As If It Matters

Bob Perkowitz is my Biking Jedi Master. In an effort to lose weight and inspired by Bob and other biking efforts (including Rob Ross’ bike tour of the Camino in Spain), I decided to take up biking a couple months ago. Bob has been an incredible guide and mentor in this sport, helping me to pick and outfit my Trek 520. So when Bob called and invited me on a four day bike ride through North Carolina’s Outer Banks, how could I turn him down? Never mind that I’ve never biked more than 45 consecutive miles in my life and I’m pretty sure my entire lifetime biking mileage to date is less than 300 miles. But here we go – a great adventure. Any advice? The plan is:

• Tuesday, July 8: Warm up ride


• Wednesday, July 9: Ride from Virginia Beach, VA to Nags Head, NC - 71 miles
• Thursday, July 10 : Ride Nags Head, NC to Ocracoke, NC - 86 mi. + ferry
• Friday, July 11: Ride from Ocracoke, NC to Emerald Isle, NC, – 50 miles
• Saturday, July 12: Ride from Emerald Isle, NC to Wrightsville Beach, NC - 98 miles
• Sunday, July 13: Home to see my dog!

I will be taking my Flip Video and my camera with me (thanks, Dave!) and there is always Twitter – so presumably you’ll see some updates from the road next week. My long suffering wife is one of the people driving the support van, so at least I’ll have someone to help me get out of bed on the last day. If anyone has any tips, send ‘em my way. I’m hoping this will be a radical shock to drive me into a more regular exercise routine and a lower body mass index. Pray for me and my butt.

Between my work on NewsJunk and PDF last week, I’ve been mulling over the state of political campaigning and technology. On the Dean campaign, the campaign’s blog – Blog For America – was a critical communications implement. We built a big daily readership and we thought of it like our own cable channel or major newspaper. There was an explicit understanding that it was our media outlet, and that Matt Gross, Zephyr Teachout, and Joe Rospars (among others) were our “reporters on the ground”, covering the campaign – inside the headquarters and out on the road.

Dean desperately needed alternative sources of media. When I joined the campaign, every single news story about the presidential primary started something like: “John Kerry, Dick Gephardt, Joe Leiberman and five other presidential candidates…” Dean never got any press of any kind. But Trippi noticed that the blogs were writing about Dean. There was even an unofficial Dean campaign blog. Now here was a way to get ink, even if it was the virtual, blog kind of ink! Trippi started by posting on the unofficial Dean campaign blog as the campaign manager. And then there was an explicit decision: if the mainstream press isn’t going to write about us, then we’ll cover our campaign ourselves. Our rallying cry became: To the blogs!

Recognizing the power of new media to build our own work-around the “gatekeepers” of the modern political process gave the Dean campaign critical fuel, and the energy of the entire blogosphere was gasoline on the fire of Dean’s growing grassroots momentum. I’ve long thought that the secret sauce of the Dean campaign were the monthly in-person Meetups that Michael Silberman managed, but watching this election unfold I’m realizing that our blog’s end-run around traditional media (with the help of the rest of the blogosphere) was equally important.

All of which leaves me mystified why the campaigns haven’t built their own media operations. And I don’t mean just blogs. Why not a 24-hour newsroom, with anchors and field correspondents and commentators? The technologies needed – and even the distribution – are not expensive any more. You can buy a lot of consecutive time on cable with the kind of budgets we’re seeing this election cycle. Presidential campaigns of either party could attract top talent to create and manage the content. Not to mention the grassroots power of utilizing your supporters to create content.

Feeding NewsJunk over the last few weeks has made me recognize some of the gaps in media coverage – and the opportunities the campaigns are missing. There remains a mysterious and much revered relationship between the political campaigns and the political press corps, but I’m unconvinced that it serves the people well. And in all honesty, I’ve been disappointed by most of the blog coverage and commentary of the election; that’s why on NewsJunk you see mostly mainstream news sources. The blogs seems to mostly repeat items from the mainstream press – not just the news, but the commentary as well.

And it’s not just political news, commentary, and policy debates. Have you ever listened to Pennsylvania Governor Ed Rendell sportscast one of the Eagles’ football games? It’s fun. Give Al Gore a show on how to go green. Who would host “Deal or No Deal” on Obama’s network?

The great challenge of creating a news organization – or if it’s going to be broader than news, let’s call it a media organization – the great challenge is honesty. Campaigns are famous for spin and obscuring the hard questions. Even on our Dean campaign blog, it was hard to find an accurate and serious accounting for our loss in Iowa the morning after. But the radical transparency and honesty of your own media outlet would say volumes about the kind of President you might make, and the opportunities to set the agenda seem enormous.

I noticed that Linda Douglass, a major television journalist for ABC News, joined the Obama campaign as senior staff. [Full disclosure: EchoDitto does unrelated tech work for Linda’s husband, John Phillips.] It’s time to kill the 30-second spot and instead focus on the exciting opportunities and possibilities of the next generation of Fireside Chats. It’ll be fun. I promise.

A few days ago I wrote about NewsJunk.com, and now there is an eighth way to follow NewsJunk: on Facebook!

Add “John Newsjunk” as a friend on Facebook. (You do this by searching for “John Newsjunk” then clicking “add as friend”). We’ll approve all friend requests, and then you can follow NewsJunk through status updates on Facebook via Twitter.

The eight ways to follow NewsJunk:

1. Refresh the home page periodically.

2. Subscribe to the RSS feed.

3. Follow it on Twitter.

4. Read it on your iPhone.

5. Befriend it on FriendFeed.

6. Receive emails through Google Groups.

7. Add it as a friend on Facebook.

8. Watch for developments on the NewsJunk weblog.

Any other ways we’re missing?

PS: You can include NewsJunk headlines on your blog or site.

Barack Obama is an exceptional candidate – but he would not have defeated an establishment candidate like Hillary Clinton without the help of the internet. The 2008 election cycle has already been a historic milestone for the role the internet is taking in political campaigns, and we have yet to really move into the general election—I’m sure there are some surprises and innovations ahead.

Which is all a prelude to saying how delighted I am to be teaching at Harvard’s Institute of Politics next fall as one of their Resident Fellows. I’m looking forward to a front-row seat on the political cycle with a bunch of smart Harvard students as my co-conspirators. We might even have to get in on the action, and some innovating ourselves. I’m also excited by the prospect of getting to know the other fellows, all of whom are exceptionally accomplished. Of course I’m having some of that “I wouldn’t want to be a part of any club that would have me as a member” syndrome…

Since the press release announcing my appointment is only available as a PDF, I’ve taken the liberty of republishing it in it’s entirety below. And don’t worry—my work at EchoDitto, NewsJunk, and a fistful of other projects like ProxyDemocracy will continue.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact: Esten Perez JUNE 16, 2008 (617) 496-4009

HARVARD’S INSTITUTE OF POLITICS ANNOUNCES FALL FELLOWS

Cambridge, MA – Harvard University’s Institute of Politics today designated six Resident Fellows to join the Harvard Kennedy School community for the fall semester. Resident Fellows interact with students, participate in the intellectual life of the community and pursue individual studies and writing projects.

“This extraordinary group of Fellows range from one of the preeminent governors in America, to the highest ranking woman in the Central Intelligence Agency, to one of the most respected diplomats in the Muslim world, to America’s foremost expert on internet politics, to a talented presidential media consultant, to a gifted young journalist and television analyst,” IOP Director and former U.S. Representative (R-IA) Jim Leach said.

The following Resident Fellows will join the Institute for the fall semester and lead weekly, not-for-credit study groups on a range of topics:

• Alex Castellanos, founding partner, National Media, Inc.; served as senior strategist for Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney’s presidential campaign and as a creative member to Bush-Cheney 2004 presidential campaign;
• Jennifer Donahue, political director, New Hampshire Institute of Politics; on-air political analyst and contributor to broadcast networks during past three New Hampshire presidential primaries;
• Mary Margaret Graham, former deputy director of national intelligence for collection, Office of the Director of National Intelligence and retired senior CIA officer;
• Dr. Maleeha Lodhi, Pakistan’s high commissioner to the United Kingdom (2003-08) and ambassador to the U.S. (1994-97, 1999-2002); a diplomat, journalist and academic, considered one of the most accomplished women professionals in the Muslim world;
• Nicco Mele, founder and president, “EchoDitto;” former internet operations director, Vermont governor Howard Dean’s presidential campaign;
• Tom Vilsack, governor of Iowa (1999-2007); former Democratic candidate for President of the United States; former chair, Democratic Governors Association; former executive committee member, National Governors Association; and co- chair of U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign.

“The Harvard community, particularly undergraduates active in Institute of Politics programming, will benefit from the opportunity to engage with this group of extraordinary leaders who have such vast experience in international as well as domestic politics,” Leach continued.

The Fellows program is central to the Institute’s dual commitment to encourage student interest in public life and to increase interaction between the academic and political communities.

Harvard University’s Institute of Politics (IOP), located at Harvard Kennedy School, was established in 1966 as a memorial to President Kennedy. The IOP’s mission is to unite and engage students, particularly undergraduates, with academics, politicians, activists, and policymakers on a non-partisan basis and to stimulate and nurture their interest in public service and leadership. The Institute strives to promote greater understanding and cooperation between the academic world and the world of politics and public affairs. More information is available online at http://www.iop.harvard.edu/.

I’ve been working on a new project with Dave Winer—Newsjunk.com. For the last few months, I’ve been annoyed at how hard it is to follow the political coverage. News pops up in a lot of different places, and having single source to follow what’s happening throughout the day has been an itch that needs scratching. Dave remembers the briefing books we had on the Dean campaign, a fixture of many campaigns. So NewsJunk.com started as a way to scratch the itch of the political news junkie, and a way to begin to build an open briefing book.

During the 2000 cycle, I worked as the webmaster and technical director of the Shadow Conventions. That’s actually where I first met Dave, through Edit This Page.com. Then during the 2004 cycle, I worked as the webmaster for Howard Dean. This cycle (2008) after a false start, I’m excited to be working on NewsJunk.

Dave nicely summarizes what you can do on NewsJunk right now:

1. Refresh the home page periodically.
2. Subscribe to the RSS feed.
3. Follow it on Twitter.
4. Befriend it on FriendFeed.
5. 5. Watch for developments on the weblog.

It’s National Poetry Month, and given my love of poetry I feel compelled to post something about poetry. I have always been a fan of Jim Harrison. I’ve often quoted his writing on this blog. But a few weeks ago I saw on Poetry Daily one of his poems that boldly spoke to me – titled simply “27“.

First I have to explain Poetry Daily. I confess I’m a little reluctant to admit its the start page on my browser, my “home” page. I guess I’ve always found bite-size morsels of poetry unsatisfying, not engaging enough, a little too stranded out there in the world without context. Poetry Daily seems like it should be too least-common-denominator to be satisfying. But in fact, I frequently find it satisfying. Whoever picks those poems has taste similar to mine at least part of the time.

So a few weeks ago Harrison’s “27” showed up. It was such a sharp, hard-edged poem, with a narrative force to it and more than a bit of mystery. I loved it, even with its bleak, dark commentary. I looked up the book, Letters to Yesenin. A new one for me. Hmmm. I ordered a copy.

I love reading an excellent book of poems, one that holds together and has a narrative force to it. It has been a while since I’ve read a book of poems that held together so tightly, with such a taut and compelling emotional thread driving it along. But ???????? ????? ????????Letters to Yesenin is exactly that sort of book of poems – one long poem, really. So good I couldn’t stop reading it and re-reading it. It’s dark, to be sure – Harrison wrote the book when he was a younger man, in the 1970s, when he was probably close to my age (30). He’s living as a hard-scrabble farmer, with his wife and small children, and is full of despair at the dead-end his life seems to have found, a dead-end without the excitement and engagement of the literary life he desires. Harrison writes the poems in a deep depression, as intimate letters to the Russian poet Yesenin (who wrote his last poem in his own blood and hung himself at 1925). Curiously, I had a hard time finding much Yesenin’s work online. But Harrison’s poems begin in the darkness of real despair, considering suicide like Yesenin, and ultimately through the letters to Yesenin, Harrision talks himself, ever so slowly, out of his depression and back into a love of life again.

It is a compelling and intense emotional journey. Hayden Carruth called it “one of the best [books of poems] in the past twenty-five years of American writing”. I’m forced to agree. It was fine. Thus my life draws fuel ineluctably from triumph.

It’s been a few months – but Jonas and I are back, talking about horse racing and the Depression – part 2 of 2:

It’s been a few months – but Jonas and I are back, talking about horse racing and the Depression – part 1 of 2:

The snow is coming down outside and we’re hoping this is the last snow storm before spring. We woke up with our new cat, Uno, in bed with us—but so was our dog, Rascal. For the last two weeks Rascal and Uno have been at odds, but they seem to have negotiated an uneasy truce. At the animal shelter, we purposely picked out the biggest, scariest cat we could find, hoping to put the fear of the feline in Rascal (who generally regards them as furry playthings). Uno is approximately the same weight as Rascal and they are evenly matched; Uno might even have the upper hand. It’s added a lot of excitement to our house lately.

But this morning it is cold, windy and a torrent of wet snow is coming down outside. Rascal, with his terrier genes stretching back to the rugged Scottish Highlands, is giddy with anticipation: this is fine hiking weather in his mind, perhaps the best that one could hope for. So I took him out for a long walk in the miserable weather and he was enormously happy, having a blast outside. We walked down to the Mystic River and I let him off his leash: a cardinal mistake, as he quickly dug up some foul-smelling rotting fish to roll in. After a good hour we returned home, and Rascal was reluctant to come inside despite the fact that the snow storm has gotten worse. I finally coaxed him back to the house – but he didn’t pass Morra’s smell test. That means two options: the basement or the bath. So right now we’re sitting in the basement, sticking up my beloved entertainment system with the smell of putrid fish, until I work up the nerve to undertake a titanic battle of the wills also known as bathtime. Morra has settled in her study to write papers, and I’ve got various projects, work and otherwise. And a fine, fishy Saturday it is.

Our beloved Rascal is the inaugural Pet of the Week at BlogHer (scroll down to the end of the post to see it), chiefly on the weight of this portrait of him with his favorite toy, his beloved Rubber Chicken. But my favorite recent photo is of him at work on Friday, just exhausted – although the photo I took of him this morning in bed after Morning Walk is also quite warm and fuzzy.