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Watch Our New Ad, “The Future of California” [UPDATE]

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(It’s a cute little ad, with a very important message. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

(Cross-posted from The California Courage Campaign)

The Courage Campaign‘s new ad, The Future of California, will be running on TV in certain California markets starting Tuesday but you can watch it on YouTube now:

The spot is a humorous play on the 2004 ad that accused liberals of being Volvo-driving, New York Times-reading, chardonnay-sipping…you know the rest. Here, we have the Californians who matter most (kids) tell us what they think of George Bush's special interest agenda taking root in California.

Please view it, rate it up, and spread it around. In addition, in order to keep it on the air, we’re looking to raise an additional $20,000. Any donations to the cause are greatly appreciated.

The ad follows up on our Stop Bush in CA campaign in which we frame 5 of November's ballot initiatives in terms that can really get Californians worked up — their relation to the Bush agenda. Yes, Bush is indeed on the ballot in California this November, especially in the form of two ballot initiatives on which we urge votes of No: Prop 85 & 90.

More on these dangerous propositions over the flip…

[UPDATE]Our ad got linked over at CA Observer and Political Muscle. Let’s try to really get this thing out there! Thanks!

From our Stop Bush in CA page:

Proposition 85: 

If approved, Proposition 85 would require notification given to parents of a pregnant girl under the age of 18 when she seeks an abortion. Then, a 48-hour waiting period is mandated. 

The issue of parental notification has a long history in California. To chip away at a woman's right to choose, abortion opponents use the idea that good parents should know about their children having an abortion. From this, they work to legislate good parenting. 

Of course, good parents should be involved in a decision like this, but in reality, this law forces even girls who are scared of abuse to inform their parents of their pregnancy. Unfortunately, some children come from families where they just can't talk to their parents. Girls faced with the choice of an illegal, unsafe abortion or facing their abusive parents will often delay crucial medical care or perhaps even consider suicide. The real goal here isn't good parenting but rather a rollback of women's rights. 

This is why nurses, doctors, and teachers all oppose Prop 85. 

The potential for parental notification laws to endanger the lives of children, and the inability of government to impose good parenting means that you should vote NO on 85.

Proposition 90:

Municipalities have basic zoning and land-use laws on the books to protect our communities. Restrictions on big box retailers, adult book stores or huge subdivisions, for example, are intended to maintain a community's integrity. 

What Prop 90 does is allow virtually anyone – including wealthy land speculators and developers – to sue our communities if any subsequent ordinances put on the books might cause them "economic harm."  For instance, if a developer wants to build 1000 homes but your city limits growth due to traffic to 250 homes, Prop 90 allows the developer to sue your city to recover his lost potential "profits" from the 750 other homes.  If the city can't pay then the land use law will be waived. And cities can't pay these frivolous claims if they want to pay for necessities like police, firefighters, parks and roads. 

But 90 isn't just limited to development. According to the state's Legislative Analyst's Office, "these laws and rules could include requirements relating, for example, to employment conditions, apartment prices, endangered species, historical preservation and consumer financial protection."

Help us send a message this November that George Bush's regressive right wing agenda is not welcome in California. View our ad, The Future of California, and spread the word that a vote against 85 & 90 is a vote against George W. Bush. 

California

Robin Swanson Derides Netroots

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(She’s the Mike McCurry of California. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

From the San Jose Mercury News:

Swanson derided supporters’ glee over the Internet wave washing over the ad.

“Sixteen thousand hits? That’s a drop in the bucket compared to the 4 to 5 million people they’ll need to convince,” Swanson said. “Everyone heralded the netroots as the next great thing, and you saw it propel Howard Dean initially. But when it came to translating it to votes, it didn’t happen.”

The irony is that this story is about an ad from Bill Hillsman and talks about the Lamont campaign, which translated enough votes to win, beating a sitting US Senator.

It really isn’t surprising that Swanson, who is the shill for big insurance and big oil, would bash the netroots.

However, the idea of integrating youtube into campaigns to get exposure is something that is going far beyond politics.

For example, tonight on PBS, Bill Moyers is devoting Now to the topic of public financing of elections. So PBS put a preview on youtube.

The TV insider publication Broadcasting and Cable took notice:

PBS is getting serious about getting more bang for it promotional buck–or make that no buck–via the Internet.

It has set up a “directors account” on YouTube–allowing for longer clips and some other perks–and begun showcasing promos, with a link to the PBS homepage and the show’s site.

PBS President Paula Kerger has said from the get-go that the noncom service needed to be on the cutting edge of getting its programming to where the eyeballs are, and CPB President Patricia Harrison said just this week that programmers “can no longer broadcast to an audience where you last saw them.”

The PBS clips–14 of them so far–include tune-in information, like “check your local listings.”  Kevin Dando, director of education and online communication, for PBS, says it is helping to promote the shows to a huge audience–100 million views a day to all of YouTube. And you can’t beat the price of the screen time: free.

“It’s a great way to get in front of a broad variety of audiences,” Dando says. He points out that the clip promoting a NOW program on “clean elections” is now among the top-50 most viewed recent video posts to the site with 13,600 views to date.

“It’s where the market is headed,” he says.

To increase the chances of getting noticed, PBS loads the clip with tags so that it will come up on a variety of searches–for the NOW show, the tags were “NOW,” “PBS,” “votes,””sale campaigns,” “democracy,” “clean elections,” “election,” “proposition 89,” “vote voting.”

Indeed, it is where the market is headed. Which makes Robin Swanson look extremely out of touch when she bashes us.

The Merc News story quoting Swanson also had some other quotes, from people who actually understand politics:

“I don’t know if we’ll pull this off,” said Bill Hillsman, who created the ad and is the media consultant for Connecticut senatorial candidate Ned Lamont’s insurgent campaign against Sen. Joe Lieberman, “but if the spot goes out enough, people will say this is how I feel, and if for no other reason but this, I’ll go out and vote.”

Joe Trippi, the San Jose State University graduate who helped revolutionize the convergence of politics and the Internet as former presidential candidate Howard Dean’s campaign manager in 2004, said the ad “really captures” the mood of the voter.

“It’s the perfect spot,” said Trippi, a consultant to the Proposition 89 campaign. “It helps create the echo chamber between the Internet and TV that it will need to make that big move. This is getting moved around pretty virally right now.” […]

“We’ve learned from working with underdog and insurgency campaigns that if you do an ad that people are watching (on the Internet),” Hillsman said, “you get a multiplier effect that makes it three to five times worth the amount you paid for it.”

Hillsman’s ad campaign for Lamont was the first political effort to tap into the YouTube phenomenon. YouTube, which was recently acquired by Google, is one of the largest and fastest-growing free video sharing Web sites.

If you haven’t yet, check out the ad and use our tools to email it to your friends.

And check out the youtube promo for tonight’s PBS special on public financing (which I recommend watching).