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January 17, 2008

MicroCampaigns - ahead of their time?

In the comment thread after a post at Blue Oregon, T.A. Barnhart suggested that any Oregon Republicans looking of a decent Presidential candidate to support should consider Oregon's own Michael Smith.

As T.A. says of Smith, "he's a Republican in the old, liberal style. he's the kind of Republican Oregonians used to elect the way we now elect Dems."

It was a deja vu momment for me when I read that because I'd completely forgotten that back in 2006 I'd written about a really intriguing idea Smith floated on his campaign blog - MicroCampaigns as a political force.

In his own words:

Imagine hundreds of candidates for the 2008 Presidential primaries. Instead of just the few insiders with big money, envision each state with several local candidates, or dozens of candidates pitching specific topics to specific constituencies.

After a somewhat dismissive comment about my campaign as being just a “protest” gesture, it occurred to me that perhaps my “microcampaign” might have soul-mates out there, and that collectively the effect could be amplified.

I can’t imagine finding the resources to take my campaign national – I’ve always figured that if I could get one delegate from Oregon, and use that credibility to represent a message to the Republican National Convention, I’d have been successful for a political novice with negligible resources. But if hundreds adopted my strategy simultaneously, what might be the effect?

Bill Frist or John McCain or Mitt Romney might be out there pandering to calculated segments – trying to carefully position themselves without offending too many people. All the while not really addressing any issues. But if in each state there were two or three local candidates talking about issues and appealing to specific, if not wide, constituencies – imagine the effect at convention time. The normal orchestrated coronation might be replaced with some real debate. The candidates might have to really address some issues. The process might produce some leadership.

I gotta say that the man makes sense.

Posted by Kevin at January 17, 2008 06:50 PM