il-11

As the GOP at the national level seems to fall into a state of self-inflicted depression, and particularly about its prospects online, it's good to see some GOP Congressional candidates who can actually think outside the box. Three in particular have broken out with next generation online presences.

In a race Soren spotlighted yesterday, the Rothenberg Political Report highlighted a particularly clever use of the medium. In IL-11, GOP candidate Marty Ozinga snapped up the URL IamNotaPolitician.com and is using it to feature a high resolution video that plays directly off paid advertising. The campaign is using all the resources at its disposal, TV, online advertising, and signage, to drive to the site.

The site itself is very striking. The words I AM... placed next to a video, starting on "I Am Not a Politician" and ending with "I Am Committed." This defies almost every piece of conventional wisdom about political web design. The site is almost a perfect roadblock. It mentions the main site address (www.martyozinga.com) but doesn't link to it until the very end.

Though the page could honestly have used a simple registration box, I've got to admire the boldness and the discipline behind sticking with such a minimalist concept. It shows that online video doesn't have to be a tiny, blurry YouTube box, but can look good, be well-produced, and tell a story. I particularly like the thumbing of noses at every campaign manager who *swears* that unlike every other district in America, all the people in their district are all on dialup (you know who you are...).

Marty Ozinga is a businessman who grew his family concrete business into the largest concrete company in the country. But from this ad, he looks like a regular guy.

The Crypt has the details about the race:

Fresh off a quarter where he raised over $800,000 from individual donors, concrete magnate Martin Ozinga III is up with the first ad in the race in the campaign to succeed retiring Rep. Jerry Weller (R-Ill.)

His opponent is an establishment Democrat Illinois political who ... Marty outraised through the hard work he learned at the family business:

Ozinga is facing a hotly-contested race against state Senate Majority Leader Debbie Halvorson (D). Halvorson announced yesterday that she raised about $400,000 over the last quarter -- about half of Ozinga's total -- but still holds a small cash-on-hand advantage over Ozinga, who only entered the race in April.

This ought to be a Republican seat, but with a well-known politician tied into the Blagoyevich operation, we have a very good chance of keeping it. And Ozinga looks and feels like a new kind of Republican, and he is getting the blocking and tackling right in this race.

Give Marty a hand and keep another Richard Daley, Barack Obama, Emil "It's steak, not pork" Jones, Rod Blagoyevich style crooked Democrat out of Congress.