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Activism And Voyeurism
By
Beginning today, Republicans will have a neat new way to help their favorite candidate online -- a website that mixes activism and voyeurism.
Slatecard.com fills a real need: an online donation and information aggregation site for Republicans, modeled off ACT Blue, a net-based bundling PAC founded in 2004 for Democrats.
Its co-founders are David All, the Republican net and technology consultant, and Sendhil Panchadsaram, a prodigy web developer. All said the idea came from the large response to a short blog post he added to his website in April. “Let’s get our ACT together,” All urged at the time – Republicans had to create infrastructure to in order to catch up with the Democratic Netroots. (ACT Blue has raised nearly $30M for Democratic candidates since its inception).
In the professional vernacular, All calls Slatecard.com “a utility to support enhanced Republican activism.” In plain language, it’s a way for Republicans to learn about candidates, contribute to candidates, tell candidates which issues they should support, and monitor what their friends and neighbors are thinking and doing.
New users, after browsing a candidate directory, are prompted to create a slate card of candidates the support. All Republican running for House, Senate or president are listed. Then comes the donation. Users enter in their credit card numbers, their basic identification info, click submit, and they’re done. Actually, they’re not. Here comes twist: after having donated, users are taken to a page where they’ll find “Issue Badges” – there are 25 of them – that they can affix to the candidate. They can also enter a short message. Along the right side of the page is a ticker showing who donated, what issue badge they chose, and what message they sent.
“It lets people tap into the voyeuristic element,” All says. The tickers “are the most innovative approach that the site takes.”
This benefits candidates in several ways, All reasons. By checking their page regularly, they can read messages from their supporters. By tallying the number of “Issue Badges” they’ve been given, they can see what their donor activists are concerned about.
The slogan of Slatecard.com: “It’s Fun To Give.” Like ACT Blue, Slatecard.com is organized as a political action committee under federal election law.
Slatecard.com fills a real need: an online donation and information aggregation site for Republicans, modeled off ACT Blue, a net-based bundling PAC founded in 2004 for Democrats.
Its co-founders are David All, the Republican net and technology consultant, and Sendhil Panchadsaram, a prodigy web developer. All said the idea came from the large response to a short blog post he added to his website in April. “Let’s get our ACT together,” All urged at the time – Republicans had to create infrastructure to in order to catch up with the Democratic Netroots. (ACT Blue has raised nearly $30M for Democratic candidates since its inception).
In the professional vernacular, All calls Slatecard.com “a utility to support enhanced Republican activism.” In plain language, it’s a way for Republicans to learn about candidates, contribute to candidates, tell candidates which issues they should support, and monitor what their friends and neighbors are thinking and doing.
New users, after browsing a candidate directory, are prompted to create a slate card of candidates the support. All Republican running for House, Senate or president are listed. Then comes the donation. Users enter in their credit card numbers, their basic identification info, click submit, and they’re done. Actually, they’re not. Here comes twist: after having donated, users are taken to a page where they’ll find “Issue Badges” – there are 25 of them – that they can affix to the candidate. They can also enter a short message. Along the right side of the page is a ticker showing who donated, what issue badge they chose, and what message they sent.
“It lets people tap into the voyeuristic element,” All says. The tickers “are the most innovative approach that the site takes.”
This benefits candidates in several ways, All reasons. By checking their page regularly, they can read messages from their supporters. By tallying the number of “Issue Badges” they’ve been given, they can see what their donor activists are concerned about.
The slogan of Slatecard.com: “It’s Fun To Give.” Like ACT Blue, Slatecard.com is organized as a political action committee under federal election law.
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