It’s hard to avoid looking at poll results when you’re inside the Beltway. Next week, GW and the Graduate School of Political Management are releasing the results of the latest Battleground Poll. Nothing goes better with a cup of coffee than a discussion about what American voters are thinking and how that will affect the upcoming election.

Details:

Battleground Poll Results

August 20, 2008, 9:30-11 a.m.

National Press Club, Lisagor Room

529 14th St., NW, 13th Floor

Celinda Lake, president of Lake Research Partners, and Brian Nienaber, vice president of the Tarrance Group, will share their analyses of this public opinion poll. Ron Faucheaux, associate professorial lecturer at GW’s Graduate School of Political Management, will serve as moderator.

RSVP: Please R.S.V.P. to David Leeds at (202) 994-6467. This event is open to media. On site media check in begins at 8:30 a.m. To participate one-way via teleconference, please call (800) 331-7072 and dial 322237 when prompted. A copy of both firms’ presentation will be posted at http://www.gwu.edu/~newsctr/battleground.cfm.

More information online.

IPDI (and the Graduate School of Political Management) are thrilled to partner with the OUTBURST! Forum this election season. The kickoff event will be held in Denver on Sunday, August 24th (we’ll post about future events before they occur).

Details:

FTW or FTL? The best of the best (and worst of the worst) online tactics of the Democratic Presidential Candidates — and how you can use them to be politically active

Hosted by the OUTBURST! Forum

Sunday, August 24 Panel - 5:30 - 7:00 pm

Reception - 7:00 – 9:00 pm Sturm Hall, University of Denver, 2000 E Asbury Avenue, Denver, CO 80210 Google Map

Which Democratic candidates (and their supporters) made the most of multimedia and social tools during the election season?

What were your favorite political web videos and how successful were they at moving poll numbers and donations?

Join the GSPM and IPDI for an interactive, light-hearted OUTBURST! Forum event that allows the audience to vote on their favorite web tactics – and allows the pundits to discuss how useful those web tactics actually were at achieving campaign goals.

The panel will be part of the OUTBURST! Forum, a multi-city interactive lecture series and forum that will address some of the most pressing political and public policy topics and issues impacting youth voters (ages 18-24); its primary demographic. For more information and to look at additional OUTBURST! Forum events, visit www.outbursttour.com.

Meet the panelists: Julie Barko Germany (moderator) serves as the director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet at and the interim director of marketing for the Graduate School of Political Management. She is an alumna of the GSPM.

Lee Brenner is Executive Producer of Political Programming and Director of IMPACT (Public Affairs) at MySpace.

Charles Ellison serves as Senior Advisor to the Center for African American Policy at the University of Denver (CAAP-DU) and is a CAAP Senior Fellow in Public Policy and Chief Editor of the center’s popular flagship website Blackpolicy.org.

Ian Koski joined Blue State Digital in February 2008 after three years as the founder and creative director of On Deck Communication Studio, where he crafted communications strategy and developed web sites for a variety of Democratic campaigns and causes. He is an alumnus of the GSPM.

Mike Disharoon is a consultant with Blackrock Associates, a leader in online marketing for progressive candidate and issue campaigns. He is an alumnus of the GSPM.

The cool thing about being at GWU is being connected to so many cool groups. Case in point: IPDI is located within GW’s Graduate School of Political Management (GSPM). The very fact that we’re in such an innovative department allows us to do what I consider to be cool, relevant, applicable research.

The GSPM is holding an Open House on Capitol Hill on Wednesday, August 6th. If you’re a intern or staffer, come and join IPDI and the GSPM for drinks and networking. If interns and young staffers work for you, bring them or send them along — just be sure to RSVP and let the GSPM know you’re coming!

Here are the details:

Politics, Government and the GSPM Open House – Wednesday, August 6

Join alumni, current students, staffers, interns and faculty for an evening of drinks, networking, and conversation about careers in politics, political communications, and legislative affairs with a special guest David Rehr, president and CEO of the National Association of Broadcasters.

Wednesday, August 6, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

Gold Room

Rayburn House Office Building

Washington DC 20515

Address: Southwest of the Capitol, bounded by Independence Avenue, South Capitol Street, First Street, and C Street, S.W.

Google Map

Directions from Capitol South Metro (Blue and Orange Lines): When you exit the Metro, walk to C St SE and turn left. Walk to South Capitol Street and turn right.

RSVP at http://register.applyyourself.com/?id=gwugrad&pid=1031&eID=17611&rid=1

About David Rehr

David Rehr is President and CEO of NAB. Prior to the NAB, he was president of the National Beer Wholesalers Association (NBWA). Under his leadership, NBWA was ranked as one of the top most influential lobbying organizations by Fortune magazine. With more than 25 years of experience on Capitol Hill and in the lobbying community, Rehr has been an outspoken advocate for entrepreneurs and small business before the federal government.

Rehr, who has a doctorate in economics from George Mason University, has been named to Washington Life magazine’s “Power 100” list, and is annually listed as a “Top Association Lobbyist” by The Hill. He has also been featured in Beachum’s Guide to Key Lobbyists, and was recently named one of the top 20 most influential people in radio by Radio Ink magazine.

About GW’s Graduate School of Political Management

The Graduate School of Political Management offers graduate programs in political management, legislative affairs, public relations, and PAC management, as well as international programs in Latin America and Europe. The school seeks to improve politics by educating its students and professionals about the tools, principles, and values of participatory democracy; preparing them for careers as ethical and effective advocates and leaders at the international, national, and local levels.

In August IPDI will host two of its Ideas Series Book Discussions — an evening wine and cheese discussion with David Perlmutter, author of Blogwars, on Monday, August 11 and a brown bag lunch discussion with Colin Delany, author of Online Politics 101 on Wednesday, August 13.

Hear the top notes from Blogwars and Online Politics 101, and discuss them with the authors. Each event is strictly limited to the first 20 people who RSVP to julie@ipdi.org in order to encourage as much discussion as possible with the authors.

Here are the details:

IPDI Book Discussion on Blogwars with David Perlmutter - Monday, August 11
Monday, August 11
4:30 - 6:00 p.m.
The library of the Graduate School of Political Management
4th Floor
GWU’s Media and Public Affairs Building
805 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
RSVP REQUIRED to julie@ipdi.org

David Perlmutter is a professor at the William Allen White School of Journalism & Mass Communications, University of Kansas. He received his BA and MA from the University of Pennsylvania and his Ph.D. He writes a regular column, “P&T Confidential,” for the Chronicle of Higher Education. He is editor of the blog of the Robert J. Dole Institute of Politics at the University of Kansas (http://www.doleinstituteblog.org/ ) and his own blog about online politics, http://policybyblog.squarespace.com/.

Blogwars: The New Political Battleground
In Blogwars, David D. Perlmutter examines this rapidly burgeoning phenomenon, exploring the degree to which blogs influence–or fail to influence–American political life. Challenging the hype, Perlmutter points out that blogs are not that powerful by traditional political measures: while bloggers can offer cogent and convincing arguments and bring before their readers information not readily available elsewhere, they have no financial, moral, social, or cultural leverage to compel readers to engage in any particular political behavior. Indeed, blogs have scored mixed results in their past political crusades. But in the end, Perlmutter argues that blogs, in their wide dissemination of information and opinions, actually serve to improve democracy and enrich political culture.

IPDI Book Discussion on Online Politics 101 with Colin Delany - Wednesday, August 13

Wednesday, August 11

Noon-1:30pm

The library of the Graduate School of Political Management

4th Floor

GWU’s Media and Public Affairs Building

805 21st Street, NW

Washington, DC 20052

RSVP REQUIRED to julie@ipdi.org

Colin Delany is founder and editor of Epolitics.com, a site that focuses on the tools and tactics of Internet politics and online advocacy. Launched in July of 2006, Epolitics.com received the Golden Dot Award as “Best Blog - National Politics” at the 2007 Politics Online Conference. The site also features the “Online Politics 101″ e-book.

About Online Politics 101

“Online Politics 101: The Tools and Tactics of Online Advocacy,” looks comprehensively at the Internet political organizing methods that work today, with new sections including tools such as Facebook, Twitter and online advertising. Other chapters explore topics including online video, viral marketing and online fundraising. The 52-page, free handbook also discusses topics ranging from the essentials of building an effective campaign website to the use of blogs to promote candidates and issues. “Online Politics 101″ promotes an integrated approach to online campaigning at all levels, from individual activists to national campaigns.

John McCain’s campaign has recently released a new game on its website and as a Facebook application called Pork Invaders – ostensibly as an attempt to reach younger voters through alternative mediums. This game, in many ways, exemplifies the lack of understanding within the McCain camp of how to best utilize the internet as an effective campaign tool. A rip off of the 1978 arcade game Space Invaders, McCain’s campaign switches the eradication of aliens to… you guessed it, pigs and pork barrels. The player, represented by a John McCain sign, shoots “vetoes” at the invading pork, racking up “Tax Dollars.” At the completion of each level the player is rewarded by two pieces of information which contrast Obama and McCain’s spending in Congress, such as the following:

Senator Obama wasted $300 billion of your tax dollars on pork projects; including $93 million in tax breaks for race horses and $250 million for a wealthy company in Montana.

John McCain is against wasteful spending, fought against the pork projects and has $0 in earmarks. As President, John McCain will make the authors and supporters of wasteful projects famous.

Talk about a depressing reward. While these make for provocative comparisons they do little to really peak one’s interest in John McCain and even less in fostering an in depth political debate.

Perhaps the greatest irony is that the game is impossible to beat. After completing about four levels, the comparisons repeat themselves until the pigs finally claim victory. Once I discovered this I couldn’t help but think how perfectly appropriate this ending was. As harsh as it may sound, it vividly illustrates the futility of McCain’s attempts to connect with millennials. The Facebook application, released on June 18^th has had only 117 users, 4% of all Facebook users. Likewise, John McCain has a total of 163,253 supporters compared to Barack Obama’s 1,118,358.

Further displaying this misunderstanding of social networking is the McCain’s Facebook application “Campaign Cribs: Straight Talk Express” in which users receive a special tour of the Straight Talk Express given by the man himself … David White? Does the McCain campaign seriously think that it will reach young voters by providing a Facebook application which features the Director of McCain’s advance team giving a tour of McCain’s bus? Predictably, this application hasn’t really caught on either. The application has a total of 16 users – a few of whom probably simply forgot to delete it from their profile after realizing its ridiculousness.

If John McCain’s campaign really wants to reach out to the information generation, it will have to do better than using 1970s arcade games and lame imitations of MTV’s Cribs. What his campaign staff has failed to grasp is that Obama has been able to benefit by using the medium of the internet well, not just using it.

Kyle McLellan

“MySpace on the Hill” Happy Hour

Learn how to run your campaign on MySpace directly from its Political Team and how to reach out to the millions of Americans on MySpace.

Learn how to harness the viral power of MySpace to:

• Fundraise
• Organize supporters
• Advertise
• Connect with your constituents
• Win Elections!

Open to Communications Directors, Fundraisers, Political tech world, Press, etc…

“MySpace on the Hill” Happy Hour:

Wednesday, July 9, 2008

6-8pm

Top of the Hill

319 Pennsylvania Ave, SE

Washington, DC

RSVP to julie at ipdi dot org

After months of trying to help Andrew Feinberg of CapitolValley.net organize this event, I am most proud to announce the CapitolValley/Scobleizer/Wine Library TV/Somewhat Frank/Social Times event

Robert Scoble & Gary Vanerchuk DC Bash!

Wednesday, June 25 from 6:00 PM to 9:30 PM (ET)

MCCXXII

1223 Connecticut Ave NW

Washington, DC 20036

Vaynerchuk is supplying free win.

There is, however, one catch: REGISTRATION IS REQUIRED. Sign up at http://dcsocialmedia.eventbrite.com/.

Colin Delany at ePolitics just released the second edition of his classic handbook, Online Politics 101. It’s a handy (and free) guide to using the Internet in politics, updated for a post-Twitter, pre-AI political world.

BTW, Colin is speaking at Personal Democracy Forum next week.

May the force be with you, Colin.

The IPDI Ideas Series presents
A Brown Bag Book Discussion with Brian Reich, co-author of Media Rules! Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience.

Join IPDI and author Brian Reich for a discussion about the issues and events presented in Media Rules!. Bring a brown bag lunch, hear the top notes from Media Rules!, and discuss them with the author. This lunch is strictly limited to the first 20 people who RSVP to akellner@ipdi.org in order to encourage as much discussion as possible with the authors.

Wednesday, June 11
Noon-1:30pm
The library of the Graduate School of Political Management
4th Floor
GWU’s Media and Public Affairs Building
805 21st Street, NW
Washington, DC 20052
RSVP REQUIRED to akellner@ipdi.org

About Brian Reich

Brian Reich is a Principal at EchoDitto, a strategic online communications firm that creates vibrant communities online and empower people through the creative use of emerging technologies. He was previously the Director of New Media at Cone Inc, a brand strategy and communications agency in Boston, and a Senior Strategic Consultant for Mindshare Interactive Campaigns, an interactive agency which helped many leading corporations, associations, non-profit organizations and governmental entities leverage the communication opportunities created by technology. From 2000- 2004, Brian ran his own consulting business, Mouse Communications, which helped political and non-profit organizations use new technology to improve communications, drive action, and support fundraising. Brian launched Mouse Communications after serving two years as Vice President Gore’s Briefing Director in the White House, handling both official and political activities during his 2000 presidential campaign. During the 1996 cycle, Brian was the youngest campaign manager in the nation, leading a U.S. Congress challenger race in Connecticut. Brian is a regular writer and speaker on the issues involving the impact of the internet and technology on politics, society, and the media. He is the editor of Thinking About Media, a blog examining media consumption habits around the world (among other things). His book, Media Rules!, was published by Wiley & Sons in December 2007. Brian attended the University of Michigan and is a graduate of Columbia University. He and his wife, Karen Dahl, and their son, Henry, live in Cambridge, Massachusetts.

About Media Rules! Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect With and Keep Your Audience

Media Rules: Mastering Today’s Technology to Connect with and Keep Your Audience, is a road map as well as a guidebook. When it comes to communicating with an ever-evolving audience, today’s organization has more than enough tools to get the job done—blogs, podcasts, social networks, search advertising, and much more. Yet the combination of rapid technological innovation and continuous social shifts have left many organizations—from the largest who online videos and sophisticated ad campaigns to the smallest using only snail mail—struggling to navigate the new waters. Media Rules! helps guide you safely ashore, giving you a direction to follow to get your message out to the right audience with the right, interactive vehicle.

About the IPDI Ideas Series book discussions

The Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet (IPDI) is part of the Graduate School of Political Management at The George Washington University. Our mission is to promote the use of the Internet and new communication technologies in politics to enhance democratic values, encourage citizen participation and improve governance, at home and abroad; in short, to “democratize democracy.”

IPDI presents a series of regular, discussion-based events that explore technology policy and emerging issues in the technology and political spheres. Previous events in the IPDI Ideas Series looked at broadband policy and discussions about new research. Each event is designed to provide an forum for conversations about the ways in which technology affects politics – and vice versa – that are accessible both online and offline. This includes brown bag lunch conversations with authors, bloggers, and journalists about major themes in the politics and technology space.

IPDI is looking forward to the 2008 Personal Democracy Forum conference. However, time is running out to get their Early Bird rate. Here are the details:

PdF is moving uptown to the beautiful Frederick P. Rose Hall, Home of Jazz at Lincoln Center, and expanding to a two-day event, this June 23-24, 2008.

This year’s conference will cover a broad array of topics, from converting online supporters into on-the-ground volunteers, to fundraising using Web 2.0 techniques. Discover how social technology can be harnessed to advance issues and ideas, and learn about the coming of “Wiki Government.” Meet the smartest people in the industry and hear thought leaders such as Elizabeth Edwards (Edwards ‘08), Arianna Huffington (The Huffington Post), Chuck Defeo (Townhall.com), Patrick Ruffini (The Next Right), Cyrus Krohn (RNC), Craig Newmark (Craigslist), Lawrence Lessig (ChangeCongress), Michael Arrington (TechCrunch), Jane Hamsher (FireDogLake), Clay Shirky (Author, Here Comes Everybody), the internet directors of the top presidential campaigns, and many more.

Sign up by May 31 and receive the early bird rate ($100 off the regular conference fee).

Learn more about Personal Democracy Forum and Register now at www.personaldemocracy.com/conference.