Steve Jarding: “This transitional era is a tsunami”
The following interview was conducted with Steve Jarding on April 12, 2007. Steve was senior strategist to the Jim Webb for Senate campaign and is currently managing Sen. Tim Johnson’s reelection campaign in South Dakota. Steve is also the co-author of Foxes in the Henhouse: How the Republicans Stole the South and the Heartland and What the Democrats Must Do to Run ‘em Out”.
Feld: What were the most significant elements that came together to produce such a strong grassroots/netroots movement for Jim Webb? Were the netroots always part of your strategy for electing Jim Webb?
Jarding: The netroots existed, had some juice, had some experience. With the netroots, there was an infrastructure (Webb didn’t have any money, organization or connections with the party). Webb told me that the netroots guys were pushing him pretty hard to run. It was a motivated group, seemed loyal, enthusiastic. People said the netroots will never work with the establishment or professional campaign. We embraced the netroots early [in an attitude of] mutual respect. Webb wanted to run an unconventional campaign, in part because he didn’t want to spend 5-6 hours per day raising money. Webb was a good messenger for an unconventional campaign. The netroots, in part, allowed him to be a different kind of candidate. Jim knew his strengths and weaknesses. At the end of the day, it worked. The netroots was a security blanket for Jim.
I was aware that the conventional wisdom was don’t trust these guys, they’re not party people. Warner approached Webb in the summer but Webb didn’t know at that time. Late in 2005, Harris Miller was going around telling people that Webb wasn’t running. I thought that Webb could win. I talked to Bob Kerrey, said that Allen’s gonna be tough but the right Democrat can beat him. The netroots was always part of the strategy. What the netroots brought to the table was very refreshing, not unlike Jim Webb himself.
For instance, if it wasn’t for the netroots packing Gerry Connolly’s St. Patrick’s Day Party, Webb might not have won the primary. That was the first piece of evidence that there was something there, 10 days after Webb’s official announcement. It was the first concrete moment in the campaign, and it was mainly because of the netroots. The victory was reported in the Washington Post.
The netroots moved stories before the MSM did. For instance, the Jewish heritage story, Macaca, the “n” word. The tail was wagging the dog. At Harvard, I now give as much attention in my class to the netroots as to opposition research.
Feld: Why did the netroots rally behind Webb?
Jarding: The Iraq war, and Webb’s early opposition to that war, may have been a catalyst to get people to consider Webb. Also, one of the things I like about the netroots is that they’re not encumbered by the status quo, by conventional wisdom. They can think outside the box. They saw the potential in Webb.
Feld: Other impact of the netroots early on?
Jarding: The netroots didn’t necessarily get people like Chap Petersen and Leslie Byrne [to endorse Webb], but the netroots gave them a bit more cover. Those people endorsed Webb for their own reasons, maybe calculated. The netroots may have helped open the door to people like Chap, [Arlington Revenue Commissioner] Ingrid [Morroy], other electeds with whom we had relationships. We had some credibility with these people. It all kind of builds. At some level, there’s a connection, it’s all tied together.
The netroots got Jim really thinking about running. In November 2005, Webb and I got together. Webb knew that the netroots were pushing him to run. The amount of money pledged in the draft may not have seemed like a lot, but it was credible enough; another sign that this wasn’t unreal.
Feld: What was your thinking in hiring Josh Chernila and me to be grassroots and netroots coodinator, respectively, on the campaign?
Jarding: We were rolling the dice a bit bringing in Josh and you. The main risk was in losing Josh’s and you independence to do what you were doing. Hiring you guys was the institutionalization of the netroots into a modern campaign. Some party folks, particularly in Virginia, saw you guys as a threat, wanted to knock you out after the primary. My argument was let’s bring ‘em in house, because we haven’t fully utilized them. I wanted to raise $1 million online, and we ended up blowing that away. The party people didn’t know who the netroots were, felt threatened. The Virginia party folks were more threatened than the national party people. The decision to bring in Josh and you was a source of some angst, dissension for some party people who saw the netroots taking credit for Webb’s primary victory. Some party people denied that the netroots had anything to do with it. Maybe they were jealous because the netroots were getting a lot of buzz, publicity? A lot of campaigns might have said, “let’s cut the cord.” But we stuck with them. Of course, we made the right choice bringing in the netroots. It goes back to day #1.
Feld: Any comment on the tensions between the campaign and the netroots?
Jarding: This campaign doesn’t get enough credit. We could have cut loose the netroots, but we decided we needed them and that we would work together. This synergistic relationship occurred not by accident. We had to learn to trust each other, stay focused on the prize. There was a lull after the primary, we were broke. We decided that the netroots and “top down” were on the same team, we’re gonna ignore the sniping. There was no room for error. The truth is that we had no money, almost lost the campaign HQ.
We saw that we needed the netroots, as difficult as some of them were. The campaign was able to go to the netroots in a synergistic relationship, they would build crowds and get people to events. People saw there was energy, passion.
Feld: How would you describe the netroots in general?
Jarding: Its empowering. It’s people reading, writing, making decisions for themselves. The corporatization of the media has…opened up space for the blogs. We’re bombarded by information…you can get your news from a million sources, not like in the old days with Walter Cronkite. Today, our government is broken, taken over by lobbyists. People are hurting out there. People feel a little helpless, angry, insecure. All of a sudden there’s a forum for them to express themselves, get involved, give money and time, get active. I can’t think of another technology with this much potential. Raw, immediate medium. Individuals making decisions.
Feld: Are we in a transitional era?
Jarding: Yes, the netroots is here to stay. Other media have competition from the blogs. The blogs are unfiltered, they can be dangerous. This is the greatest democratic movement technologically maybe ever. When have we ever had the capacity for millions of popel to get involved, give money? Now there’s a way to get active.
It used to be that whoever spent the most money won, but now that’s not necessarily the case. If a campaign uses the netroots properly, you can reach a lot of people that way. A lot of traditional entities have become stagnant. This netroots is fresh. You don’t have to work your way up the ranks, entry costs are low. The previous model will adapt, disintegrate, and coopt. Someone will put together a business model to make money off the blogs. It’s the ultimate compliment (”imitation is the sincerest form of flattery”).
Feld: Thoughts on the 2007/2008 presidential cycle and the netroots?
Jarding; Part of Obama’s early success is attributable to the netroots. Republicans have their institutional ways to reach people (e.g., talk radio). Blogs rushed into a vacuum on the Democratic side. The question is how big will this get?
…This is a powerful technology, the potential is phenomenal. In 1 or 2 cycles, you’re not going to have a campaign where blogging is not instrumental. Netroots combines media, research, organizing, ideas exchange, fundraising. Media shops in campaigns are reaching out to the netroots. Such a powerful tool. This is a way to move people, reach a mass audience almost free of charge.
[...]
Where’s all the new money coming from? The netroots. This transitional era is a tsunami. But there’s no formula for bringing bloggers onto campaigns. It’s walking a fine line - intellectual freedom vs. control.
Tags: Jim Webb, Netroots, Steve Jarding