Internet Advocacy Roundtable: Party On...line with the Republican and Democratic Parties

Internet Advocacy Roundtable

The Republican and Democratic parties both are out in full-force online, spreading their messages, organizing voters, and building up party infrastructure. This month, the Internet Advocacy Roundtable is excited to provide you with a glimpse into the e-strategic minds from both parties. Our panelists have been working at the very heart of internet strategy for their respective parties, both within their party committees and for 2008 presidential campaign and their insights should provide for a very thought-provoking discussion about how the Internet is serving their needs.

Join us for what should prove to be a very engaging Roundtable.

Speakers:
Mindy Finn, Former Director of eStrategy, Mitt Romney; Former Deputy eCampaign Director, Republican National Committee
Tracy Russo, Former Chief Blogger and Deputy Online Communications Director, John Edwards; Former member of the Democratic National Committee Internet team

Want to see past Roundtables?
Click here for our video and resource archive from past events.

Event Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund

1333 H Street, NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Directions

One block from the McPherson Square Metro station (Orange/Blue lines). Exit on 14th Street, NW side. Walk one block south to H Street, NW. Turn left onto H Street, NW. Enter on left side of street, just after the Cosi.

Register for this event

Speaker Bios:

Tracy Russo is a Democratic strategist who specializes in integrating online communications and new media opportunities with traditional organizational operations. She most recently served as John Edwards' chief blogger and Deputy Online Communications Director. Previously, Russo worked at the DNC, where she implemented a 50-state online outreach strategy. She has advised Democratic state parties, campaigns and progressive organizations on ways to enhance their online communications and outreach capacities to effectively connect with the progressive blogosphere. Russo has a diverse professional background – she has worked as a field organizer, fundraiser, and press secretary - all of which inform her current work.

Mindy Finn, director of Finn Enterprises, is well known in grassroots politics for her work in leveraging technology to promote democracy at the legislative, campaign and political committee level. Most recently, she served as the Director of "e"Strategy for the Mitt Romney for President campaign. Finn was selected by Campaigns & Elections as a Rising Star in American politics in 2007 and was recently profiled in a cover story for the Washington Post as part of its Political Operatives series. She has appeared on Hardball, PBS' the NewsHour with Jim Lehrer, NPR, BBC Radio, among others speaking about the use of the role of new media and technology in the political process.

In her role on the Romney campaign, she directed the effort to maximize technology and the web to best communicate the candidate's message, raise money and mobilize a strong base of support. Tactics included web video, social networking, blog outreach, user-generated content gathering, email list building and online advertising. Through her team's efforts, the campaign was recognized for such innovative efforts as Sign Up America!, MittTV, mini-Mitt, the Create Your Own Ad contest, and the Five Brothers' Blog, and for bringing in over $25 million over the Internet.

In 2006, Finn served as Director of New Media & Technology for U.S. Senator Rick Santorum, where her job also included guiding the campaign's use of microtargeting to contact and turn out key voters. Her team helped Senator Santorum recruit over 50,000 active volunteers, provide outreach vehicles to more than 20 affinity groups and raise more than $1.2 million over the Internet, more than any other candidate in cycle. Finn was recognized by the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review for being the Republican's best cyber campaigner in the nation and recognized by PoliticsPA for being one of Pennsylvania's most accomplished political operatives 26 and under.

Prior to serving Santorum, Finn served as Deputy Director of the Republican National Committee's eCampaign and Deputy Webmaster for Bush-Cheney '04. Both entities won the Golden Dots for their superior websites. She started her career on Capitol Hill, serving in both the Senate and House in press and legislative roles. Finn resides in Washington, D.C. and originally hails from Houston, Texas.

About the Internet Advocacy Roundtable
The Internet Advocacy Roundtable is a monthly forum brought to you by the Center for American Progress Action Fund. We feature in-depth discussions about digital technology strategies for advocacy and policy campaigns. We strive to help the advocacy community use digital technology more effectively and provide a gathering for those working in this space to network and learn from their peers. Our speakers are drawn from experts in the field and our audiences typically include many other experts, as well as people new to the field. The format is designed to maximize discussion time. As a result, we have consistently lived up to our reputation that our speakers will learn as much from the audience as the audience learns from the speakers. The Internet Advocacy Roundtable was launched in August 2005 and now carries on the tradition of our earlier Online Progressive Advocacy Network (OPAN) series.

Click here for an archive of videos and materials from past Roundtables.