New Guides from Winning Campaigns: Online Politics and Political Vendors

If you’re still in the planning stage for the 2010 elections, be sure to check out two new publications from Winning Campaigns. First, take a look at their magazine’s 2010 Political Technology issue, which features articles on microtargeting (“Demystifying Micro-Targeting”), volunteer retention and common mistakes that novice candidates often make, all led off by a reprint of the first chapter of the e.politics “How Candidates Can Use the Internet to Win in 2010” as an introduction. One nice touch — you can download the magazine as an e-publication/print it as a PDF, or you view an online version through a nice print-style interface.

When you’re ready to move from study to action, next check out WC’s “Blue Ribbon Political Directory,” a guide to vendors of everything from voter files to campaign management software to yard signs. It’s not obvious how companies get into the guide (pay-to-play?), and some of the categories leave a bit to be desired — for instance, two of the top Republican online firms, EngageDC and Campaign Solutions, don’t show up in the internet vendors list, and even Blue State is missing on the Left. But it’s at least both searchable online and free to the public, unlike the PDF “Who(m) to Hire” list, and it’s a good place to get a feel for the lay of the land in the vendor-space.

– cpd