John Rohrbach: The Harris Miller Campaign and the Blogs
John Rohrbach was Tim Kaine’s Internet Director and official campaign blogger during Kaine’s 2005 run for governor. In 2006, he performed a similar role for Harris Miller in the Democratic U.S. Senate primary against Jim Webb. Rohrbach currently works for Moving Virginia Forward and the Democratic Party of Virginia. The following is from an interview that I did with John on May 3, 2007. John discusses the impact of the netroots on the Harris Miller for Senate campaign.
Feld: Was the Miller campaign shocked [at the success of Webb on the blogs]?
Rohrbach: Not shocked, just frustrated that we were just losing that battle and nothing we seemed to do seemed to have any impact on it. We weren’t shocked that blogs could have that much impact, just frustrated that we were getting our ass kicked so bad.
Feld: It’s interesting that Miller is a tech guy, yet he wasn’t really out there live blogging. We got Webb out there early and often.
Rohrbach: We were getting hammered so badly…
Feld: Is there a certain type of candidate that does well on the blogs?
Rohrbach: There’s a real attraction to outsiders on the netroots. How does Harris cast himself as an outsider?
Feld: He’s the consummate insider.
Rohrbach: [There were also] all of the other factors that made Webb a compelling personality, a compelling candidate and a good senator. An outsider, the personality of not backing down to anything…
Feld: Is the anger what appeals on the netroots?
Rohrbach: There’s certainly anger, I’m feeling a little less now because Democrats have taken control of Congress. Think about a year ago, how frustrated and powerless people felt.
Feld: That’s why I started Raising Kaine, because I was so depressed after Kerry lost, it was absolutely miserable. I finally decided I have to do something. Think globally, act locally. Then I had this ability to start a blog which I wouldn’t have had 5 years ago. I would have wanted to do something back then, but what could I have done? Technology coming together with anger…is this all coming together and creating and fueling candidates like Jim Webb, while a candiate like Harris Miller doesn’t tap into that?
Rohrbach: Yeah, I think Harris was absolutely angry at the Bush Administration, but Jim Webb’s whole persona was about…exudes defiance.
Feld: What’s interesting is that Webb was a Reagan Administration official.
Rohrbach: Virginia Democratic voters are more attuned to culture of these places, even diehard Virginia liberals are much more conscious of the idea that their exact politics are not going to win a statewide race.
Feld: Webb was an outsider, but people thought he could win…had a chance of beating George Allen. Miller wasn’t seen as having a chance.
Rohrbach: Webb had this great biography, had been a Republican…independent voters in Virginia could totally feel comfortable voting for him…Reid, Schumer, etc. looked at it and said this guy is so different, and felt like in this race we have nothing to lose, we have a miniscule chance of unseating George Allen, a leading Presidential candidate. Maybe Webb is the interesting guy who could break through and become a compelling candidate.
Feld: Did the Miller campaign just decide that they weren’t going to go with grassroots/netroots? At the events I went to, the Webb volunteers outnumbered Miller volunteers 4:1, 5:1
Rorhbach: The netroots had a big piece of that. Webb was dominating the netroots and that helped him dominate the grassroots.
Feld: Kaine had a large grassroots network out there, strong support on Virginia blogs, but he was a very different type of guy than Webb.
Rorhbach: Kaine and Webb are both very fierce competitors. Definitely Webb…Tim in a different way. When you get up close in a pressure situation he is utterly confident.
Feld: Webb emphasized populism, Iraq War, outsider.
Rohrbach: Kaine was Lt. Governor, mayor of Richmond, emphasized keeping Virginia moving forward from the last four years of Mark Warner…