted for Dean RUN BY DEAN'S CAMPAIGN?

NO, they are run by his supporters.

You think Clark is going to tell supporters who start positive websites campaigning for him to shut them down?

And if you ARE going to say such an abusrd thing back it up with a quote and link!

Are you commenting on lack of Clark websites begun by his supporters????

He's only been in the race a week. A month from now, let's google Clark's name and see how many websites support him.

[HFishbine]

11. To Quote Dennis Kucinish, "Helllloooooo"

No.

That's the question.

I didn't, but there are links.

No.

Read more carefully.

[tjdee]

3. ONE worried supporter?

You can always find one yahoo to say something contradictory.

Are there rough patches in getting things together? Probably.

Does this mean his campaign doesn't "get it"? Too soon to tell.

[HFishbine]

6. I

I didn't say they don't get it. It is too early to tell. It was a rhetorical, but cautionary question.

Here's another pessimistic take: http://www.dailykos.com/archives/004307.html#004307

[Wickerman]

8. You

said:
it's about whether or not the Clark campaign has the wherewithal to understand the importance of grassroots bloggers and webmasters.

why bother parsing words?

What is the point of spending so much energy on trying to discredit the Clark campaign? Turn the energy to something positive - like removing Bush or supporting a candidate.

[HFishbine]

13. Dimbulb

Look, there was nothing discrediting. In fact, if you would get off the defensive for a moment, you might just see how this post was meant to encourage Clark and his supporters not to make a mistake.

Not only that, but they were not notions I manufactured; these are sentiments already being expressed on the web which I simply brought the the attention of DUers.

And I wasn't parsing words. Why don't YOU try reading for accuracy. "It's about whether Clark has the wherewithal to.." is an inquiry. It does not say that he doesn't. It does not say that he does.

Finally, you might try reading the sources I linked to to see that, whether you agree or not, there are some people who feel that the Clark Campaign has alienated his netroots supporters.

[Wickerman]

14. No Need to Name Call

I do believe that is a violation of DU policy and in general an unfriendly debating style that lacks class.

I am responding to the fact that it appears you and many others are seemingly bent on taking on Clark at any juncture. I have read many of the links you referenced, even before you posted them. There was a lot of discussion on here last night regarding this topic. I disagree with them and think there will always be some folks who get lost in the shuffle as a campaign shifts from a draft movement to a full fledged campaign.

I read others' comments who understood they had played their part and it was time to move on. My take is that deliberately posting the neg comments and ignoring the positives is attempting to discredit a candidate.

For the record, I am leaning Clark, but I am not yet there. I AM appalled by the anti-Clark attacks on this board. I am sick of the Dean bashing. etc.

[w4rma]

10. The centralization of a formerly decentralized campaign (n/t)

[AnnabelLee]

15. Locking--Dupe

Please continue discussion here
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=108&topic_id=47507