Case Study: YouTube and the CT Young Dems

Update: Just want to add that Future Majority is part of that media cycle I've mentioned. The CTYD video came to my attention because a Google Alert linked me to a newspaper article. I then blogged it here and on Daily Kos. The diary got rescued at Kos, and was then picked up by PoliticsTV and a few other blogs, extending the life of the story beyond one news cycle.
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I've beaten up on young and college democrats at times for being out-maneuvered or lacking in the same media savvy as their Republican counterparts. So I should highlight it when they do something creative. Earlier this week, I wrote about a web video produced by the Connecticut Young Democrats (Republican Flip-Floppers Get YouTubed). Since then, I've exchanged emails with Lon Seidman, co-President of CT Young Dems, and got the story behind the issue and events that led to the creation of his Republican Flip-Floppers video.

This mini-campaign provides a case study for how progressive youth organizations - armed with only a DVR and a MacBook - can leverage new media and higher youth turnout to their advantage in local politics. It also illustrates the role that YouTube can play in influencing local politics (something often ignored in favor of national stories like the Vote Different video).

The Issue
The issue in question was a constitutional amendment to allow 17 year olds to participate in primaries if they will be eligible to vote in the general election. The Connecticut Young Democrats have been working on the issue since March. That the amendment even made it out of committee and onto the floor is a feat that Seidman attributes to higher youth turnout in CT, and dedicated outreach on the part of Democrats like Joe Courtney and Ned Lamont. (In 2006, Seidman was the campaign manager for Joe Courtney, who ran a tight against a Republican encumbant. Courtney made it a point to focus on young voter outreach. At the University of CT, turnout was up 860% on election day, and Courtney squeaked into office by a mere 83 votes.)

On May 3rd, the amendment was up for a floor vote in the Connecticut House, and Seidman decided to record the proceedings on his DVR. As the vote progressed (and started to look like it might gather the 3/4 vote needed to make it onto the 2008 ballot), he noticed that a number of Republican legislators began repeatedly changing their votes. Once the vote was over (it lost by 9 votes), he went back through the video and saw that 7 Republicans had switched their votes at least once, and sometimes as many as four times during the voting period.

The Campaign
Seidman immediately issues a press release to major Connecticut news outlets pointing out the flip-flops. The obvious implication being that Republican's killed the bill when it came down to brass tacks, but tried to appear as supporters to please constituents or avoid bad press (like what's happening now). Part of that release was picked up the next day in a story in the Hartford Courant.

Seidman then got the idea that the footage from CT-N (Connecticut's version of C-SPAN) might make a good web video. So he transferred the footage to his Mac and holed up in a coffee shop. Half a day later he had the Republican Flip Flopper video finished, uploaded to YouTube, and posted on the CT Young Dems website. He then issued another press release, this time pointing to the video on YouTube, explaining their video distribution strategy, and providing a snappy quote matching the tone of the video:

"These members thought nobody was watching. They were wrong," said Lon Seidman, Co-President of the Connecticut Young Democrats, "Our humorous ad sends a very serious message: These Republican members decided to play games with the right of young people to vote."

From there, the story wasaired on a local news program, it was picked up in two more newspapers, and it also received accolades in the CT blogosphere.

What's Next
Seidman says that although the amendment failed to garner the 3/4 support it needed to make it onto the ballot, if it passes in the Senate with a majority, it will be reintroduced next year, when it will only need a simple majority in each house to make it on the 2010 ballot where it will be decided upon by CT voters. In the meantime, Seidman and the Young Democrats are using their success with the ad to pressure the 7 Republicans who "flip-flopped," and they will be holding talks with the 14 Democrats who opposed the measure or were absent.

I've no doubt that the big increases in young voter turnout, and the role they played in electing folks like Joe Courtney, will give Seidman and the Young Dems leverage to move some of those Democrats into voting yes next time around.

Conclusion
Smart rapid response coupled with a DVR and some simple editing turned a routine press release about youth voting rights (not the hottest of topics) into a larger story reported throughout the state media and into the local netroots. If they're not doing this already, the Young Democrats should be promoting this to all of their chapters as standard operating procedure for their work. You won't always be able to create as compelling a video - and video won't always be applicable - but it's a valuable tool to have in the toolbox, and YDA should be empowering all their members and officers to mimic Lon Seidman's tactics.