You are going to hear me use the phrase “ plug and play†a lot in these posts. Basically, a
lot of these ideas revolve around the focus of making it easy for candidates to “ plug†into
various tools for making their campaigns easier to operate.
We need a website to streamline the process of matching donors with candidates in
different areas of the country.
Problem to be Fixed: Currently, there is no user-friendly location for candidates to post a
profile to match themselves with potential donors. This is particularly important for early
stage funding which plays a very large role in whether or not they will actually make a
race competitive.
Basically, upon announcing a candidacy for a seat an individual can post a profile on a
website that donors can use.
So how exactly do donors select candidates to make donations to?
Feel free to add to this list, but here are some:
-Candidate story and personality
-Issues they care about
-New ideas the candidate has
-Ways the candidate would choose to govern once elected
-Likelihood of candidate winning the seat
-Their opponent/incumbent they are running against
Making sure that candidates feel encouraged to give more detail on these areas is
crucial to this website. The reason being is that if the profiles largely become generic
information from the “ about me†and “ issues†sections of their website than the utility of
the website will be largely missed. So having sections to fill out certain information will
be crucial to the effort.
So layout could look like this. At the top we would obviously need their name, the seat
they are running for. Then we would have the obvious sections “ bio†and “ issues†. We
then can have sections:
-“ Unique Ideas†A good way to vet a candidate is based on their ability to bring new
ideas to the table to address problems. You can really tell they are serious about an issue
when they have their own ideas for helping to fix it or ideas that are capable of passing
that move the ball forward.
-“ Campaign Strategy†Here they can divulge what they wish about how they will win
the race. This will obviously be a big factor for those that have bigger uphill battles that
would otherwise be overlooked because of the challenge in front of them. A very good
plan though does warrant some donations.
- “ How would I govern?†Its one thing to run on issues that everybody would like to see
fixed. Its another to actually detail how you will pull it off. Here is where we reward
candidates that have good ideas for creating press, winning the argument, or have
detailed knowledge of the legislative process. To see how this individual would be a
serious asset for not only running on something, but actually achieving it.
-“ About my Opponent†Details the opponent that the candidate is running against.
-“ District profile†this may just be drafted by the site administrators that detail the
makeup of the district. Obviously info like maps of the district (hopefully showing voting
patterns), PVI, demographics, etc. should be included.
What we basically want is this website to be a one stop shop for every type of donor on
the right side of the aisle. You want it to be user friendly for personality driven donors,
issue driven donors, for donors that decide by opponents they dislike, and shrewd donors.
Okay now I open the floor to all of you.
