Here is your first look at Campaign Underground! (BETA)

[Skinner]

About a month or so ago, we announced a new project called Campaign Underground, which will be a one-stop source for campaign information, news, and local media contact info.

Many DUers signed on to help out with the massive job of data collection, and you have all done an amazing job filling in our database. But there is still a lot of work to do! We have some states that have no information at all, and other states that are partially finished. And everything will eventually need to be proof-read for errors.

But we are off to a great start! We've already got a great deal of campaign info all in one place. And the local media database, in particular, is going to be a great resource for our members. We are already working on an application that will allow members to "blast" emails to regional media, and print out contact lists for snail mail or telephone.

Over time, we hope to add many more cool things, such as integrated headlines from the DU message board, and special sections for talking points, issue fact sheets, candidate comparisons, and other info.

Here is your first look:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/cu

You will see that we need people who can help us fill in remaining information for each state. You don't have to do the entire state, but if lots of people can each collect a little info, we'll be able to fill in all of the empty spaces.

I was thinking that we might be able to use the new state forums as a "home base" for people who want to collect the remaining data. If you are interested in helping collect data for your state, go to your state forum to get organized, or else post in this discussion thread to let us know you're interested. When you are ready to input the new data, contact me so I can give you the link and password to the admin utility.

Thank you so much who has helped out with this project. And a special thanks to Elad, who has been working his tail off on the database. I think this is going to be a great resource for our members!

David Allen
(Skinner)
DU Administrator

[Oddman]

1. Looks great!

Good job and smart idea!!

[wndycty]

2. Skinner check your e-mail. . .

. . .I have something I want to talk to you about as it relates to this. I am working on a similar project, so I want to know how I can help with this and visa versa.

[KoKo]

3. Many Thanks! Great job! Will be an excellent resource for all of us.

:toast: :bounce:

[andino]

4. I found an error

It was on the Oklahoma web page.

Oklahoma Democratic web page link should be
http://www.okdemocrats.org

NOT


http://www.okddemocrats.org

1 too many 'd's

:)

[OKNancy]

11. fixed

thank you..typo fixed

[andino]

23. No problem...

Glad I can help..

:)

[liberal72]

5. Kick ass

and as an Alabamian I am thrilled to see the Alabama section is up and running many props syrinx9999, you rule, even if you are a Bama fan. WAR EAGLE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[xultar]

6. WOW!!!!

[imax2268]

7. looks great skinner...

can't wait to see it up and running in full mode...!

[arwalden]

8. I'm Very Impressed, And Very Proud Of The Hard Work You All Do.

Thanks!

-- Allen

[Misunderestimator]

9. I see that Florida doesn't have any data.

I might be able to help out a little. What data are you looking for? Is it basically what I find on one of the state pages like this one http://www.democraticunderground.com/cu/cu.php?az=state&state=TN ? Or do you have a list of data points you're interested in?

[BeHereNow]

10. GORGEOUS!

You people are AMAZING!
What would we do without you?
BHN

[RapidCreek]

12. Hi Skinner

I'd be happy to contribute information on Western South Dakota. Tell me how.

By the way...whoever did the coding on this did an absolutely wonderful job! I don't know if it is possible to duplicate or not....they use a purchased script that does mass emails to regional or national media segments....a very expensive one with a vast data base...but you might want to grab yourself a free logon to www.gopteamleader.com and have check out what the enemy is up to. It might give you guys some ideas on how to enhance electionunderground further.....not that it needs any enhancement...just a suggestion. For some reason the morAns sent me an email invite...so I checked 'em out. Thereafter it became clear where many of the emails which are printed in my local paper found their origins.

I look forward to hearing from you.

RC

[RedEarth]

13. My God......Outstanding Work!!!!!!!!

David, you and the other administrators need to be on the DNC payroll....you guys have done some terrific work. Thumbs up for the state volunteers also.

One question regarding this.....

A Media Blaster so members can send mass emails or print out mailing lists of local media....

I'm wondering if freepers will be able to utilize this feature just by donating, like they have said on CU..."donate just a dollar". Perhaps there would be someway to prevent repugs from using this.

Again.....thanks for all the great work!!!!!!

[JohnLocke]

14. Elad rocks!!!

[BlackVelvetElvis]

15. I think you all ROCK!

A beauty of a site. Great design.
You guys are first class.

[anarchy1999]

16. OUTSTANDING! What a resource we have in DU!

Thanks and I'd love to help with Texas.

[SharonAnn]

17. Wow! That's awesome! Slight change needed for Aug 5 date

The August 5th election here is a:

- Primary election for state and federal positions (except president)

- General election for local positions (Primary was in February with the presidential election.

In other words, 2004 has the three following elections:

Feb. 3 Local primary and Presidential primary

Aug. 5 Local general and state/federal primary

Nov. 2 State/federal/presidential general

[tom_paine]

18. Excellent work, guys!

[onecitizen]

19. Wow Skinner

You rock! Great work! Thanx to you and Elad too!

[Merlin]

20. Excellent work. One suggestion.

Local media listings show Email and Web. Many--if not most--outlets show Email as N/A.

Nearly all, however, have a web site, and nearly all of their web sites have a feedback or contact form.

May I suggest, therefore, a 3d listing called Feedback containing the URL of the feedback page (which is often otherwise a real pain to find on the site itself).

I believe these feedback forms are fairly closely monitored by most of the outlets, so they provide an ideal way for us to electronically get to those without email addresses.

This is a powerful tool already and I'm anxious for opportunities to mobilize the troops.

[soup]

21. Yes.

The e-forms look like they may have created a problem. I apologize for the ones in Missouri showing up like they did.

Wasn't sure how this was going to be put together, so when I came across an e-form, rather than an e-mail address, I entered the webpage it was on, and notated (e-form).

Guess I should have asked before doing it that way.

Is there a way to fix this?

[leyton]

24. I have an idea...

All the website links that we post have http:// in front of them, and so I assume that the code behind CU creates hyperlinks of the sort <a href=http://blablabla.com>, putting the website field after the equals sign.

If you insert "mailto:" in front of an e-mail address, a hyperlink can be created, and it works the same way as a hyperlink HTML-wise: <a href=mailto:[e-mail]>. In this case, the browser starts up the e-mail program which creates a new mail message with that e-mail address in the "to" field.

So if the CU code is modified to create a link from whatever is in the e-mail address slot, it will be flexible enough to direct the user's browser to either an e-mail address or to a web form, so long as we go back and insert mailto: in front of each e-mail address. (A pain, somewhat, but not too much work with the edit function.)

[ikojo]

22. WOW! Everyday I am reminded how wonderful DU is

and feel that my money (although it isn't a lot) is put to such good use.

THANK YOU SKINNER FOR ALL YOU DO!!!

[molly]

25. Very IMPRESSIVE!