Based in the Bayou
Doomscroll 10.15.23
Hello again and happy Sunday. It’s been a week, and if you needed to put something a little stronger in your coffee this morning I am not here to judge! If this email was forwarded to you, hit that subscribe button and help me make me mid-month goal!
One Question
Thanks to everyone who DID NOT answer last week’s One Question. Yes, you read that right. If you recall, I took a reader-submitted question about graphic design inspo and threw it to the group! You guys were either stumped or didn’t care, because I have no results to report. And that’s the last time I take a question from a reader! Jk jk. Doomscroll’s One Question will live to fight another day.
This week I want to ask about a P2P thing that’s been bugging me. You may or may not have picked up on the fact that one of my all-time biggest pet peeves is P2P messages that don’t identify the sender. I would say…at least half the messages I receive on a weekly basis are like this, and it drives me crazy. I’m sure a bunch of you currently write, or have written, P2P copy so I want to know: what gives? Is it word count? Have you tested both and found there was no difference in performance so you figured why bother? Do you think it helps to not say who’s sending the message? I’m genuinely curious.
Who’s Doing What
--Things just got a little more interesting in Arizona
This might just end up being my favorite 2024 Senate race to watch. On Tuesday, Kari Lake officially jumped into the Republican Senate primary, pitting her against Sheriff Mark Straight-Into-My-Veins-Lamb AND potentially Blake Masters. Lake’s announcement was everything you’d expect it to be. The announcement video is lit. Her website might be flawless. She has great merch. You might think she’s a little nutty - ok. All I’m saying is we can probably all take notes from Kari Lake’s digital presence and her command of social media. I also found it interesting that she didn’t go after Lamb in her rollout. In fact, she’s spent most of the week attacking Kyrsten Sinema and Ruben Gallego. Lamb? Nothing. So I am curious how she’ll deal with Lamb moving forward. Lamb, for his part, did send a couple fundraising emails mentioning Lake - but nothing too crazy. It seems like his line of “attack,” for now anyway, is going to focus on his ability to actually win elections. Like I said: this is gonna be a great race!
--Settling lawsuits in NC
This is an interesting story that caught my eye this week. A Democrat state senate candidate in North Carolina was forced to settle with her Republican opponent after running a defamatory campaign ad during the 2022 campaign cycle. The two parties just reached a voluntary settlement this week, that included this Facebook post from the Democrat/losing candidate Marcia Morgan:
Michael Lee and I just resolved a lawsuit regarding a political advertisement that my campaign ran in 2022. Following the guidance of the NC Senate Democratic Caucus’s staff and consultants, my campaign ran an advertisement that accused Michael Lee of using his position as a NC Senator to obtain special favors for his real estate developer clients. I regret that my accusations were not based on actual facts. I am grateful to put this matter behind me and move forward.”.
Key takeaways: First, I love how she threw the state Democratic party under the bus. LOL. Second, it’s rare that we see campaign ads actually have legal ramifications like this. Ads are meant to push the envelope. Most campaigns employ a LOT of leeway in their messaging (case in point: just look at every abortion-related ad Virginia Democrats are running right now). But this is a great reminder that you DO have to be careful. And make sure you hire at least one lawyer to review your consultant’s advice so the reality bug doesn’t bit you later on ;)
--7th District Do-over
Derrick Anderson is once again running for Congress in Virginia’s 7th Congressional District. Good for him. Anderson, if anyone remembers, ran for the nomination in 2022 and lost to Yesli Vega…who then went on to lose to Democrat Rep. Abigail Spanberger. This is going to be an interesting race to watch. Many are speculating Spanberger will resign her seat to and launch a campaign for governor instead. This is also an expensive district. It drew more than $20 million in independent expenditures in 2022. But anyway, back to Derrick. On paper, he seems like the ideal candidate. Green beret-turned-lawyer-turned politician. In a district just outside of Washington with a lot of military personnel and contractors alike, I’m sure his profile should play well. But it does have me wondering: He’s already lost a primary once before…will he be able to turn things around this time? He’s got a decent website, but because I think he can take it, I’m going. to knock him a little for his announcement video. If' you, like me, watch it and then wonder where the heck you’ve seen it before…it’s because you have. It’s the same video a million other candidates have produced. Same formula. Same script. Same imagery. Same messaging. Where have we seen this before?? All over the place, that’s where. Look, I hope Anderson does well, but here’s hoping his digital campaigning gets a little more creative!
--Getting based in the Bayou
I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about the Louisiana gubernatorial race and give a big ol’ high five to Jeff Landry! Raise your hand if you love a good jungle primary! Raise your hand if you love seeing a governor’s mansion flip from Democrat to Republican! Landry kicked his ad spending into high gear in recent weeks, which I’m sure had everything to do with his big win last night (duh). Most of his ads were run-of-the-mill GOTV, and then there are lots and lots on-the-ground images of Landry from the campaign trail. A very “more-is-more!” strategy. But a couple others did stand out. This endorsement video from a mom of 4 and breast cancer survivor stood out - not only because of its message but also because of the way the added the captions on top. Aesthetically, I don’t love it BUT I do appreciate captions like that will make an ad pop more. Then there’s the 60-second face-to-camera spot Steve Scalise filmed! Same captions.Very nice. Also: these 2 crime spots. Hard to watch. Very compelling. The Landry team executed the crime message very well.
2024 Roundup
Doug Burgum revived his summertime fundraising campaign by launching a new campaign to give away $20 gas cards to any new donor. See the tweet here.
The DeSantis campaign is investing $2 million into an Iowa ad campaign that will run from mid-November through the caucus on January 15. Read more about it here.
Vivek Ramaswamy had a busy week going after his rivals for their positions on how far U.S. support of Israel should go. See one tweet here.
Speaking of Vivek, he also visited the border this week with Babylon Bee staffer and influencer(?) Ashley St. Clair and got a lot of cross-posted content out of it.
Will Hurd dropped out and endorsed Nikki Haley. Read about it here.
Several candidates filed to be on the ballot in New Hampshire: Nikki Haley, Doug Burgum, Ron DeSantis, Asa Hutchinson…I’m probably missing some. Meanwhile, Vivek added his name to the South Carolina ballot.
Donald Trump launched a new anti-abortion ad, highlighting how Roe v Wade was overturned during his presidency. See it here.
Who’s Spending Where
From October 5 -11, AFP Action was the top conservative spender on Facebook, at about $135,000 on anti-Trump ads. Are they effective? Who the heck knows. Americans for Prosperity is the second-largest spender with just over $128,000 on lead-gen ads. PragerU spent roughly $75,000 on ads hyping Prager content on red-meat issues like tech censorship and protecting female sports. Landry for Louisiana comes in at fourth place with $58,000 in ad spend, while the Foundation to Combat Anti-Semitism Inc (yes, I’m absolutely considering this a center-right advertiser this week) spent almost $57,000 on ads centered around standing with the Jewish people.
AFP Action was also the top spender on Google this week, with about $134,000 in spend. Trust in the Mission PAC spent $47,000, while Make America Great Again Inc spent $44,000 on a Trump-Biden contrast spot. SFA Inc spent $37,000 on ads, and Landry for Louisiana and Prager University tied for fifth place with $25.9K in ad spend.
P2P
Industry Watch
If you thought the legal drama over TikTok was over…think again. Per the AP, Utah has filed a new lawsuit against the company. Here’s more:
Utah became the latest state Tuesday to file a lawsuit against TikTok, alleging the company is “baiting” children into addictive and unhealthy social media habits.
TikTok lures children into hours of social media use, misrepresents the app’s safety and deceptively portrays itself as independent of its Chinese parent company, ByteDance, Utah claims in the lawsuit.
…
“TikTok designed and employs algorithm features that spoon-feed kids endless, highly curated content from which our children struggle to disengage. TikTok designed these features to mimic a cruel slot machine that hooks kids’ attention and does not let them go,” Utah Attorney General Sean Reyes said at the news conference.
The lawsuit seeks to force TikTok to change its “destructive behavior” while imposing fines and penalties to fund education efforts and otherwise address damage done to Utah children, Reyes said.
I’m no fan of TikTok, but I’m also no fan of governments overstepping its bounds when it comes to regulating private business. It’s not totally clear to me what actual steps the government of Utah can take to force TikTok to change its ways or its algorithm. Nor is it obvious to me that it should. I think we can all agree it’s not great that kids are on social media in general…but what role the government should play in sorting that out isn’t that obvious to me. Hi, limited-government conservative here!
The Grapevine
Many of you may have seen the news this week that GP3 is launching a new subsidiary called GP3 Technology Group. I love this - especially since it’s coming at a time when progressive tech is in, shall we say, an unprecedented state of disarray. Anyway, longtime Doomscroll readers know I have a soft spot for all things tech-related, so when I saw the announcement I immediately reached out to my pal (and yours) Eric Wilson for more deets! Eric is going to serve as the groups’ new Vice President, and he happily agreed to do a little Q & A for us. Thanks, Eric!
For starters, explain the genesis of GP3 Tech! How did this come about?
GP3 Tech grew out of Bullpen Technology Group where we were building software and integrating new technology like AI into products we use internally and on behalf of clients. Now we're excited to do the same for all of GP3 member firms, their clients, and others in the industry.
Speaking from your own experience, what’s the biggest gap we have in our tech stack on the right these days?
With GP3 Tech, we're focused initially on building capacity, getting efficiencies, and speeding up processes for our GP3 member firms and their clients. Essentially, we're working to add software to the services they offer.
Can you give us a sneak peak at any cool product launches coming down the pipeline?
The GP3 member firms are going to take the lead on promoting the applications we build alongside them, but I'm excited about the team we're building that includes technologists from across the network and is lead by David Seawright.
Anything else you’d like to add?
We're eager to help other firms in the political and public affairs space tackle their business challenges with software. Technology is transforming all industries, and that's true for the political and public affairs verticals, too. We are a concentrated solution for firms in our space looking to transform their businesses with technology investment. So whether that's identifying the right enterprise software or developing something custom, I hope people will get in touch.
Got a tip for The Grapevine? Job announcement? Job opening? Fav underrated Halloween candy? Email ‘em to me at itsthedoomscroll@gmail.com
Last But Not Least
From the other side of the aisle:
Two things this week. One: I love the audacity of Cenk Uygur running for president. I mean, it’s obviously a joke, right? Whatevs - I’m here for it. LMAOOOO
Ok here’s my real pick for this week: Jon Tester’s method for getting you to opt into his SMS list is pretty sweet. Pun intended. I like stuff like this. It’s personal and down-to-earth. I know he’s not the first one to do something like this, but for some reason Jon Tester offering up his wife’s rhubarb pie recipe hits a little different than when Katie Porter promised she’d send me her recipe for black bean soup (pass). And while I’m sitting here praising Jon Tester - a guy I hope gets sent to the woodshed next November - I may as well take it one step further: I love the idea of slinging merch by telling people the candidate designed it themselves! Who knows if it’s actually true, but also who cares? Love it.
From the other side of the tracks:
Ha! Love this. We all know KFC didn’t REALLY change its fries just because Twitter said to… but I like that they had fun with the rollout like this. Campaigns should do the same!
That’s all for this week. Thanks for reading! Did you like it? Consider forwarding to your friends!