Ensuring Political Stability: A must for Democrats across the nation

“A house divided amongst itself cannot stand.”

Well, neither can a political party, and the national GOP has done a fabulous job proving this point. However, this Politico in Stilettos is deeply concerned about the recent talk of scary Rick Perry waking up sleepy Democrats across the nation more so than any other national political figure on the scene right now.

Now is not the time for sleep, now is the time we need to lace up our tennis shoes (or slide into a pair of ass-kicking stilettos) and hit the streets. As Democrats, lefties, or whatever you want to call yourself, we need to ensure our party’s stability by standing behind incumbent Democrats and initiating campaigns against incumbent Republicans (like former West Virginia State Senator Mike Oliverio is doing).

The GOP is weak, disjointed, and out of touch with the American dream. All I hear on the morning news, from Morning Joe to CNN to NBC’s Today Show, is that the Republican Party has no front-runner and therefore zero stability. They’re divided between scary Perry, John Huntsman and his horrible ads, Mitt Romney, and the craziest of all, Michelle Bachmann. Even more frightening than witchy O’Donnell is the possibility that Sarah Palin may run. (Hmmmm...Maybe I’ll be Christine for Halloween…)

It’s high time we lefties capitalized on this! I understand elections are all about timing, and there will be several Democratic primaries across the United States of America. Good luck to all Democrats, but I think it’s time we saw the forest for the trees, or the shoe store for the heels, when it comes to 2012.

“Think not what your country can do for you, but what you can do for your country.”

Political Consultants, Hail to the “V”

Juan Williams, one of the speakers at the West Virginia Chamber of Commerce 75^th Annual Business Summit, talked about the 2010 Census statistics and how this related to the future of political campaigns.

(No, I didn’t get to actually hear the speech because I was getting a facial and taking a personal day to relax, but my boyfriend’s company is one of the event’s sponsors, so he relayed this to me over lunch. And don’t judge, everyone needs a break once and while.)

According to the 2010 Census data, females outnumber males in the United States 50.8% to 49.2%. There was a sex ratio of less than 100, further confirming the point that there are more females than males in our nation. (And why isn’t a female President yet?)

Williams said that females between ages 18-30 is the largest emerging age demographic, and that will only continue to grow. So what does this mean for political campaigns?

We’ll see more campaign ads targeted toward this female age group. Political consultants will need to craft messages that appeal to and will energize this diverse group of fearsome femme fatales.

Of course, we’ve already seen female-targeted political ads. Here’s an example from the October 2010 race in Maryland. Former Presidential Candidate John Kerry also targeted women.

But the women between 18-30 years of age today are a Choo of a different color than a couple years ago, especially when it comes to race. For example, there are more Hispanic females today in our nation than two years ago.

I must admit, I look forward to watching “the good old boys” try to craft messages to appeal to this group. And hopefully we’ll get more young, vivacious females involved in the political arena.

In other words, hail to the V!

Invest in the U.S.

“We need an energy policy that is centered around energy independence,” Senator Joe Manchin said in a feature story in the August-September 2011 issue of Corridor Magazine.

“We should not depend on foreign oil produced off the continent that holds us hostage and uses the money against us that we transfer by buying their product,” Manchin asserted.

Energy independence has been a hot issue for years now. Political candidates talk about the issue, public relations campaigns for coal and natural gas companies use the message, but not until this weekend did I learn that Ohio is paying hundreds of millions of US dollars each year to a Grecian company to run their lottery computers. West Virginia uses a company in Italy for their lottery computer services.

Not only do we need to invest in DOMESTIC sources of energy, we must invest those millions and billions not into foreign lottery computer systems, but into companies in the United States. Think of how many jobs could be created if Ohio and West Virginia reinvested that money in their own states, or even just in the United States!

While I realize I probably do not know the whole story about the lottery funds, this stiletto-clad West Virginian is appalled. Why would anyone want to invest in Greece right now? It’s chaos over there!

Please do not argue the point that Ohio is helping aid the Grecian economy. I earned an A from UNC at Greensboro in all three of my Economics classes, and let me tell you that it’s imperative the United States invests in itself when and where it can, especially after what the stock market just did.

Yes, I understand we must maintain our relationship with Greece, but before you can help someone else, you must help yourself first.

West Virginia has a Summit on Digital Government?

I just found out that West Virginia has an Information Technology Summit… and one of the topics for this year’s session is on digital government and new technologies. First off, I cannot figure out how I did not know about this. Secondly, you better believe I will be there. Thirdly, this Summit needs much better publicity.

From what I can tell by the website, the Summit has ZERO social media applications, which is a huge flaw in my eyes, (and honestly, probably why I didn’t know about it).

In addition to the topics listed above, additional topics for the Summit include; innovation, leadership in challenging times, cloud solutions, and cost savings. But… why isn’t mobile government listed? And I must ask, can someone be more specific? Innovation seems a little vague to me.

After finding this out, I can’t help but wonder… based on my politically social background and involvement in Leadership Kanawha Valley and Leadership West Virginia, would I qualify to be a speaker?

The Importance of Viral Influencers

One item on my To Do list this week is to update my media database, something anyone who works with the media and/or brand reputation management should do at least quarterly, if not monthly. Besides traditional media, I have a column for blogs, blog authors, Twitter accounts for national, West Virginia, and tri-state media… but this time I’ve decided to add a new column per media market: Influencers.

Ever since Klout has come about, I feel it’s critical for any business, political campaign, etc… to identify those people on social networks whose opinions/tweets/Facebook posts engage and influence others.

Haven’t heard of Klout? It measures one individual’s influence across the online social-sphere. According to CrunchBase, “Klout allows users to track the impact of their opinions, links and recommendations across your social graph. Data is collected about the content users create, how people interact with that content and the size and composition of their networks. Klout identifies influencers and provides tools for influencers to monitor their influence.”

What kind of influencer am I? According to Klout, I’m a Broadcaster, which means “You broadcast great content that spreads like wildfire. You are an essential information source in your industry. You have a large and diverse audience that values your content.” (Thanks for the ego-boost this morning, Klout!)

Why is this important? Viral is the number one source of message dissemination, be it negative or positive, in today’s media ecosystem. And where does viral start? Social networking sites. Where can viral turn into a frenzy and spin out of control? Social networking sites. Therefore it’s extremely important to identify influencers in each media market. Depending on what content a business, campaign, or individual puts out, an influencer might take the information and put out contrasting content. If that business does not respond, they become less reputable over a short period of time. Even more alarming, if the message is not controlled, a brand, business, candidate, etc… can be discredited almost completely.

And just in case you were wondering… how influential is Klout? See for yourself.

Politics of White Water Rafting

Yesterday I went white water rafting for the first time with Class VI, who I am extremely happy to say tweeted with me several times prior to the trip and afterwards!

After swimming through some rough water with the rest of our boat, my boyfriend, a Pittsburgh native, looks at me and says, “This is one of the best things about West Virginia.” I must admit I felt bad for not taking advantage of one of our best outdoor activities for so long, but now I’m addicted and cannot wait to take on more rapids!

It occurred to me while paddling through class three, four, and five rapids that I should probably consider myself an adrenalin junkie, as all I wanted to do was paddle through more! This is similar to the feeling I have after an election is over: you don’t know what to do with yourself until campaign season starts up again!

I’d compare the lower New River to a State Senate or House of Delegates campaign. From what our amazing guides told me, the lower Gauley River would be more like a Congressional, U.S. Senate, or gubernatorial campaign: a lot more paddling and many, many more rapids. Our guide Tate, a Pinch native, told me the upper Gauley River is intense and something that must be worked up to. Hmmm…sounds similar to the experience you need before jumping on board with a national campaign.

It’s evident the political bug bit me and I’m addicted, the same goes with golf (shoes and fashion are a given and require no explanation). But now, I do believe I’m hooked on rafting, just need to find a way to have better looking shoes!

West Virginia and the Need for Young Professionals: Stop Talking and Start Marketing

For the last two years all I’ve heard is “We need more young professionals in West Virginia.” And that’s pretty much all I heard today at Generation West Virginia’s Young Leaders Conference. Well West Virginia, it’s time to shut up and roll up ‘yer sleeves on this one.

It seems we spend so much time focusing on the need for young professionals in wild, wonderful West Virginia that we can’t see the forest for the Spruce, Maple, and Oak trees.

What do young people look for in a potential new homeland? Progress. Movement. Energy. And more progress.

We’ve laid the foundations for current young professionals in our beloved Mountain Mamma with the creation of Generation West Virginia, Generation Charleston, Generation Putnam, Generation GAP, Generation Greenbrier Valley, Huntington Young Professionals, Generation Morgantown, North Central Young Leaders, OVConnect, Pendleton County YPC, Young Professionals of the Eastern Panhandle, Young Emerging Leaders of the Mid-Ohio Valley, Vision Shared, and several other organizations.

Furthermore, we’re making progress by drafting legislation to improve our state’s future that’s being introduced and passed in the West Virginia State Senate and House of Delegates. This legislation is being sponsored and moved along by members of the organizations above who serve in the House, such as Delegates Amanda Pasdon and Doug Skaff. This progress wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work of several amazing young professionals, and the advice of a few “older” ones.

This is our biggest marketing asset. Rather than talking about the need for young professionals, it’s time we showcase our progress and ask the rest of the nation’s young people to join our movement. Why did so many youngsters from sea to shining sea hop on Obama’s 2008 campaign bandwagon? Because they saw progress being made and they had a call to action. (While I know this isn’t a proper comparison, the marketing tactic is the same.) They were inspired.

Once someone comes to West Virginia, it’s hard for them not to fall in love with all our state has to offer. West Virginia is inspiring, full of possibilities and huge feats that need to be accomplished.

I see pretty much the same people and hear the same names over and over again at leadership conferences in West Virginia. These are the founders of West Virginia’s future, now it’s time for us to ignite this passion in others by marketing our progress and giving the nation’s young people a call to action: come to West Virginia and join our movement to build something better than anyone’s dreamed.

You’re probably thinking, “Okay, we need jobs.” “Yikes Cartney, too many regulations and there isn’t a Neiman Marcus here…. HELLO!” Or maybe you’re saying to yourself, “This girl is way too tired from the special election and needs a vacation.”

Wake up West Virginia, we need to move to the second phase of recruiting young people to our state.

While I’m all for West Virginia students going to in-state colleges and universities, we have to make sure some of our best and brightest leave, because they need to bring back the ideas and energy to West Virginia to create something so unfathomable, it will put our state on the map for even greater things.

Let’s tell the nation about what great things we’re accomplishing here in West Virginia. Let’s focus on spreading our passion to our friends who live out of state and get them here. It might start off small, but when a raindrop falls on Cheat Lake… it produces a ripple.