1. DDB Issues & Advocacy Alison Byrne Fields SVP/Managing Director

2. Social Media and Politics

3. 2008 has seen record voter turnout in the primaries.

4. In some primary states, the youth vote has tripled and even quadrupled.

5. Voting among 18-29 year olds increased in 2004 and 2006.

6. 44 million 18-29 year olds will be eligible to vote in 2008. 1/5 of the voting population

7. Catherine Rampell Washington Post

8. “Obama emphasizes that political engagement is about being part of something bigger than oneself, not rebelling against that something bigger.” “Where Rock the Vote has gone wrong, Barack Obama has gone very, very right.”

10. What Did I Say? Yes, we were trying to eliminate barriers to voting and suggest that voting was a “subversive” activity. But, we were also trying to get campaigns to invest in young voters.

11. “We can’t dedicate a debate to every group that wants one.”

12. “Left-handed flute players want their own debate."

13. # of 18-24 year olds in 2000?

14. 26,539,250

15. # of left-handed flute players in 2000?

16. less

17. How much did the youth vote cost?

18. BIG BUCKS

19. How likely were young people to vote?

20. NOT VERY

21. Bad ROI

22. cycle of neglect = young people don’t vote because politicians ignore them/their issues politicians ignore young people because they don’t vote

23. 2008

24. the cycle of neglect is broken (for now)

25. Young people are stepping up...

26. ... giving campaigns a reason to value the youth vote

27. Relevant issues

28. First election with no incumbent since 1928

29. Politicians are investing

30. 2004 turnout

31. Social media

32. Reach Engagement

33. Micah Sifry TechPresident

34. the list

35. the network

36. Why do people get involved in a cause?

37. Relevance Believe they can have impact Reflection of values

38. Isaac Garcia Central Desktop

39. Barack Obama and the Long Tail of Politics

40. Long Tail?

41. The Internet enables companies to capture and monetize the attention of thousands and millions of users, instead of monetizing the attention of a few large users. AKA, THE LONG TAIL

42. Amazon/Barnes & Noble Netflix/Blockbuster Blogs/Newspapers

43. everyone else party loyalists

44. Large donors/small donors Candidate/voters

46. "We are the ones we've been waiting for, we are the ones we seek."

47. Giving “customers” the opportunity to own the message

49. Can we continue “the conversation”?

50. http://del.icio.us/alisonbf/2008election Resources