Three Innovative Republicans Running for Congress

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...).

This reminded me very much of Chris Lien's fully immersive video-based splash site. Though layered on top of a more traditional campaign presence, Lien steps out a la mini-Mitt to give you the straight story on why he's running. This puts the candidate right front and center, and expands the possibilities of video beyond just repurposing ad content. By making you focus just on the video first, you feel like you're getting to know the candidate without being pulled in 20 different directions. Now if they could only add that email signup box for down-the-road monetization!

Better still, Lien also updates his own Twitter. All his tweets are updates of what he's doing on the road -- the best, most easy-to-relate-to use of the tool. And he launched a Kyte.tv channel and was doing live video from ANWR. He is an authentic social media candidate.

And finally, who could forget John Culberson, the "real time representative" who ignited the great Twitter war of 2008. He's a Republican too, and the Democrats would like to think they can knock him off. You can help him out here.