Could these guys set themselves up as a SuperPAC? They could get money that way... call themselves something stirringly patriotic (and suitable opaque at the same time) like "Americans for Progress" or "People for the American Way" or "Citizens United"... oh, wait, those names are all taken by conservatives already. Looks like the Democrats are late to the big money big data political game again. Where's Soros, when you need a few hundred million...?! Seriously, this needs to happen. Somebody has to go against the Russian hackers, and it sure won't be Republicans.
36
The Democrat Party needs all the help it can get. As the numerous comments state here, they also need a message besides 'defeat Trump'. Obama stood for something ; hope for a better, more just life. He did his best to forward that hope. We need many more Obamas. Please vote.
25
Ok Techies someone make the add that shows Paul Ryan's school Secretary with her 1.50 a week tax cut then show the price increases that will occur because of Trumps import taxes at her local Walmart. You can call it bait and switch if you want.
28
Just how did FAANG get so powerful? With Obama’s blessing.
Tech will continue unfettered as it riffles our data, supported by a government that it helped elect.
Obviously, tech knows democrats are good for the tech industry. Very telling.
Tech for Campaigns is working out of self-interest, not altruism.
Be careful what you wish for.
14
I'm sorta amazed at the number of negative comments about technology in politics. Would those people who think this idea of helping Democratic candidates think it is better to leave the social media manipulation to Russia? I guess so.
33
Look at the picture. Everything says"its all about me". BTW Im in the business....there are no cybersecurity experts. One hole plugged another is opened.
16
Could this group use their skills to help state governments keep their voting machines and other election software from being hacked? That would go a long way toward helping Democrats and democracy!
26
I just wanted to reinforce the point made by some previous commenters: It would be fantastic to see this kind of volunteer effort expand into the cybersecurity domain. Currently, it looks like TFC's expertise is drawn from other areas (in their words: "web development, social media, paid marketing, and data analysis"). It would be great to see security specialists join their ranks. If the integrity or availability of our digital infrastructure in compromised, then that could cancel out the benefits of the efforts on the other technical fronts.
14
A cybersecurity expert is a candidate for congress in NY-23. Electing her would be one good step towards this goal.
24
This, this, a thousand times this. We vote every day with our wallets and with our time.
"I wish I could make a difference, but I only have two hours per day." Is there an App for that?
11
Democrats aren't winning anytime soon. Independents and moderates have no place to go other than the 3rd party or the Republicans. They can't afford a democratic agenda, rich techie democrats spending everyone's money but their own.
19
What a new age idea! I generally support Democrat causes but isn't it bit close minded that Tech for Campaigns only volunteer for Democrats? I realize the Republicans don't need much help but perhaps this volunteer organization curb the partisanship. I imagine there will be some clashes from a volunteer who is a whiz to a campaign teamer who's all about making phone calls and personally obtaining the votes. Clearly, much like MLB is obsessed with analytics, this organization has a new vision into how to obtain votes and will apply their "analytics" or data to campaigning. I bet Senator Warren is looking into this. This can help a grass-roots Democratic candidate immensely. Democrats always have hard time raising money but this tech approach to advertise themselves will go a long way. One has to feel little bit ashamed that someone like Donald Trump, who many ridicule as a fool, has exploited social media to his advantage over other Democratic candidates. Democrats are making a comeback.
5
Let us hope security experts are volunteering as well, if not the Dems should pay for tech security. As today's headline shows, they really botched it in 2016.
14
Maybe some cybersecurity seminars to the likes of John Podesta would be helpful.
11
Thank you, techies. We need you.
After reading through the indictment of the Russian military and its cyberattacks on the 2016 election, we need to go up several levels, especially in the conducting of the elections themselves but also whatever can help reach potential voters.
We also need to fight the propaganda from dark money, from Russia and other foreign interests, and from corporations and Koch types.
Cambridge Analytica and other companies, as well as social media, let our elections be tampered with.
Please help all the rising candidates as well as others who are not up to date about technology. Our democracy is in great danger now, and there is no democracy if you cannot reach people, give them the information they need to make decisions, and encourage them to vote.
20
If Google workers were ganging up to elect GOPers, democrats would push legislation to tax Google into oblivion.
11
Yeah, poor Republicans being ganged up on; what in the world would they know about that??? It’s just not FAIR!!! *crying a river*
6
James - Can you substantiate that the Democratic party wants to offshore all U.S. tech workers' jobs? I hadn't heard that. I know your comment invites the response, "well, these people care about more than themselves," but that would tacitly endorse your premise - and I don't know enough to do that. Thanks in advance for any clarification.
1
A “google tax”? On them alone?
You might help the DNC secure their IT servers. It has been reported there was zero security software on their IT server when it was hacked.
22
YES, YES, we need to get Democrats elected... Thank You for your help...
16
The Trump election "victory" watch party in SF/Silicon Valley election night was at TwitterHQ in SF. Perhaps one of the few tech companies that has benefited from the tweeting president.
2
Why would a tech worker want to support the party that wants offshore all their jobs? As a tech worker myself, I am raising an eyebrow
14
I wish these tech-savvy people also invite homeless people to stay with them, and practice what they preach.
20
Our county only uses absentee ballots. It is wonderful; it leaves a paper trail, it is less expensive, and once my vote is cast,, political adds are harmless.
Hope the lack of much techie stuff is ok.
13
All the technology in the world is worthless if you don't get the vote out. Technology is great but it plays a leading role only on occasion and depending on the people/person implementing it. Obama's online team and fundraising was a big boost. Trump had long been building his twitter and online chops. Just throwing a bunch of tech is part of the solution - but we need to get people out to vote - that means working all the neighborhoods and towns not just the cities and focusing campaigns on local concerns as we've seen. Follow Brooklyn's lead - keep the message simple, sincere, clear and keep pounding it.
6
Just say no to this idea.
Its an idea begging for someone to use tech skills to do something wrong. Which is pretty much what the whole tech industry is.
DEM's don't need any more corrupt people helping them the ones we have are enough.
12
Like a contentious fakily, the so-called grownups in the room, the "Old Guard", need to realize their time to govern is over. They need to allow the new blood come in.
2
Living in a deeply red district (if 55% is Deep Red?), I have been consistently deluged as elections approaches with attack adds (against) Democrats; Both physical mailers from "Americans for Prosperity" and online. I find in going door to door it is impossible to counter the propaganda organs control over the Trumpite base; They really believed that Hillary and her black helicopters were going to swoop in and take their guns.
Now we have a proliferation of Confederate Battle Flags, and the ideology they represent. Trumpites just don't seem to care how bad for their life prospects the Republicans are. If a little digital help will get out voters FOR Democrats, I am all for it, but what is really needed is massive amounts of money and bodies to match the Kochtopus effort and a generation of dis-information and poor education.
32
Irresistible, too?
OMG, just please leave me alone. Just like I don't want the Russians influencing my vote, I don't want Ms. Eskamani developing ads and targeting me either. I can actually research things and make up my own mind.
The digital age is a plague in this respect. People will stop at nothing to sell you, manipulate you (if they can), herd you, and it goes on and on. There should be one outlet for campaign materials and everyone treated the same. I never give money to politicians. Why should we even allow it?
15
Good point, did Silicone valley not cause enough trouble already, whats tbe difference between Russian on line influencers and this lot?
6
There's a big difference! These volunteers are NOT illegally hacking into candidate's systems and dumping all their official and private email and other confidential documents onto the Internet. When I read comments like this, all I can think is, Oh lord, help us!
P.S. And it' Silicon Valley unless you intended that as a pun.
3
C'mon. I do national digital campaigns for a living. The technology and analytics are available to anyone, and the idea that Dems have lagged the GOP is laughable. In fact, I still have a link to a NY Times article fawning over Obama's innovative digital media success in 2012. So, apparently, the uneducated deplorables have leapfrogged the intellectual elite, who are now desperately trying to catch up "before it's too late." Which, of course, is nonsense. It's not the platform. It's the message.
12
What you assert is in conflict with facts. You omit mention of Cambridge Analytics which did in fact leapfrog the Democrats (in addition to just plain cheating.) Did any of Obama's tech bros worked for Clinton? (There's probably a story there.) Clinton's campaign tech (and her email tech) was stuck in the 1990's. This is compounded by the FEC being stuck in the 1950s and unable to deal promptly with electronically-based mass cheating (fake PACS, milions of harrassing robo-calls) by the Republicans.
11
A strong video such as Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s on social media, targeted through a data-base or preferably networks of friends, is more effective than the old school approach of TV ads, big rallies, and robo-phone calls, but it’s still largely top-down, one-way, can miss poor people, and may require Big Donor money. The most effective approach is the most democratic and personal, working with grassroots organizations in neighborhoods, motivated volunteers going door to door, living room meetings, and sidewalk rallies. Trump plucks the heartstrings of his base with his tweets, slogans, and media dominance—the song is racist and xenophobic, but it’s a hit. Progressives aren’t demagogues and have a tougher job—reach voters’ hearts and minds by explaining complex issues honestly and clearly.
8
Your “online viewing experience” exists and is funded almost entirely by the advertisements and targeting that you are complaining about.
2
I thought these people were supposed to be smart. If you are a white tech worker in Silicon Valley you are enemy #1 to the left wing of the Democratic party. In San Francisco they are vilified for raising housing and apartment prices and gentrifying neighborhoods. liberal activists even block their shuttle busses in protest. This is the last party they should support.
11
Ah yes - the same tech wizards that sat behind their screens in downtown hipster elitist Brooklyn playing with their whiz bang apps and social media and their space age big data while drinking their Starbucks lattes and directing the failure that was Hillary 2016. The same folks that couldn't pick out Wisconsin on a map and brought us Trump. No amount of technology can or will fill the empty hole that is the soul of the current Democratic party. The problem isn't lack of internet ads and lists - it's that they have nothing of value to sell, and all the rich hipster techies in the world can't fix that. These elitists are part of the problem, not the answer.
25
Right on Peter!!!!
It wasn't the racists (who, oddly voted for Obama twice) or the Russians or the women who only listen to the men in their lives, it was simple arrogance- remember the NYTimes' Clinton 98% chance of winning? S
he failed to campaign in key States. Simple.
Heck, she went to Arizona hoping to "run up" the electoral college as the NYTimes reported. Arizona???
The Huffington Post had a great article about her loss. It included:
"As the Washington Post reported, Clinton’s campaign and outside groups supporting it aired more television ads in Omaha during the closing weeks than in Michigan and Wisconsin combined. And as NBC News reported, during the final 100 days of the election, Trump made 133 visits to Florida, Pennsylvania, Ohio, North Carolina, Michigan and Wisconsin while Clinton made 87."
You cannot expect to win if you fail to campaign. Simple.
https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/clinton-campaign-neglect_us_582cacb...
21
> All they want to do is to take my hard earned money and distribute it to other individuals
Ridiculous oversimplification, and also wrong.
> The Democratic party is run by old geezers
Trump. McConnell. Hatch. Grassley.
12
You (and the Dems) still don't get it. The fact that Trump, Hatch & McConnell are old, does not make Hillary, Pelosi & Schumer young. The Reps are connecting with their intended audience; the Dems are not.
Why, this sounds like Dark Money, suspicious and unregulated. Also sounds like unreported in kind campaign contributions.
Never mind. It's for a good cause...electing socialists to overthrow...oops...bring the USA into the 21st century.
9
Why would you automatically assume it's unreported donation of campaign contributions? Campaigns routinely deal with the reporting of volunteer time and in kind donations. Why cast dispersion by jumping to conclusions and assuming the worst?
9
Oh, they just want a green card stapled to the diploma of every foreign students' US university degree...just like H Clinton promised. As if that was good for American STEM students getting crowded out.
Oh, and not to forget doubling the badly abused and little audited so-called skilled worker visas: H1b, L1 and B1.
Nope.
Where can I go to contribute AGAINST that?
19
Why would I want to vote for a Democrat. All they want to do is to take my hard earned money and distribute it to other individuals. There must be a reason that thousands of Californians and others relocate to beautiful and exciting Nevada. Very low real estate taxes and no state income tax.
The Democratic party is run by old geezers like Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi. Where is the youth?
10
Both parties have no problem with corporate welfare, and I would say the Republicans are willing to dole out more money to their corporate masters than the Democrats. More than one trillion dollars on military spending when departments that support the DOD are included.
16
I'd rather die than move to the barren desert that is Nevada and I've been all over the state dozens of times over my lifetime. Higher taxes to live in the comparative paradise of California is totally worth the price.
What these anti-taxers don't get is that for most of us who are true Californians life isn't all about money and low taxes. Living in an inclusive community where all are cared for, even the least among us as the Bible says, and the beautiful environment is cared for the future generations is worth the price of higher taxes.
And so what if people are leaving? I only want people here who care about what Californians care about and are willing to be full members of our advancing society. The rest of you can have your low taxes with barren landscapes, white supremacy and superstitious mythologies dictating public policy, and people dying for lack of health care or a living wage. Sounds like hell to me and I'm happy to pay to avoid it.
20
"I gave them fire....from which they will learn many skills."
Prometheus in
Aeschylus's Prometheus Bound
Electronic voting is ok only if it is backed up by paper ballots stored in secure locations. The paper backup must be provided to the voter so she/he can validate their vote and then put in a lock box.
I believe we will never see a democratic majority legislative branch of government and probably no democrat president until all the states require paper backups. We will have to do this state by state because no way will the current legislative branch require paper backups.
7
Election integrity expert Jonathan Simon says that paper ballots give us a false assurance because they almost never see the light of day. The ballots, memory cards, and software code have been deemed to be “corporate property” and are off limits to the public, candidates, and in most cases election administrators.
Verifying your vote won’t work. All that a printout tells you is how you voted but it does not tell you how your vote was tabulated.
7
While using digital media is a good idea, using electronic voting machines is a very bad idea. We must follow the example of other democracies and return to counting ballots by hand.
“The [vote-counting] system is computerized and privatized. Private companies tell us what the vote is. And we have no way to check it. We have no way to tell if it's honest. That’s the real danger here.” — Mark Crispin Miller: Can U.S. Elections Really Be Stolen? Yes (on YouTube)
“There is no reason to trust insiders in the election industry any more than in other industries.” — Jimmy Carter and James Baker (Victoria Collier: How to Rig an Election https://tinyurl.com/y9xx63f6)
“You cannot have secure electronic voting, it doesn't exist. [Hand-counted paper ballots is the only way to make voting secure." —Republican Stephen Spoonamore: Computer Security Guru, Election Theft with Voter Machines https://tinyurl.com/y7855vmp
“The idea that we have an unobservable vote-counting system should strike people on its face as insane.” — Election Theft in the 21st Century with Jonathan Simon https://tinyurl.com/ydz3jcvj
“The [exit poll] evidence does not inspire confidence. But whatever you think of the evidence, there is no justification for a system without the possibility of public verification." — Josh Mitteldorf: Intro to Election Theft in America (part 1 of 4) https://tinyurl.com/yanc473c
“A privatized, secret ballot count must be viewed as a violation of our civil rights.” — Victoria Collier
12
The leaders of the Democratic Party are old enough to be on Medicare. Most are still astounded by the iPhone. The Democratic Party is fossilized as this article makes clear. Hopefully, enough volunteers can give the Party some energy.
But if the Democrats fail to get control of a majority of State Houses and the House of Representatives, the rank and file Democrats must demand and get a wholesale change of leaders.
The GOP has gone pro-Putin with Trump. A vitalized Democratic Party is essential to keeping our democracy
6
Some are old enough to have been on Medicare for 20 years!
3
Thanks Chris from Philly for articulating my thoughts. The recipe for a win in November by the democratic party is not to keep repeating the same mistakes over and over again expecting a different result. The democrats have to accept the pearls of wisdom from Bill Clinton and that is Obmacare is the craziest system in the world and it needs to be reformed or replaced with a better system. Democrats also have to as you say stop talking nonsense about abolishing ICE and should encourage Americans to keep the micro environment clean by reducing toxic second hand smoke and encourage people to drive smaller fuel efficient cars.
8
ACA is most similar to the Swiss system that happens to be the best in the world by several measures. One thing is to talk fantasies of better systems, and one thing is to see what actually works for real countries.
14
It boils down to elections not won on ideas and track record but on everything else (money, marketing chops, smear campaigns, ...). Sure, it's legal and the opponents are good at it. Not sure what the way out is. If people are swayed by TV or FB ads, it's hard to build system of representative government on that.
3
The world is run by those who show up. And that begins, at the very least level, by voting. IF you can NOT do that, please don't whine about the outcome.
In many respects, we deserve the outcome we've gotten since the 2016 election. Don't like it? Endeavor to change it, in any way. P
10
That's easier said than done. With racial gerrymandering all but sanctioned by SCOTUS and heavy restrictions put on early voting in slave states from Mississippi to Georgia to NC and beyond, the act of voting will get more and more difficult if you're a person of color living in slave states in the south.
5
It's not surprising that after the debacle, and highly lucrative business model, of Cambridge Analytical, techies are now more than eager to replicate such model. But it is important to ask who are these technocrats? The self-appointed "defenders of the democratic system" who will try to reverse the dialectical historical process in which we find ourselves? Are they the real entitled segment of US society who feel they know what's best for the rest of us? Or perhaps disgruntled by-products of a free society who want only their narrow political and social views imposed on us all?
Americans of all political persuasions should fear this type of new political activism partial to one party.
7
As the 2016 election demonstrates, technocrats are not partial to one party. There have been an abundance of them, starting when Roger Ailes drafted his 15 page memo for Nixon on a GOP strategy for using TV to disseminate propaganda and culminating with the Bannon-Mercer cabal's use of Cambridge Analytica and Russian hackers to twist Americans to vote against their own best interests. Young techies volunteering to upgrade websites for local candidates hardly rates the same.
4
Just read the article, went to the organization site, and DONATED. Will do this every month until midterms.
34
Hmm...let's see the "tech" groups involved..."companies like Google, Facebook, Netflix and Airbnb"? Oh...the marketing-NOT-tech creeps and megacorps. Right.
The "tech" workers involved would do better by resigning from those megacorps first, each of which has attacked our privacy and democracy, and then using what money they earned from them to make sure TfC's servers and databases run free(dom-respecting) software on computers independent of the creepy "Cloud".
Anything less defames actual tech programmers and academics, who now have the stigma of being soulless nerds who make Zuckerberg and Larry Page rich and foist Denuvo, Red Shell, Samba, and other malware on programs, media, computers, and TVs. Actual tech programmers are in the same position as the woman with the Puerto Rico shirt hounded by a man and ignored by a cop: bigotedly told to go back to the Mexico of Facebook, even when they have exactly no connection to that place.
10
Whoa - are you so pure you can throw the baby out with the bath water? We know the problems associated with Facebook, etc. Does that mean all these people are evil? You are not living on the same planet as the rest of us. Make some distinctions please. Until the revolution, you are living in a Capitalist world which contains the worst and the best.
3
So, has the Electoral College been eliminated? Or do the Dems still have their heads in the sand about that?
1
"The "tech" workers involved would do better by resigning from those megacorps first..."
OK, sure. But will your husband pay for their food & rent too?
1
It makes me uncomfortable that tech workers are involved in any campaign. Are the they going to hack into the polling booths?
17
Tech and old-fashioned leg work win the day. I started volunteering with an online group last year that was working to elect Doug Jones in Alabama. Even after Roy Moore's (many) scandals broke, the common wisdom was that he was going to win.
In watching the organizing and fundraising going on, and how grassroots work was distributing the funds and people where they were most needed (from organizing bus rentals to drive voters to the polls, to training poll watchers, to writing postcards, making sure there were yard signs in a neighborhood that didn't have them...and so on).
Even as my friends were still predicting there was no way Jones could win, I knew about a week before that he would. Some of my friends still owe me a dinner!
10
Tom Perez is 56.
Spreading the message isn't the problem. The problem is the message itself. The Dem leadership is pressing all the wrong issues, most notably the push for relaxing immigration laws. The average voter does not want this.
What they SHOULD be pushing is education, infrastructure, the environment - issues that are actually important to the average American and that the GOP has been neglecting.
78
For the sake of America, which under President Trump is being restored to that which the Patriots fought and died. is my sincere hope that they fail. Thank you.
13
I didn't know our founding fathers fought to make corporations citizens. Everything I ever read said they didn't like corporations and didn't trust them. They believed a corporation should have a limited purpose and life. When that purpose was completed, the corporations died. It's exactly the opposite of what trump is fighting for.
29
@Bill,
With all due respect, sir, I imagine that you prefer a liberal interpretation of the Constitution as opposed to a strict literal interpretation. The Citizens United decision was just that, a liberal interpretation of 1st Amendment, in which Chief Justice Roberts wrote that the right free speech applies to corporations, composed of individuals, have the same rights as individuals. Sorry, you can have it both ways, supporting a liberal interpretation as in Roe, but opposing a liberal interpretation as in Citizens United. Thank you.
2
It's a massive and entirely disingenuous leap to compare Citizens United (which was supported by Scalia and the court's conservative wing) with Roe v Wade. It undermines your argument that the modern conservative movement has any resemblance to the country's founding principles.
Thanks to Ms. Jessica Alter and other Tech for Campaigns for helping get smart, qualified democrats elected.
However, tech is only part of the answer. Tech should be used as a tool for WE THE PEOPLE to manage our lives - not control them. People are not "digits" and data is only useful to a point.
The real answer is for these courageous Socially Conscious Women and men who are running for office at every level of government to get out meet their constituents. Smile and them shake their hands. Tell them what you plan to do for them - preserve/restore true democracy in OUR United States. Give them your personal phone number so they can follow up with you. Do NOT make promises you can't keep.
NOW it the time. WE THE PEOPLE are counting on you and WE have your back. Go Get 'Em!
17
“People don’t understand how not far along we are as a party,” Ms. Alter said. “Obama was really good at tech, but it never trickled down to a Senate race, let alone the state-level stuff.”
And this resulted in the loss of state legislatures and congressional control virtually across the board. The Democratic leadership could've (and should've) had this level of tech savvy incorporated into their approach before 2010, yet here we are with the GOP controlling every branch of the federal government and the bulk of state legislatures without needing to win a popular vote. My question is: just how much more failure are we going to tolerate from our so called leaders?
17
The loss of state legislatures occurred because Democrats’ policies did not appeal to voters. Not because they didn’t have a “digital campaign.”
18
Eric, BIG money is behind the republican party. That is why they have such high-level tech skills.
Corporations and supposed non-profit corporations/agencies write the expense off on their taxes and they work together to share the latest technology.
Facebook embedded employees into The Con Don's campaign offices.
Ms. Hillary Rodham Clinton's campaign refused, as they should have.
It is time to regulate the hell out of tech so they can't control OUR lives and governments.
8
Odd, because more people voted democratic than republican. I believe gerrymandering and voter suppression had a lot to do with it.
4
Laughable - the RNC has a $47 Million cash on hand and the DNC is $6 Million in the hole. Abolishing ICE and smearing the Kavanaugh nomination are not even remotely winnable arguments. The Mueller investigation is smelling more and more of partisan bias/taint everyday. The economy is booming, Black and Hispanic employment are at record highs, ISIS has been obliterated; Iran and NOKO have been muted; the US Embassy moved to Jerusalem; and egregious Trade Imbalances are being addressed. Nice to have 4,500 tech workers helping - what’s the winning argument that the Dinosaur Dem “leadership” can sell to independents (we hate Trump won’t cut it)?
29
If you actually want to get Democrats elected by using technology, you would develop an online/smartphone voting system. When people don't need to leave their couches to vote, turnout will skyrocket.
This would be a huge win for Democrats and democracy alike.
(And if you think this would be susceptible to hacking, just check out one example that shows how vulnerable our current system is: https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/21/magazine/the-myth-of-the-hacker-proof...
5
"When people don't need to leave their couches to vote, turnout will skyrocket."
If you're too lazy to get off the couch to vote, a good bet is that you're also too lazy to inform yourself on the choices at the ballot box. Not what we need right now.
2
4500 tech workers can't bridge the Grand Canyon sized gap between "Abolish ICE!" and those that want our borders and immigration laws enforced. Good luck...
6
Yet another example that the mainstream Democratic Party has indeed become the party of the rich.
17
What a positive after the fake Russian accounts. Keep up the pressure.
4
Having worked in and out of Congress for 20 years, this is very encouraging. The digital asymmetry suffered by the Democrats on campaigns is one set of challenges, but they also need help once they get elected. The party has lacked an institutional game-plan for decades (Gingrich preceded Trump as apex predator of the swamp--his strategy was to ruin Congress' ability to be the First Branch of Government. He destroyed Congress' own capacity to act and then outsourced vital information needs to private interests and ideological allies). This gap also exists today on the digital front. The GOP is far more invested in cultivating a party-wide digital worldview. It brings in the staff, the technical chops, the training and the systems-sustaining resources in a way that the Democrats have not yet matched. The age of Dem party leadership presents a huge worldview obstacle for the Dems, too. You can still love them (San Francisco, that's you) but a person can't see a networked, distributed world while still clinging to a 3 ring binder and a pager.
16
As a very frustrated progressive, I can’t thank these volunteers enough. Kudos to you all for donating your time and talents to this worthy cause.
Lately I’ve wondered if the current Democratic leadership really wants to win, or if we’re watching very poor Kabuki theatre. A sizable majority of Americans support the policies and programs of the Democratic Party, provided they are polled on issues without party identification and buzz-words. Yet, somehow, the Dems can’t package themselves in a way that leads to decisive majorities.
In addition to their policy advantages, they now have the gift of a wholly corrupt and incompetent president and Republican Congress. Yet, it seems that they are barely scratching the surface in taking advantage and turning the tables. Why?
After 18 months of blaming Trump, his base, and the Republican House and Senate, I’m now focused squarely on the Democrats and their record of failure. We need new leadership, new ideas, and a fresh approach. This volunteer group is a great start.
69
Great! We can use all the help we can get. I hope most of the effort is for getting out the vote because that is the weakest link.
15
Exactly what is the big difference of having tech types willing to help with campaigns for Democrats and having Fox News broadcasting Trump messages and interviews 24 hours a day!he has an entire TV station at his disposal plus daily contact with the broadcasters who will push his message both on TV and social media.You don't think that Fox News is insignificant compared to some tech savvy campaign workers do you?
3
Twitter is Trump's preferred method of influencing people; wake up; people! Use the tool he uses; Twitter. It costs nothing; just some work. I followed Anna Eskamani; she has 2500 followers at this time. Follow her; it costs nothing. Facebook is there; also very cost effective. You do not have to run ads; but get your "emotional" positions out there. Emotion is what gets people motivated. Play the audio of those crying kids; worth tons of votes. Use social media; it is the most cost effective and reaches people quickly. Ray Sipe
13
Well, hopefully the Democrats accepting this assistance are not compromising in some sort of quid pro quo and abandoning policy platforms of breaking up & heavily regulating big tech. This seems like a potentially disturbing extension of surveillance capitalism.
Google, Facebook, etc. and the entire tech industry are somewhat analogous to Rockefeller's Standard Oil, before the trust-busting and reforms to tame the excesses of an unregulated industrial age.
The Center for Democracy and Technology in Washington, DC is an organization that stands for returning balance to this industry, including with respect to privacy, control of data, etc.
The majority of voters are independents. Don't care which party someone is in but looks at who the given human being is and the actual policies that person supports.
6
It would be an interesting twist if a non-partisan group was established to elect the individual that would best represent the citizens of this country regardless of party as there are individuals on both sides of all parties who truly want to represent us, the people. The divisiveness generated as the electorate and the elected align with party regardless of what's best for the country is discouraging and straining our current form of government. Painful as it may be at the time, our political leadership from all parties needs to focus on who they serve vs. on what they need to do to survive the party and special interest pressures in Washington and get re-elected. It's may be pollyannish as I've experienced how the system truly works first hand, but something has to change and one more party focused group isn't the answer.
9
Chuck - if it enables our democracy to survive long enough to evolve, it is the answer at this time. I'm sure you've noticed that we are in perilous times.
4
Like Alex said, its apples and oranges. This group will be conducting the same marketing that all sorts of companies do. Cambridge Analytica obtained private data that users had assumed was secure.
4
Really? Maybe it's about getting the message out? Why do you think companies spend so much on advertising? Doesn't matter one bit how good the product is if very few people are aware of it.
1
When a party leadership is made of people 75 and older that is the result we get. Does anyone think Pelosi, Schumer, Perez understand a word about social media?
Even if this project ends up helping some local candidates, the Democrats better change their leadership as soon as possible., from Congress to the DNC.
A 20 years old student who is asked to vote for a Democrat was 5 years when Pelosi became the leader of the House Dems. Since then, Republicans have had 3 different leaders.
16
This ageism has gotten old. Have you checked Trump's date of birth?
16
Why is it that when Democrats and Tech for Campaigns use personal data from social media they are lauded for being able to "promote themselves on social media, build their email lists and use data analytics to identify potential donors." But when Republicans and Cambridge Analytica do the same thing, it's an attach on democracy?
16
Not sure if this is rhetorical, but probably because the data they collected wasn't done so using a massive, immoral (and potentially illegal) data gathering scheme?
27
Clinton won California by 5 million votes and I didn't even include all the NE states, yet she won by 3 million, Glad we have the electoral college around so leftist dems don't dominate every election with their left coast NE flawed mentality. There's a reason to the electoral college and this election proves why.
9
So when Dems do it, it's great, Republicans do it and it's a scandal like Cambridge Analytica. Will Dems ever be able to make a decision are is it still NEVER TRUMP? All that work will be for nothing as trump is going to win in 2020.
14
I take great pleasure in watching Dunning-Kruger at work here. My fellow tech workers think they're capable of anything, and that Mortals can't survive without them.
At the heart of this approach to politics is "we just have to make sure The Rubes see enough ads; they're idiots who will vote for whoever has the most social media posts, you see".
16
Samantha, the question is what is someone using their talent and education for? Someone may have a certain talent but how much respect does that person deserve when they utilize it for the purpose of data harvesting, data tracking, surveillance, exploitation of human nature, imposition and enforcement of double standards, etc.? Unfortunately what we have seen too often is a worship of disruption solely for the sake of disruption (and IPO paydays).
3
You mean, like the Republican/Russian approach?
1
Social Media is the key to winning elections now. GOP uses hate/negativity/fear on Facebook;Twitter etc as a strong motivator to get people to vote for them.32 comments on this article now; so; most people do not think it is an issue.Digital Age is where it is at; print; snail mail is the past. Wake up non Trumpers; go digital or go extinct. Ray Sipe
3
A good idea. Obama did get a lot of help from young tech people in his first presidential campaign, first against Clinton, then against McCain.
6
Jeez, this is happening in Silicon Valley were even having a conservative opinion gets you fired. But it’s OK for liberals to mix work with business I guess.
17
The biggest surprise in this article is reading that Ms. Eskamani, 27, said , Oh my gosh, instead of, Oh my god, at its' ending! That is awesome!!!
3
Just what a city needs another left wing democrat to continue to destroy this country well thank God they can send all the stories they want out there but the American public has rejected the left win liberals ideas Thank God
11
You're referring of course to the majority of voters nationwide that cast votes for democratic candidates?
25
Yes. Provided "nationwide" means "a few states". That Electoral College isn't going anywhere despite the fantasies you might have been spun.
1
And the vast majority of Americans who support liberal policies?
7
Six more years of Trump is preferable. America will then be another demonstration project for anyone interested in the product of socially retarded leadership. This is Show and Tell. Tell is ineffective. Let the show go on.
4
I hope they do not have a savior complex, and appreciate how hard it is to get Democrats to vote. The Obama and Clinton campaigns wrecked many local operations, demanding complete fealty at the expense of local voters buying into and wanting to be a part of the process. The party needs buy in and excitement in areas that are more than 150 miles away from an ocean or Great Lake. They should read, and be inspired, by how Wilson, Roosevelt, Truman and even Johnson never took a vote for granted or assumed one was not available. It would help if once in a while they eat a cheese steak with Cheez Whiz
5
Politics and political questions should always focus on candidates' competence, credibility, and ideas and never about this or that party. "Party-think" is just a pathway to public thought-control.
9
The millionaire techies know that if they don't get involved, they'll have to pay market rate for their gardeners, nannies, and tradesman.
34
Your cynicism is showing SF: it's also possible that these workers appreciate good governance and want to help competent candidates be elected.
46
Now that's just cruel. Trust me in the Bay Area, everything is expensive. Cleaners are anywhere from $600-200 each time depending on the size of your house.
3
You've got it backwards, the tech industry is the one leading us towards tyranny and ruin.
1
There are many many more to ensure that doesn't happen!
5
About time! I’ve wondered how these brains liberal millennials, who’ve built trillions in tech platforms and products that the whole world uses, could be so badly beaten by Russia hackers.
28
Call me cynical, call me out of touch even if you like. And, I'm a progressive, albeit a registered Independent voter.
But I have a huge problem watching these elitist tech industry ladder climbers telling me they are my 'progressive' policy representatives and, by proxy, so are their employers- Google, Facebook, Tesla, etc. These are the same entity corporations who hire and then work very hard these same individuals who bank their six and seven figure salaries from their employers by quietly figuring out more and more covert ways to invade my online and product privacy, for them and their employers financial and political benefit. Never mind the inconvenience it also causes me by junking up my online viewing experiences more and more by the day, sometimes to point of near total exasperation. I no longer celebrate nor appreciate Google or Facebook, or Amazon's dystopian business model practices. They are toxic.
My point- the democratic party is in the hole, and for a very good reason. We've managed to allow powerful but dark and mostly dishonest corporate tech behemoths like Google, Facebook, Amazon, to disenfranchise the once loyal and hardworking core of the democratic party- real working people, both blue and white collar. That is where the real schism lies. And thus, I say a sad but truthful epitaph for the now DOA democratic party.
56
I'm sorry but the world has changed, and there's no longer a need for loyal and the physically hard working, "core of the democratic party" Automation and AI controlled machines are rapidly gutting this segment of the electorate, and to remain competitive in a world economy, this trend not only will but needs to accelerate.
Life-long learning and new skills development is the only hope for any individual to remain economically relevant in today's world.
And, there's no turning back the clock, no matter how much we wish it so.
1
It’s kind of sad having to point this out, but MoveOn.org laid the foundation for everything that campaigns need to do in the digital age, but here we are almost 15 years later and democratic state and congressional campaigns are still sending snail mail. Micro-targeting, social media and search engine optimization is key, and these are lessons the republicans learned when Obama was elected, and republicans have have made significant investments to modernize their operation and create a standard for each campaign model. I’m excited to see there is an organization from within the tech industry that is focused on modernizing the Democratic Party, perhaps they can succeed where MoveOn failed.
43
Thank God. The fact that the Trump campaign actually had staff basically inside Facebook in 2016 is all anyone needs to know about what took place. I hope they start training others now though because coupled with gerrymandering, obeisance to all commands Putin by Trump and his colluders, and a dull electorate this time around we may just lose our Democracy. The GOP response to any social media situation is so predictable. It appears that each one of them has a pre-assigned task. At 8 hours after the initial event you folks start maligning a person's personal relationships and sex lfe. Then you folks start implying Democrats work for Hamas. Etc. Every time. Review the GOP response to yesterday's House hearings. So precise. So incredibly mendacious. So predictable. They obviously plan ahead, while we do stupid things like having the latest media spotlight person run some selfish WFP thing that makes us loo stupid and incoherent. We spend weeks debating superdelegates. Or caucuses versus primaries. Or Bernie from whatever party he's from. Or socialism, while we get pounded into a paste because before calling for the abolision of ICE no one thought how to frame the issue so what came across was why are there babies in cages, not let stop all border security efforts. That may not have been what was meant, but republicans were waiting with their frames. And they won. And the far left, and primary losers, and WFP have t learn to shut up and vote like the GOP does. Help!
24
Great comment. I tnink of Trump's Campaign and im reminded of "The Sock Puppets" episode on Homeland.
2
You shouldn't be too worried. Moving the Democratic party away from a substantive, meaningful progressivism for working Americans is just what these rich kids are aiming for.
16
Excuse me, but these “kids” are working. Time to realize that mental work is the wave of the future. Robots/AI will take care of the rest. Reading these comments bashing “elite” Silicon Valley, betrays a lack of respect for talent and education. Those blue-color manufacturing job that provided a secure middle-class existence are going, going, gone. Education is not “elite”, almost anyone can learn. Try it, you might like it.
8
Samantha, the question is what is someone using their talent and education for? Someone may have a certain talent but how much respect does that person deserve when they utilize it for the purpose of data harvesting, data tracking, surveillance, exploitation of human nature, imposition and enforcement of double standards, etc.? Unfortunately what we have seen too often is a worship of disruption solely for the sake of disruption (and IPO paydays).
PS: This comment was initially posted by NY Times in wrong place so I am reposting it, where it was originally submitted, i.e., in reply to Samantha's comment. This seems to be happening more and more often. For example, one will see Courtney's reply to Fred's comment in a comment chain initially started not by Fred but by Chris. Apparently it is not just the Democrats who need some tech help but perhaps the NY Times as well! :)
All the money and campaigning in the world is not going to help the Dems unless they actually find a party platform that is not pure hate for Trump and his followers.
77
YES!!! This is what is needed. Seriously! I am not getting a bit of hope.
7
Thanks for spreading the word about his organization. I just signed on as a UX/UI designer.
42
Just a thought: Why not have the very wealthy Democratic party suppoters take out full page ads in newspapers and magazines (especially leftest ones) and mount a T.V. ad campaign naming names of those who are in the swamp and feeding the creatures in the swamp. At this stage of politics it seems that only "in your face" messages get through. But, such messages must be professional, objective and valid, not shanky
7
ummm, because nobody reads magazine, newspapers, or watches TV anymore
8
No??? Where-else did people learn about the future prez? I should have included social media (anti social media). Anyway, you get the point ... I hope.
2
I meant right- wing media
The challenge for Tech for Campaigns is to develop a campaign model that is cheap to operate.
Anna Eskamani’s zero budget, or close to zero, should be the goal because the voting public
has defered to corporations to finance elections. Unfortunately,
corporations demand value for money. The swamp that needs draining hasn’t been clearly defined, but this is it.
5
This is creepy, and not something that should be embraced.
16
What is creepy about citizens donating their time and talents to campaigns? This is what most campaigns have always thrived on, since the founding of our nation. This is just the modern, 21st century version of Paul Revere's ride. I think it is fantastic. A beautiful example of Americans pulling together to help save our country from tyranny and ruin.
51
And Nancy Pelosi didn't think of this? I'm surprised Obama's team didn't create a backbone of tech for the party when he was in power. That has been his only failing to the party. He left them with no coattails or much else. Debbie Wasserman Schulz damaged it further. This article is a breath of fresh air. Maybe the democrats will get it right and I'm glad to see tech workers using their time and hopefully some of their money in these campaigns instead of driving the cost of housing up.
14
Tech is, without a doubt, the single most evil industry in existence.
I do not want their help. No democrat should want their help. They are already responsible for steering the democratic party away from representing working-class and middle-class voters towards represented upper-middle class professionals and the rich.
All these people will succeed in doing - all they are succeeding in doing - is turning the democratic party into a permanent opposition party, with no power, and no ability to do anything about society's growing problems, chief among them the rampant and worsening degree of economic inequality.
These rich workers in tech benefit from republican policies too, and they, like the professionals, want the democratic party to be a toothless virtue signal for themselves and their class, and nothing more.
40
This. My first reaction when I saw this piece was, "I guess they want to keep those H-1B visas coming." While Trump hasn't done nearly enough to mitigate it, misuse of H-1B and other visas was a hallmark of the Obama administration. Further expansion of these programs is nothing I'd hanker for, Trump or no Trump.
It's going to take a lot more than gloss for Democrats to win my vote back.
5
Sorry, you lost credibility when you stated "evil" industry, unless you were thinking of offensive military uses of technology.
2
Hatred of Nazis worked pretty good to unite and defeat that abomination last century - why would it not work on something as vile as the GOP in 2018/2020?
6
The young people will win! Thank you, Tech for Campaigns!
49
For years I’ve wondered why the party that supposedly represents the educated elites does not have cutting edge information technologies and a more developed presence on social media. Now I know. I’ve also wondered why the party most associated with the “Hollywood Elite” can rarely make a decent campaign ad to convince the public that their cause is just. Maybe some liberal directors, actors and producers could lend their talents to Democrats in similar fashion. Not that we need more celebrities shouting uninformed opinions; but maybe we could have more A-list actors skillfully use their craft to convince the American public as to who best represents their interests, goals and the overall common good.
85
Republican party has exactly the outlet for their uninformed opinions and made up 'facts'. It is called Fox News Network! I am sure they watch nothing but Fox News in ND!
9
At the end of the day it matters more about the message and much less about the medium. Sure, it great to get the candidate and his/her beliefs in front of the people, but the far left promise of free everything won't win over most Americans, especially those with student loans and renters looking to buy their first home. With the retirement of the baby boom, the millennials will be the ones left paying for all the "free stuff" like college, day care, healthcare, welfare etc. While they maybe liberal now, they won't stay that way when the bills start pilling up.
18
So it wasn't the Russians in Russia per se, but the Russians in tech companies.
3
They also need better content to disclose real facts to Trump voters, and to energize the anti-Trump coalition.
We need crowdsourced short 30 and 60 second videos of real people negatively affected by Trump trade, healthcare and tax-cut policies. The Dems need to publicize these on TV and social networks.
The old guard is neither focused, nor do they have fire in the belly. Let's hope these tech-types get the job done.
193
Targeting Trump voters is wasting time and other resources. I doubt they would change their vote if they were paid or a family member physically violated by Trump. Target everyone else. Get the vote out. Fight voter suppression. Help clarify and simplify the message and the voting process for individual voters everywhere.
5
Democrat candidates should not turn only to directors, actors, and producers who are liberal, they should turn to talented people who believe in America. I'd much rather our party embrace a liberal-minded ethos than the narrow liberal slot of left-of-center politics. Focusing on that slot has won us almost as many levers of government recently as the popular vote has elected Republican presidents.
7
As just one counter-example, the overwhelming majority of all advances in medicine for the foreseeable future will be through high technology. This commentator's Luddite attitude squares neither with reality or our potential political progress.
I'm so glad to see Democrats/Progressives volunteering their time and expertise for grassroots efforts. The Republican strategy to win smaller elections has been overwhelmingly successful. It's time Democrats take note and fight back.
144
All the "social media" in the world won't help the Dems reach the critical group--independents and financially successful professionals and business people, politically left-center and right-center--who voted for Dump and the Republicans this past election cycle. Unless there is a substantive platform of governing in a fiscally responsible manner that's beyond big-gov-more-taxes-for-the-"rich" programs and identity politics, educated people who make decisions based on information need substance, not slogans and "call to action" buttons. This golden opportunity appears to be lost on the leadership as the party continues to drift leftward, leaving a huge vacuum in the vast middle where American politics is won.
12
I applaud and thank Ms Alter and her cohorts, and just made a recurring monthly contribution to Tech for Campaigns. It is so important that we begin to match or exceed the Republicans in technology and marketing.
109
Exactly who and what demographic is Tech for Campaigns trying to reach? And how is this going to improve the dismal state of public schools in Democratic-run cities?
20
This is so right for so many reasons. Skill, demographic, fervor, to name a few. Participation is key to change and this has the potential to garner a significant multiplier effect. It would be great to see a better honed all encompassing messaging platform from the Democrats for this team to customize at the local/candidate level. Every candidate is a brand and this group is really good at brand building.
With that said, at the end of the day, people have to vote. And as with every marketing campaign a "call to action", be it overt or subtle, must also underlie the message. And the that call to action is VOTE! Expanding the base and ensuring participation by their peers, therefore, should be a major component of their effort. If this "open source" team can add millions or tens of millions of younger voters to the electorate, and they in turn can shift the conversation as only a youth movement can, that in and of itself could be a game changer.
115
According to the article and the attached paragraph, this is a leftist/democrat effort. Using your position in a tech company to further a political ideology using the companies inside information is probably illegal:
“What’s at stake if we don’t build a true centralized digital arm is falling further behind the Republicans and continuing to lose ground, the battles on key issues and elections at every level,” said Jessica Alter, a co-founder of the group and a longtime tech executive. “If we don’t start now, it will be too late in 2020.”
Democrats must have a story to tell, but just ads.
-------------------------------------------------------------
Every day Trump and the Right generate crazy stories that flood the media. No matter what Trump says or does, no matter how bad he is, he gets all the attention for himself and the Right.
No, Democrats must discover their story, their mission.
If not, Trump trumps, again and again, not matter how bad he is.
Democrats, please wake America up with your story!
========================================
"The only thing new in the world is the history you don't know."
(Harry Truman)
31
Let me just add that both Obama and Hillary had little story to tell. Obama tele-prompted and he was no drama, Obama.
Hillary campaigned with her resume and her pants suits. Compared to Trump, she was blah. Yes, there were the emails, but that may have actually given her some story.
Democrats, please tell us your story, your drama.
Let it is unfold. Accept the risk of making mistakes and be interesting and be bold.
VVVVVV Victory for House Democrats VVVVVVVV
3