grace

… filling in the negative space with positively everything

How *not* to win an online campaign : Pt I

Since the 2009 Houston mayoral election, it seems everyone has a theory on “why Locke lost.” It would be nice if some (any?) of those theories were informed by what actually happened at Locke headquarters during the period that led to the December run-off. (Before the run-off, everyone seemed astounded that a first-time candidate with little-to-no name recognition or campaign experience was able to beat out sitting City Council Member Peter Brown, who outspent both Parker and Locke throughout the race and achieved the greatest visibility of all the candidates on television.)

I have my own ideas of why Parker won. If you want to know what they are, send me a tweet and I’ll tell you over coffee some time. But for the benefit of all the political candidates running for office this year – including Bill White for Texas Governor and Gordon Quan for Harris County Judge – I’d like to share what I learned from the campaign trail.

In 2010, White and Quan will be running against incumbents for their respective offices. In the 2009 mayoral race, while it was open due to term-limited White vacating, Parker and Brown could be considered the “incumbents” Locke faced, as they were both seasoned politicians who had developed strong support bases over years (and even over a decade for Parker) of campaigning. Similarly, it will be an uphill battle for the “new” candidates to build online support that can effectively compete with their opponents’.

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Carlos Meltzer & Recipe for Success on 13

Channel 13 did *something* right this week: it featured the Recipe for Success Foundation, a non-profit organization whose mission is to combat childhood obesity and encourage long-term health by helping children understand, appreciate, and eat more healthful food.

The piece shows Carlos Meltzer, Director of Media and Community Outreach, teaching children how to make healthy choices as they prepare dishes: http://abclocal.go.com/ktrk/video?id=6501722

From the Recipe4Success site - http://www.recipe4success.org:

Our Program is focused on integrating nutrition vertically throughout curriculum and after school programs, and operates in selected H.I.S.D. elementary schools.

We train parent-volunteers; connect them to a broad spectrum of community resources—including our Chefs in Schools series; and mentor a city-wide collaboration to affect change. We created a model that will soon be replicated in other schools and communities in Houston and across the country.

Recipe for Success founder Gracie Cavnar was nominated as a National Woman of Worth: please vote for her at http://www.womenofworth.com/ and help Recipe for Success win $25,000 so it can continue its great work! Voting runs from November 10 to November 24, 2008.

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Help the Homeless: NOV 15 - Sleepout Houston!

Please join me and the Caroline Collective team in helping SEARCH: With over 10,000 people chronically homeless in Houston, the Houston SleepOut aims to raise funds and awareness for this serious issue.

On November 15th, I will SleepOut overnight in Sesquicentennial Park to help address the homeless epidemic. Please join me in supporting this worthy cause by joining the Caroline Collective team and/or by donating any amount, large or small, at my Sleepout.org fundraising page: http://www.firstgiving.com/aynbrand. (Proceeds benefit Search Homeless Services.)

If you plan to sleepout, too, let me know/message me on Twitter so we can all camp together. Thanks in advance for your support!

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