Anatomy of a Cybercampaign
Not so Genuine Leadership In mid-January 2003 57 newspapers (update: now more than 70) across the country received an identical letter praising President Bush for "Demonstrating Genuine Leadership." The letters contained largely the same text. The question, then, is where did this letter come from and why did so many newspaper editors agree to publish it? Thanks to some hard work by some concerned netizens, we now know the answer to the first question. We may never know the answer to the second. How Did they Do It? The letter was generated through an automated emailer hosted by the Republican National Committee on a Web Site called href="http://www.gopteamleader.com">GOP Team Leader. This site awards points and prizes to individual's who send out letters prepared by the RNC to newspapers around the country. The RNC has used its local organizations and web sites such as Rush Limbaugh's to recruit new letter-senders. The RNC does this using software developed by Capitol Advantage, a campaign consulting company based in Fairfax, Virginia. Capitol Advantage's cyberconsulting unit called quot;e-advantage" instructs its clients in its pamphlet "Ten Steps to Building a Successful Online Campaign" to "Identify targets . . . post alert messages to web sites, news forums, chat groups, and mailing lists . . .email your cybertroops and urge them to pass the news along . . . express thanks via your web site but don't name names . . . protect the privacy of your online army." Organized efforts by a national political party positioned to appear as a grass-roots effort are known as "astroturf". The "Salute" email spam (below) is an example of using email to circulate propaganda. Congress.org also published this email. This is significant because congress.org is run by Capitol Advantage - the same folks who run http://gopteamleader.com The "Genuine Leadership" letter is clearly one of the worst abuses of this nature that we have seen for some time.
Latest Articles	href="http://washingtontimes.com/upi-breaking/20030123-082253-7089r.htm"> Washington Times href="http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20030125roddy102col2p2.asp"> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/27/technology/27LETT.html">New York Times href="http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/864295.asp" target="_new">Newsweek target="_new">PC World Slate href="http://www.bristolnews.com/features/editorial/MGBWEKZ14BD.html" target="_new">Bristol Herald Courier The Inquirer (UK) And a spin control attempt from the Right . . .
Who Printed the Letter? Who Printed Responses?	Newspapers who printed the letter: href="http://www.failureisimpossible.com/dosomething/sod.htm#genuine" target="_new">Current List Most recent count: 74 NEWSPAPERS Newspapers who printed the letter more than once: Deseret News (Salt Lake City) 1/12/03 and 1/15/03 Santa Barbara News Press 1/10/03 and 1/17/03 Stuart News (Florida) 1/18/03 and 1/22/03 Most recent count: 3 NEWSPAPERS Several Editors have clarified their Letters policies and indicated that individuals participating in this type of behavior in the future will not have their letters printed. Newspapers who have printed responses: Wausau Daily Herald Courier Post (South Jersey) href="http://www.santa-cruz.com/archive/2003/January/22/edit/let.htm">Santa Cruz Sentinel Most recent count: 3 NEWSPAPER
Who is GOP Team Leader? www.gopteamleader.com is produced by the Republican National Committee. The site uses CapWizTM, the flagship product of Capitol Advantage. Capitol Advantage's cyber-consulting arm is called "e-advocates" and hosts the web site congress.org	Prizes for sending letters from the Republican National Committee target="_new">Screenshot of RNC Template target="_new">Jack Oliver of the RNC recruiting "Team Leaders" on Rush Limbaugh's web site Capitol Advantage Capitol Advantage's e-advocatessm target="_new">10 Steps to Building a Successful Online Campaign GOP Team Leader Web Site
Other Less-than-Genuine Efforts	target="_new">"Salute email spam" Google Search for "Salute" distribution target="_new">"Salute" article not accurate "Salute" began as an email spam and was also published on congress.org - Capitol Advantage's web site. Capitol Advantage's flagship product is CapWizTM which, if you check, is the home URL for www.GOPTeamLeader.com target="_new">"Democrats' tactics were "tantamount to an attempted coup . . ." target="_new">"Bush and Republicans have been making a real difference . . ." target="_new">"I hope you reflect on the progress that President Bush's leadership has brought . . . the compassionate conservative agenda is on track . . ." target="_new">"Bush should be applauded for taking a courageous stand against Saddam Hussein's outlaw regime . . ." target="_new">"I am outraged at the partisan games . . ." target="_new">"I am sick and tired of Democrats playing partisan politics with the judicial branch . . ."
Credit where credit is due	href="http://www.failureisimpossible.com/dosomething/sod.htm#genuine">Failure is Impossible href="http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2003/01/index.html#000544"> Tapped - American Prospect href="http://www.unblinking.com/arc/20030119.htm">Unblinking.com The Register href="http://atrios.blogspot.com/2003_01_12_atrios_archive.html#90188922">Atrios href="http://tabletalk.salon.com/webx?14@83.kmx0avFhwfm.175@.2cb9c422/531">Table Talk

Got more? Send updates to href="mailto:miraweb@nihongo.org">miraweb@nihongo.org

Anatomy of a cybercampaign
Not so Genuine Leadership In mid-January 2003 at least 57 newspapers across the country received an identical letter praising President Bush for "Demonstrating Genuine Leadership." The letters contained largely the same text. The question, then, is where did this letter come from and why did so many newspaper editors agree to publish it? Thanks to some hard work by some concerned netizens, we now know the answer to the first question. We may never know the answer to the second. How Did they Do It? The letter was generated through an automated emailer hosted by the Republican National Committee on a Web Site called href="http://www.gopteamleader.com">GOP Team Leader. This site awards points and prizes to individual's who send out letters prepared by the RNC to newspapers around the country. The RNC has used its local organizations and web sites such as Rush Limbaugh's to recruit new letter-senders. The RNC does this using software developed by Capitol Advantage, a campaign consulting company based in Fairfax, Virginia. Capitol Advantage's cyberconsulting unit called "e-advantage" instructs its clients in its pamphlet "Ten Steps to Building a Successful Online Campaign" to "Identify targets . . . post alert messages to web sites, news forums, chat groups, and mailing lists . . .email your cybertroops and urge them to pass the news along . . . express thanks via your web site but don't name names . . . protect the privacy of your online army." Organized efforts by a national political party positioned to appear as a grass-roots effort are known as "astroturf". The "Salute" email spam (below) is an example of using email to circulate propaganda. Congress.org also published this email. This is significant because congress.org is run by Capitol Advantage - the same folks who run http://gopteamleader.com The "Genuine Leadership" letter is clearly one of the worst abuses of this nature that we have seen for some time.
Latest Articles	href="http://www.post-gazette.com/columnists/20030125roddy102col2p2.asp"> Pittsburgh Post-Gazette href="http://www.nytimes.com/2003/01/27/technology/27LETT.html">New York Times href="http://www.msnbc.com/modules/exports/ct_email.asp?/news/864295.asp" target="_new">Newsweek target="_new">PC World Slate href="http://www.bristolnews.com/features/editorial/MGBWEKZ14BD.html" target="_new">Bristol Herald Courier The Inquirer (UK) And a spin control attempt from the Right . . .
Who Printed the Letter? Who Printed Responses?	Newspapers who printed the letter: Current List Most recent count: 74 NEWSPAPERS Newspapers who printed the letter more than once: Deseret News (Salt Lake City) 1/12/03 and 1/15/03 Santa Barbara News Press 1/10/03 and 1/17/03 Stuart News (Florida) 1/18/03 and 1/22/03 Most recent count: 3 NEWSPAPERS Newspapers who printed reader's responses: Santa Cruz Sentinel Most recent count: 1 NEWSPAPER
Who is GOP Team Leader? www.gopteamleader.com is produced by the Republican National Committee. The site uses CapWizTM, the flagship product of Capitol Advantage. Capitol Advantage's cyber-consulting arm is called "e-advocates" and hosts the web site congress.org	Prizes for sending letters from the Republican National Committee target="_new">Screenshot of RNC Template target="_new">Jack Oliver of the RNC recruiting "Team Leaders" on Rush Limbaugh's web site Capitol Advantage Capitol Advantage's e-advocatessm target="_new">10 Steps to Building a Successful Online Campaign GOP Team Leader Web Site
Other Less-than-Genuine Efforts	href="http://www.congress.org/congressorg/bio/userletter/?letter_id=13010521" target="_new">"Salute email spam" href="http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22difference+in+the+salute22+bush&btnG=Google+Search" target="_new">Google Search for "Salute" distribution target="_new">"Salute" article not accurate "Salute" began as an email spam and was also published on congress.org - Capitol Advantage's web site. Capitol Advantage's flagship product is CapWizTM which, if you check, is the home URL for www.GOPTeamLeader.com target="_new">"Democrats' tactics were "tantamount to an attempted coup . . ." target="_new">"Bush and Republicans have been making a real difference . . ." target="_new">"I hope you reflect on the progress that President Bush's leadership has brought . . . the compassionate conservative agenda is on track . . ." "Bush should be applauded for taking a courageous stand against Saddam Hussein's outlaw regime . . ." target="_new">"I am outraged at the partisan games . . ." target="_new">"I am sick and tired of Democrats playing partisan politics with the judicial branch . . ."
Credit where credit is due	href="http://www.failureisimpossible.com/dosomething/sod.htm#genuine">Failure is Impossible href="http://www.prospect.org/weblog/archives/2003/01/index.html#000544"> Tapped - American Prospect href="http://www.unblinking.com/arc/20030119.htm">Unblinking.com The Register href="http://atrios.blogspot.com/2003_01_12_atrios_archive.html#90188922">Atrios href="http://tabletalk.salon.com/webx?14@83.kmx0avFhwfm.175@.2cb9c422/531">Table Talk

Got more? Send updates to href="mailto:miraweb@nihongo.org">miraweb@nihongo.org