But have we reached that level of advancement? Is it even possible? How much would it cost the American taxpayers? And what other programs would suffer from dedicating a stream of money to such a large endeavor?

I have to admit, if the building of a Mars colony was inserted into the Republican platform, I probably would disagree with it for now because too many questions remain to be answered. If I were running for office and some activist demanded that I sign the party platform, I wouldn’t do it, and thus I would most likely be labeled a RINO.

I think the concept of private school choice is a fantastic idea. Aside from the fact that most private school parents, or at least 98% of the ones I’ve ever met, send their kids to private school to get them away from the public school kids like me, competition, in theory, will improve the entire education system. It’s worked just about everywhere else, but it’s still just a theory in this case. South Carolina is a complicated state plagued by a racist past. That past has created segments in our culture where pockets of poor, often minority districts dominate. I don’t see how the economy of South Carolina’s Hampton County, where I spent most of my summers as a child, can handle any sort of educational competition. And let’s all be honest, it’s those areas that are killing South Carolina’s test scores.

I support the idea of private school choice, but like my support of a Mars colony, I have a lot of questions regarding its economic feasibility like – how can we be sure we’re not stripping funding from the fantastic schools in Spartanburg County? As a strong fiscal conservative, I demand answers to those questions before we change the entire structure of our education tax code and dump millions upon millions of dollars into private schools. I’ve heard the rhetoric, yet I’ve seen no convincing poof.

I will not, at this stage in the game, sign a document pledging my support for private school choice legislation. Maybe in the future. Maybe even tonight if someone can show me some good numbers. But not right now at this minute as I write this blog post. (For the record, I think South Carolina should enact a private school choice pilot program.)

That’s what scares me about this dangerous effort afoot to cleanse our party of anyone who disagrees with any part of our platform. There are many activists across the nation who are even demanding that candidates and legislators sign the party platform or else. Or else they’ll be labeled a RINO.

Folks, we really have to get away from this idea that if you’re not with me 100%, then you’re against me.

We are a party that prides ourselves on the examples set by President Ronald Reagan. If I were to say that I disagree with President Reagan, I’d surely be labeled a RINO. Luckily, I almost entirely agree with President Reagan, especially when he said, “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.”

Looking at the South Carolina Republican Party platform, I’m as far right as one can be, except for that one issue, which I support in theory. That doesn’t mean I’m a 1% traitor. That means I’m a 99% friend.

I’m 100% pro-life. I don’t like the idea of any exceptions. But what about the woman who is raped or the husband who is looking at raising his wife’s rapist’s child? Can’t we at least understand where they’re coming from? We don’t have to agree and we can push them toward the adoption alternative, but can’t we at least understand and grant them some compassion instead of labeling them pro-choice? Can’t we withhold the RINO label if they refuse to sign the Republican platform?

I support the NRA and I’m proud to have just bought my first gun. But what about the hard core Republican leader who was held up last night with a semi-automatic Uzi? He’s distraught. He saw his life flash before his young eyes. He agrees with 99% of the Republican Party platform but now he wants to tighten gun laws. He’s as pro-life and anti-tax as anyone we’ve ever met, but is he all of a sudden a Democrat because he disagrees with one leg of our platform?

According to Ronald Reagan, these people are allies. They’re friends. They’re Republicans.

If President Reagan is to remain our party’s hero, wouldn’t those that disagree with him actually be the RINOs? I think so.

I lived most of my childhood in the worst, most economically depressed parts of North Charleston, South Carolina. If groups like the South Carolina Policy Council, who often label legislators as RINOs, are against bringing Boeing to North Charleston, I want to be whatever they’re not. But that’s not a RINO. That’s a reasonable human being. It just goes to show how loosely the term is being thrown around.

There is a time and a place for the RINO label. Senator Arlen Specter was a pretty good example. So is Dede Scozzafava. We should not put up with big government tax and spend liberals who call themselves Republican. That’s obvious. What I’m saying is that we should not use the RINO label so loosely and we especially should not call someone a RINO just because they refuse to sign the large party platform because of one or two issues.

We didn’t win Virginia and New Jersey by telling folks that they’re RINOs. We won by convincing them that they’re more Republican than Democrat.

Let’s save the RINO label for those who really deserve it and cut everyone else a little slack. Let’s pick our fights and take out real RINOs instead of splitting our party in half just because someone doesn’t agree with us on every single issue. We’re humans with different experiences and reasons for believing what we believe. We aren’t programmed Republican robots. That’s something President Ronald Reagan obviously understood.

This website is much more fun way to showcase some of the cool stuff we’re doing and our thoughts on Internet and campaign strategy. We’ve also launched a new Facebook fan page that we’re begging you to join on us. Yes, begging. Come on. You know you want to.

That’s where I’m at right now. Over the past few weeks I’ve been churning out mad blog posts. But today I’m just fried. It is Thursday. Tomorrow is Friday. And I’m friend like a chicken.

This week I’ve been slammed up with a ton of corporate projects. I’m launching an awesome new voter contact application. I’m launching a new project with my BA designer. I’m launching a brand new site for our favorite Congressman. I’m launching a new site for JUMP! I’m launching a new blog for my wife. I’m even launching a blog for one of my best friends. And all that’s compounded by the fact that Adrienne has been rocking faces off in Virginia since last week instead of helping me.

So as I sit here and try to come up with some great analysis of Tuesday’s election or some strategy on using Twitter lists, I’m stuck listening to Ben Fold while staring at this guy who’s been responding to my DailyBooth pics. I don’t know who he is, but he’s one funny dude.

My brain is fried. I’m out. Peace.

I signed up for dailybooth.com a few months back after reading an iJustine post. I put it down but just started playing around again recently. DailyBooth is exactly what it sounds like – a daily photo booth. You take a picture of yourself each day and upload it to the web. That’s it.

I’ve been thinking about whether or not dailybooth.com can have any practical use in a political campaign. I haven’t come up with an answer yet so I’m soliciting your thoughts. What do you think?

Connie Tingin was one of my best friends. We went to high school together in Goose Creek, but we weren’t very close at all. Besides having a few classes together and hanging out at the “Groo Spot” (someone wrote Groovy on the sidewalk, but the ‘vy’ wore off) during lunch, I didn’t spend a lot of time with her. But then came college where our love for the band Jump, Little Children brought us together. We traveled the Southeast going to concerts, hung out nearly every night, and carpooled home to Goose Creek often. She was one of the most happy, energetic people I have ever met. Her attitude just rubbed off on people and it was impossible to be around her without smiling.

Connie was a member of the USC flag team and she collapsed in the stands shortly after the USC – Vanderbilt pre-game performance. It was hot enough to drench all our clothes in sweat, so there’s no surprise everyone thought she collapsed from heat exhaustion. But it wasn’t the heat. It was a brain aneurism and she sat at Williams Brice stadium while her brain bled for way too long before being rushed to the hospital.

It was a long week of surgeries and ups and downs. Connie lost the fight and died at the age of 21, eight years ago this week.

I carried Connie’s casket as a pallbearer and the white gloves I wore still lie in my sock drawer. They make me think about Connie everyday, but its right after the Vandy game that I really start reflecting on life.

This website doesn’t exist for me to talk about my feelings or my personal life. It’s here to talk about politics. That’s why I’m sharing this story.

Recently it seems like everyone is stirring up crap for no other reason but to spew hate. Most of it doesn’t accomplish anything real. Many people just hunger for drama and those sorts of people are drawn to politics and power. While the Internet has given a voice to many who want to contribute to the debate, it has also unfortunately given a voice to trolls who have nothing else to do but to attack. And its not just in politics. It’s everywhere.

Maybe today instead of being a troll, you should think about life a bit and how short it is. Quit being an idiot. Live life and have fun.

My dad used to make me and my two brothers watch Thriller- and it used to really scare me.  It still is kinda spooky to me. Haven’t seen it in awhile? Take a look below and check out some of the other Halloween-themed geek links. Happy Halloween! – Adrienne

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Saul replied, “You are not able to go out against this Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a fighting man from his youth.”

But David said to Saul, “Your servant has been keeping his father’s sheep. When a lion or a bear came and carried off a sheep from the flock, 35 I went after it, struck it and rescued the sheep from its mouth. When it turned on me, I seized it by its hair, struck it and killed it. Your servant has killed both the lion and the bear; this uncircumcised Philistine will be like one of them, because he has defied the armies of the living God.”

-       1 Samuel 17:33-36

Sometimes nothing is better than experience. As Dr. Estep stated “don’t go looking for giants, but be prepared when one comes your way.” I’m sure having killed a lion and a bear with your bare hands is pretty good training for giant killing preparation. But growing up one saying has always stuck with me “it’s smart to learn from your mistakes. It’s even smarter to learn from the mistakes of others.”

Going up against a giant could have been a huge mistake. Luckily for David, it wasn’t and we learned a valuable lesson. When fighting a giant, make sure you have a slingshot and a rock. Oh, and having God on your side helps a good bit too.

What does all this have to do with the Internet?

Experience is becoming less and less important in many tasks. Not every task, but in many. In my line of work nothing beats real campaign and management experience. But modern communications is becoming much more about word of mouth and learning from the mistakes and accomplishments of others.

I don’t need experience or college training to learn how to edit a new video or how to build a blog. I can learn from others on websites, Facebook, and Twitter for free.  Not only has the Internet given us the abilities to communicate around the clock and to search for content easily, but people are willing to give away their experiences.

Just think about how many more giants could have been knocked down if David had the Internet. =)

Here’s what you should do today. Find some great bloggers that you can trust and learn from their experiences. I learn every day from bloggers on problogger.net, techcrunch.com, techpresident.com, and techrepublican.com. I’ve joined listserves, forums, and other communities where I can ask people about their experiences when I lack them on a particular topic.

And of course, read my blog daily. =)

Lots of things about work are hard. Dealing with trolls is one of them. Trolls are critics who gain perverse pleasure in relentlessly tearing you and your ideas down. Here’s the thing(s):

1. trolls will always be trolling
2. critics rarely create
3. they live in a tiny echo chamber, ignored by everyone except the trolled and the other trolls
4. professionals (that’s you) get paid to ignore them. It’s part of your job.

“Can’t please everyone,” isn’t just an aphorism, it’s the secret of being remarkable.

In politics you have a lot of people complaining because, let’s face it, they should be complaining. Many elected officials at all levels of government are dropping the ball. I’m not talking about these people. I’m talking about people who spew hate just to spew hate.

You know who I’m talking about. And with the growth of the Internet, these trolls have a voice they wouldn’t otherwise have. Many of them are bloggers, paid to spew hate. They literally sit around all day just trying to find their next target or another bullet to shoot at a previous target. They add very little to public debate and their rants have become so frequent that they’ve become more like the boy who cried wolf rather than a political operative taken seriously.

But I have to disagree with Godin, something I do infrequently. Godin says that as professionals, we are paid to ignore them. In politics, we cannot and we must not because sure, trolls “live in a tiny echo chamber,” but so do some other very important people:

1. The Press – As budgets tighten and newsrooms shrink, reporters don’t have the time they once did to hit the roads looking for stories. Many are turning to blogs for tips.

2. Activists – Want to build that campaign committee of the state’s top activists? I know you do, so you best be paying attention to the blogs because they are reading every post. It doesn’t matter if you’ve never voted for a tax increase. If a blog has labeled you a RINO, you’re going to have some ‘splainin to do.

3. Donors – Like activists, big donors are super informed. They’re reading the blogs and that could hurt your bank account.

So how do you kill a troll? You quit feeding it.

Don’t you hate that question?  I mean, its good when it comes from someone who is serious about getting the job done, but when it comes from someone who wants to just snap their fingers and make it happen, its just annoying. Unless of course, it’s from someone who wants to snap his or her fingers and drop cash on it. Then we can make magic happen. =)

This particular person was not the type who wanted to work or drop cash. They just wanted their name at the top. And yes, I asked him if I could post this story. I gave him a hard time on the phone too.

So of course I did what anyone would do. I Googled his name and I swear to you, I just about went through the phone and punched him in the face.  Here’s why: He hasn’t even created a Google profile for himself yet.

With Google profiles, Google has given us the opportunity to post positive text about ourselves on the first page of a search. You don’t have to do a darn thing except sign up for a Google account and fill out the form.

Yeah, I’m serious. Don’t believe me. Just try it. Like right now. Google “Wesley Donehue.”  Heck, even Google “Wesley DonAhue.” See, I’m sneaky like that.

What you’ll find is my Google profile at the bottom: http://www.google.com/profiles/wesleydonehue Of course the bottom is not where I prefer it to be, but its positive, on the front page, and absolutely free.  Here’s an explanation from the Google blog http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/search-for-me-on-google.html:

It’s no secret that from time to time many of us have searched on Google for our name or someone else’s. When searching for yourself to see what others would find, results can be varied and aren’t always what you want people to see — whether it’s someone else with your name, or the finishing time from that 5K you ran back in 2002. We want to make that better and give you more of a voice.

To give you greater control over what people find when they search for your name, we’ve begun to show Google profile results at the bottom of U.S. name-query search pages. These results offer abbreviated information from user-created Google profiles and a link to the full profiles. We’ve also added links so it’s easy to search for the same name on MySpace, Facebook, Classmates and LinkedIn.

Setting up a Google should be one of the first things you do when you launch your online campaign.

How?

First you need to sign up for a Google account. Don’t get lost in the email, RSS reader, Calender, or other features that might just solve your life’s problems just yet. Mosey on over to http://www.google.com/profiles and snag your na

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