All Kinds of Corntastic
Doomscroll 8.13.23
It’s Iowa State Fair season, and you know what that means: Some politician, somewhere, is holding a baby while eating something dipped in butter, fried in oil, and dusted with sugar. Let it not be you and hit that subscribe button.
P.S. Anyone who’d like to join my group therapy sesh so we can process our feelings about Vivek’s rapping…HMU.
One Question
Thanks to everyone who answered last week’s One Question about how you plan to reach voters beyond the conservative echo chamber. To be honest, I wasn’t sure what kind of responses I’d get. The question was broad and maybe a little too vague. You win some, you lose some, but I hope it planted a seed for any of you who are working to elect Republicans in 2024. We gotta reach new people! In any case - enough throat-clearing. Out of everyone who humored me by answering the question last week, two-thirds said YES you are thinking about how to reach new voters all the time. Yay! Even better: 100% of you said it was a good thing I asked because digital strategists should absolutely be thinking about this. ::fist bump::
This week’s One Question might also be a bit of a curveball, but here goes: What’s something on your digital wish list that you WANT to do but never seem to have TIME to do? Know what I mean? We’re all pros; I know we’re all dotting our i’s and crossing our t’s and implementing all the best practices 24/7, 365 days a year. But what’s that one thing that you’ve been wanting to try out, but haven’t been able to? For example: I always want to build out a nice, well-stocked Giphy library for every client I work with. Is it a top priority? No. Is it cool? I think so! Do I ever get to it? Most of the time, no. What’s on your list?
Who’s Doing What
--Seeing Sheehy
There are many quality Senate candidates already this election cycle. Top among them is Tim Sheehy, who’s running to de-throne Jon Tester in Montana. And because I’m into candidate digital activity on the organic as well as the paid side, I’ve been paying close attention to lots of social media accounts and today I’d like to give a good old-fashioned high-five to Sheehy and his team. Here’s why: He doesn’t actually have much of a following just yet, but they’re clearly putting the work into posting quality content nonetheless. Take a look at these Reel templates, for example. I dig the branding. The captions are great. And even if these were shot vertically, adding some skin to a horizontal video is a great way to make it work vertically.
Also - shout-out for the Reel with him just talking to camera with his kids in the background. More of that, please!
P.S. Apologies for the unfortunately-timed screenshots.
--Dollar for Democracy
This tweet from Sen. J.D. Vance caught my attention:
Confused and intrigued, I promptly watched the CNN clip. Ah. Someone’s dunking on small-dollar donors again. If you know Jonah Goldberg and/or the corner of The Conservative Movement he calls home, his comments make a lot of sense - or at least, they’re not surprising. It’s easy to understand why someone like him might be extra cynical about the role angry Hannity-watchers play in fueling candidates that some would argue are unelectable and irresponsible. Let the gatekeepers gatekeep! Or something. While I don’t want anyone, for one second, to think I’m saying we should hold ourselves accountable to the Jonah Goldberg’s of the world, his comments should be a welcome gut check. Allow me to get philosophical. What are we actually accomplishing when we hit send on those fundraising emails or hit publish on those WinRed pages? If you said “raise money,” I would say: try again. Small-dollar donations have been and alway should be viewed as a means to an end. And this is where I think Mr. Goldberg’s cynicism is misplaced, as someone who neither operates in our field nor understands what we do. A small-dollar fundraising program isn’t about raising money to pay for ads; it’s about getting people to vote for your candidate by having them “buy into” your campaign. Literally. I think most of us understand this. Donations are a decently imperfect proxy for voter enthusiasm and support. I want a donor, yes, but I want a voter even more. So I take Goldberg’s criticism and so should you, lest we forget what we’re all fighting for here. It’s not just about the money. And to drive this point home even more, I simply leave you with this:
Thus concludes my Ted Talk.
--Out to Lake
As my inner Stanley Tucci likes to say, “GIRD YOUR LOINS!”
It looks like failed gubernatorial candidate Kari Lake is preparing to launch a Senate bid in Arizona this fall. Is anyone surprised? ::scans room:: Didn’t think so. Unfortunately, this pits her against Sheriff Mark Lamb. You literally can’t get any more based than Mark Lamb…unless you’re Kari Lake. And given the general dysfunction of the Arizona GOP, it’s anyone’s guess as to how this contest will ultimately play out. Kari Lake knows how to run a campaign. She knows how to get attention and garner headlines. Her digital presence is unmatched. I will say this (fwiw): I did have to unsubscribe from her SMS list a couple months ago. I just couldn’t take it anymore. While very on brand for her, I found the constant fundraising to pay for election challenges to be so grift-y and over-the-top, and it was making me want to claw my GOP eyes out. Still, that’s just me and I don’t live in Arizona. So let’s see what happens, shall we? If she wins, it’ll be because of moments like this.
--Hosemann Held On
In case you didn’t know, the Lt. Gubernatorial primary election was held this week in Mississippi, and boy was it a nail-biter! Chris McDaniel (yes THAT Chris McDaniel) challenged incumbent Lt. Gov. Delbert Hosemann and…it wasn’t looking so good for Delbert (what a name!) for awhile. Still, he eked out a victory Tuesday night with about 52% of the vote. In the last 30 days, he spent almost $120,000 on Facebook ads alone, which is a decent sum for a small statewide! And I have to say…they were quality ads. Most of them were face-to-camera from either straight-up supporters of Hosemann talking about what he’s done for Mississippi, while others featured former McDanial supporters talking about why they flipped. The campaign’s closing ads, though, were quite the departure from the negative anti-McDaniel stuff we saw from Hosemann in June and July. But here’s the lesson I think we can take from the Hosemann campaign: By all accounts he invested in digital early and didn’t take his foot off the gas. He didn’t take his re-election for granted, he put money behind a variety of different messaging, and he ended on a mostly positive note. Good calls, all around.
Merch Shout-out
In honor of the Iowa State Fair and all things Midwest, I’d like to pause and recognize Senator Chuck Grassley (a GD national treasure) and his merch store. I don’t know if any of this stuff is new per se, but what a quality set of shirts! Get yours here, and have a corntastic day!
2024 Roundup
Mike Pence made the debate stage in Milwaukee. He also spent much of the week touting an energy plan, and posted a video on Facebook of him pumping gas while talking about said plan. Watch it here. Hashtag content.
Vivek Ramaswamy celebrated turning 38 years young AND posted a gazillion-word tweet questioning what we’ve been told about 9/11. Read it here if you have the time.
Doug Burgum-backing Super PAC, Best of America PAC, dropped $4 million on an ad campaign in Iowa and New Hampshire. Watch it here.
Axios reported that Tim Scott’s burn rate is through the roof. He also started slinging a new t-shirt with “OpTIMism” on the front. Very on brand; get yours here.
Donald Trump took to Truth Social to make fun of Chris Christie’s weight. I’ll go ahead and link it here.
Christie took to Twitter to challenge Trump to say it to his face. See the tweet here.
The DeSantis reset continued with the sidelining (can we call it that?) of campaign manager Generra Peck.
Basically everyone has been at the Iowa State Fair. That’s really all there is to it! Rattlesnake was consumed. Babies were held. Ferris wheels were ridden. Cows were appreciated. Ruthless Podcast hosts were fist-bumped….The list goes on.
Will Hurd co-hosted the Pivot Podcast (one of my favs) with Kara Swisher. Listen to it here .
Who’s Spending Where
Between August 3-9, SOS America PAC was the top conservative spender on Facebook ads, with $433,651. Sound of Freedom Movie came in second with about $416,000 in ad spend. Protect Women Ohio came in third place with just over $200,000 in spend to advocate for voting YES on Issue 1 (RIP). Here’s what I’ll say about Issue 1: From a messaging perspective, it didn’t seem like the Right really got its act together. I’ll just say it: These ads are confusing, and I like to think I’m pretty good at absorbing complicated political messages. I know it’s easy to be critical when you’re an outsider looking in, but….yeah, that’s all I’ve got to say about that.
ANYWAY, fourth and fifth place in terms of Facebook spending go to Americans for Prosperity ($98,000) and Perry Johnson for President ($84,000).
The top Republican spender on Google from August 3-9 was Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee ($104,000) - all on fundraising ads. Never Back Down PAC came in second with $73,000, while Hurd for America came in third place by spending $56,000 on search ads to his website - including one that reads “An Artificial Intelligence Definition for Dummies - Will Hurd”. Gotta love it! Vivek 2024 and Protect Our Constitution round out the top 5. The Protect Our Constitution ads also add to the confusion around Issue 1. They ads tell viewers to vote yes on 1 to…protect farmers?!? I got nothing.
P2P
Industry Watch
Can anyone really, truly decipher what the new Twitter CEO is saying here?
“The rebrand represented really a liberation from Twitter, a liberation that allowed us to evolve past a legacy mindset and thinking, and to reimagine how everyone, how everyone on Spaces who’s listening, everybody who’s watching around the world, [how] it’s going to change how we congregate, how we entertain, how we transact all in one platform.”
In other Twitter news, can you blame Elon for going after that mention volume metric?
The Grapevine
ICYMI: There was more consultant sniping on Twitter this week. Do I like it? No. Am I here for it? Yes. It’s like a bad reality show that I can’t stop watching.
Did NV Senate candidate Sam Brown set up a PAC to use it as a slush fund to pay down campaign debt? Blah. Headlines like these aren’t great.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav Disney princess movie? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Another day, another “deep dive” into the left’s state-of-the-art data play for 2024. So brave! So smart! So innovative! Per Axios:
President Biden's campaign — racing Republicans to identify persuadable 2024 voters — is leaning into a recently developed database that includes contact information for 90% of U.S. voters, gleaned from 500 organizations during the past decade…Democrats involved with the program say the database is a response to Republicans' Data Trust, an independent information warehouse that shares data and information with conservative groups under an agreement with the Republican National Committee.
Raise your hand if you’re excited for the Data Wars of 2024! Also raise your hand if this sounds eerily familiar. From the Washington Post circa ::checks notes:: 2020:
Dean is testing that cooperate-better adage as the chairman of a private company that is serving as a data exchange for Democratic campaigns, committees and left-leaning groups. The company, Democratic Data Exchange, is the upshot of several election cycles in which Democrats felt they were well behind Republican counterparts in reaching out to their voters and persuading those on the fence to join their cause…Democrats are taking a page from the GOP playbook that amounts to if you can’t beat them, join them. For years Republicans have relied on Data Trust, also a private company, to serve as an exchange operation for GOP campaigns, committees and conservative outside groups.
As I write this, I know I sound insanely cynical. But I would love for someone to explain to me how the Axios piece this week isn’t a great example of Democrat tech getting glowing press coverage for literally no reason at all. Like, this thing was around in 2020, but it’s getting Axios coverage now? From what I can tell, the only news hook is that the Biden Campaign is “leaning into” the data exchange. Give. Me. A. Break.
From the other side of the tracks:
Digiday has a nice little visual guide to influencer marketing in 2023, and yes, these tips and tricks are good to know for anyone in the content game - even in politics. For example: Were you aware that TikTok-style dance videos are OUT? (Thank God). Niche and micro influencers are IN? Check it out and thank me later.
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!
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