craig.kirchoff's blog

I've been talking with some other folks who work in politics, and I think we have a common problem.  We all have too much information to consume.  Whether it's tracking a specific issue, managing a candidate's on-line brand or just keeping up with top stories, the flow of information on the web quickly becomes overwhelming.

So, I thought I'd lay out the set-up I've constructed over time to help search out, organize and deliver the information I want/need to read. Hopefully it will help some other folks too.  Some of you may have seen me talk about this at the RightIgnite event back in July.

I'm running it through 3 free web services:

1. Set up Yahoo Pipes to get and pull your information together.

Yahoo Pipes is a little-known service that can help you create, combine and mash-up RSS feeds.  And when you think about all the different things that can be delivered as RSS feeds you start to get an idea of what you can do. 

(note: Pipes can look intimidating but web-savy folks should be able to master the basics in about 10 minutes)

For example, say you wanted to track all the news of "Candidate Smith."  Well, you could set up a Google Alert and get the RSS feed from that.  Then, maybe you'd do a search for "Candidate Smith" on Twitter and grab the RSS feed from that, too.  An RSS feed from a Technorati search would help monitor blogs.  The possibilities are endless. (heck, even stock quotes come in RSS feeds these days)

In Yahoo Pipes, you can easily combine all these feeds into one stream of information and make one master RSS feed.

2. Send it to Tabbloid to make a .pdf and control delivery 

Tabbloid is a free service run by HP.  It takes RSS feeds, converts them to a .pdf and e-mails them to you on a schedule that you control. And it's as easy as can be.  Just enter the address of the master RSS feed you created with Pipes, your e-mail address and when and how often you want it sent to you.

So for our example you may want all the coverage of Candidate Smith sent to your inbox at 5am each morning.  That way, first thing each day, you've got your own newspaper that you can read, forward along and can even print out for the less tech-savy folks at your organization.

Best of all, the titles of each item in a Tabbloid .pdf are links to the original web story in case you want to link back, monitors comments, etc.

Lastly, I set up my own searchable archive of these stories.

3. Forward your .pdf's to Evernote for archiving and searching

Evernote is a pretty powerful service that is great for note-taking, synching, archiving and a million other things.  Here, we're going to use it to make our own private internet.

Go ahead and sign up for a free account with Evernote. Then, when the Tabbloid .pdf's come to your inbox forward them (or better yet, set them to auto-forward) to the e-mail address you'll get from Evernote.  There they can be all stored in one "notebook" and available on from the web, your computer and even your phone.

One of the fantastic things about Evernote is that it can "read" .pdf's.  So when you need to go back and find that story from 2 weeks ago that touted Candidate Smith's principled stance on health care, you can just search "health care" and it will bring up in the original ,pdf from tabbloid.

It's kind of like having your own little internet.

So there it all is.  Yahoo Pipes to Tabbloid to Evernote.

I run this system for a number of topics and have had lots of success with it.  I even post some of the pdf's at my posterous site so others can read and save them.

If you've got any questions or improvement ideas I'd love to hear about them in the comments.

Here's to hoping that a few election cycles from now, pundits are on TV predicting the turnout of "Obama Republicans" the same way in which they discussed "Reagan Democrats" this year.
As many of you know, the phrase "Reagan Democrat" refers to those voters who consider themselves Democrats, and usually vote that way, but in 1980 and/or '84, they voted for Ronald Reagan.

Right now, there's no way to know for sure if first-time voters, disaffected Republicans and others will vote for the Grand Old Party in the future, but I wonder if we can work backwards.  I wonder if we can get them to vote Republican in the future and MAKE them "Obama Republicans."  And being a former Luntzian, I can't help but wonder if we can just communicate to these swing groups better.

Here's my take on two groups of potential "Obama Republicans"...

After hearing all the hub-bub about it, I decided to check out Matt Damon's take on Sarah Palin.

I just wanted to take a moment and say, thank you.  Thank you Matt Damon. 

There I was, lost and overwhelmed.  With our economy shackled to the sub-prime mortgage meltdown, increasing fuel costs and constant international tumult, I knew my choice for President could not be taken lightly.  So I poured over policy positions.  I watched debates and interviews.  I consultanted experts and buried myself in history.

But it was you, Matt, who showed me the way.  You who wisely recognized that this question from a single reporter must actually be a desperate cry from America herself.  "Lead us, Matt Damon.  Guide us!" 

Some people spend their lives studying and refining the balance of disciplines that result in actuarial tables.  Matt Damon sees this as a noble pursuit, but requires only minutes absorbed and use them to make a political point.  Clearly, you've already done the research for a role as an insurance adjuster, Matt Damon. 

There are millions of Americans who see value in the day to day lessons they learn while raising a family.  And they believe these lessons can be applied on the macro and micro levels of human interaction.  These Americans should be sending Matt Damon thank-you gifts.  For Matt Damon has shown you the error of your ways with the simple quote,  "the folksy stuff she learned at the hockey rink - it's absurd."

Clearly, Matt, you understand me and my life.  Like most Americans, I'm sure you have a mortgage you're concerned about.  You probably wonder if you'll ever be able to retire.  I'm sure that, during your daily commute to a mediocre job, you think of your family and wonder if you'll be able to provide them a good future.  You're just like most of us Americans.

So finally, I thank you again.  Not just for the art of The Brothers Grimm, Eurotrip and Stuck on You, which by no means at all were a waste of celluloid and time.  And if you see fellow everymen Richard Gere, Susan Sarandon or their like, please thank them in advance for me.

A few months ago, I talked about how we could use RSS feeds to aggregate information and, hopefully, like-minded people.  I started a simple website called LimitedGovernmentNetwork.com.  The site, at the time, pulled together the videos of Cato Institute, The Club for Growth, Friends of Americans for Tax Reform, ReasonTV and the Tax Foundation. 

I've revised the site and wanted to promote a few new features:

- The site now has flash widgets that automatically feed either the blog content of fiscally conservative organizations or their YouTube Videos.  Feel free to take the widgets and post them on your blog or web page.

- You can also subscribe to both the Blog and the Video feeds via RSS. (at the top of the page)

- There's now a Twitter account that feeds the latest videos to subscribers with the blog feeds soon to be added.  So if you're into the Twitter scene, follow "limitedgovt."  I'm at "craigkirchoff" if you're looking for me there.

Hit the site, and let me know in the comments what you'd like to see.  Am I missing some organizations you'd like to see included?  Is there another, more convenient way you'd like this content delivered? 

Just, please be kind about the design.  I think I'm aesthetically impaired. 

 LimitedGovernmentNetwork.com.

In the past, I've mentioned how I'd love to see more creative conservative material on the web and on the streets - more graffiti-style posters, more stickers, more videos, more parody sites etc. 

I think the nomination of Sarah Palin gives us plenty of new material for this sort of thing, so I thought I'd get the ball rolling with a simple halftone, comics-style graphic.   Use it, modify it and circulate as you'd like.

And feel free to post your own stuff in the comments.
Download the full-res here.

This morning, Barack Obama appeared on This Week on ABC.  It was a wide-ranging and interesting interview, but there was one moment that jumped out at me. 

When asked by Stephanopoulos how he would define "victory" in Iraq, Obama gave a long answer that seemed to imply, at least to me, that he's not sure victory can be achieved.  Here's the video:

The answer struck me as surprising, especially considering Harry Reid made a similar mistake in the Spring of 2007:

As the campaign intensifies and statements get parsed more and more, we're bound to see more mis-statements, clarifications and apologies from both sides.  But, there is something surprisingly certain in Obama's tone here as he makes such an apparent mistake. 

Everyone should know more about stuff like Yahoo Pipes. I use it to get my content out in new and innovative ways^TM and also to get content out of static sites into an easily digested RSS format. Craig has been a real pioneer in showing the way. -Patrick

I’ve been thinking that if we create RSS feeds and websites that focus on specific aspects of the conservative movement, we might be able to unite and mobilize better.

For example, I’ve used Yahoo Pipes and other web services to create an RSS feed that pulls together the YouTube videos of the Cato Institute, The Club for Growth, Friends of Americans for Tax Reform, ReasonTV and the Tax Foundation. I’m hoping that supporters of one organization may find the messages of the others interesting – uniting the fiscally conservative community on the web a bit further.

I also used the feed to create a self-updating webpage which I’ve embedded in a offensively basic, crude, caveman-esque framed webpage I called the Limited Government Network

After reading Mark Warner's promise that he'll stay in the Virginia Senate race rather than take a VP nomination, I realized it was about time to generate and distribute some web content on this race. 

The country can simply not afford Warner's tax hikes right now.  His fiscal record is shocking and it's important that this issue be raised.

So I touched up and posted a video I had been working on.  I hope others will help get the word out:

This is a great call to action. -Patrick

For too long, we’ve conceded the creative, clever and artistic to liberal causes both on the web and on the street. Can someone tell me why? The left has used graphics and video to affect public opinions, generate earned media and most importantly raise funds. Need a recent example? Take a look at Shepard Fairey’s Obama posters. 

Perhaps it’s just me, but it feels like the conservative movement on the web is reaching a tipping point.  We’ve got this shiny new blog here and some renewed vigor as the elections approach. But we’re still lacking is the Do It Yourself, street campaign mentality. 

On the National Review website, Republican media guru (and in full disclosure, my boss) Alex Castellanos has an article examining the Republican soul and recommending a new outlook and message for the coming elections.  And with "and-the-planets-align" kind of timing, he cites the internet as a model for conservative government.

Conservatives do not hate government. We never have. We love life when it is well-governed. We respect the flag, our country, and traditional authority. We like a world where rules are observed and regulations are respected....What we believe in is people-driven, choice-filled, dynamic, flexible, equal-opportunity self-government. We should call it organic government. Want to know what your government is going to look like 20 years from now? Ask your children. They will say it will look a lot less like General Motors and a lot more like MySpace. The Internet is an education for us all, a place where people self-organize and govern themselves with maximum freedom. In its reflection, we can see more than the future of technology and communications; we can see the promise of democracy.

The roots of our Republican beliefs can be found in the small models of government.  In local, self-aggregating groups:  PTA meetings, church collection plates, and community watch programs.  It is where individual freedom leads to action. It is where responsibility for oneself and one’s family leads to responsibility for all. This is this government we should be discussing – the government that forms over fences, coffee and a sense of personal empowerment.

So let’s hope that the launch of The Next Right is a moment of recognition and action. In the same way we’d talk to our neighbor about a community issue, let’s hope we talk to each other about where we are going as a movement and what we want in the elections. Just as we’d support a school fundraiser let’s hope we organize to support our institutions and candidates.