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The pitfalls of over networking

by: Jeff Ballard

Sat Mar 14, 2009 at 07:46:42 AM EDT


Many people who visit this site regularly already know who I am. For those who do not please allow me to give a proper introduction.

I am Jeff Ballard of East Wakefield, New Hampshire, which is located in southern Carroll County. Have not heard of it? Trust me, the first time I heard of Wakefield I had no clue where it was. It is home to the Poor People's Pub, which is a Moose Mountain Area Democrats favorite! (Locally owned by a Democratic family)

I work as an Emergency Department RN at Wentworth Douglass Hospital in Dover. This past cycle I ran for the New Hampshire Legislature and came up short in our heavily Republican district.

My point of giving you this introduction is to highlight what I think was my own shortcoming in the past election, over networking. I now know Democrats from Lancaster to Nashua, from Portsmouth to Keene, from Maine to California, but I only know twenty or thirty from my own hometown.

In today's electronic age where we have invaluable networking tools such as Facebook, Myspace and friendly hosts such as Blue Hampshire it becomes much too easy to seek refuge from the world by spending too much time on these sites and not enough time engaged in your local communities.

After all who does not prefer spending time with like minded people, and though we might not always agree with each other, it is comforting to know we have some place to go where the people "Get it".

So my challenge to all of you is to look out how many Facebook friends, or email contacts you have which live outside of your hometown, and now go meet that many people right in your own town.

I know personally if I do that in the next election cycle I will be able to win a seat in the New Hampshire House. What could it do for you?

Jeff Ballard :: The pitfalls of over networking
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Curiousity Killed The Time (4.00 / 1)
Jeff,

Your challenge just took me awhile , but here are my results.

Friends by category (some overlap)

-People with the same name as me: 4

-ESL: 2

-Family: 6

-Keene State*: 33

-Merrimack Democrats/Left Leaning: 19

-Merrimack Republicans/Right Leaning: 5

-Merrimack people who are not politically active: 13

-Miscellaneous Media: 4

-Statewide Democrats*: 112

-Statewide Republicans: 10

-National Democrats: 9

-Unitarian Universalists: 1

-Wikipedia: 3

-People Who I Can't Remember Off The Top Of My Head: 60

-Either Facebook Can't Count Or I Can't Count: 5

*=includes people who I met from somebody in that category, but don't fit in another category of their own.

Things I Glanced
-One person had a family member who had a baby
-A few people are watching sports

-One person didn't get why the Cramer/Stewart interview was a big deal and another thought it was the greatest thing ever

-Most people don't like the new facebook, thinking it's like twitter

-One guy wrote his update in Chinese

-A bunch of them want people to do stuff

-On closer grammatical inspection, One of my facebook friends might just be a pile of burritos.


Excuse Me (0.00 / 0)
Not your challenge, sorry. It was a long night last night in Mont Vernon.  

[ Parent ]
No Facebook (4.00 / 1)
but if you want to get involved in your community, volunteer for something, like a town committee.  Not only have I met a whole lot of people, but I have found that if people get to know you, and see what you do for the community, they not only are more likely to vote for you if you run for office, but they learn what Democrats do.  And all our small towns depend on volunteers to make the place run.  

We believe in prosperity & opportunity, strong communities, healthy families, great schools, investing in our future and leading the world by example. We are Democrats; we are the change you're looking for.

Both are important.... (4.00 / 1)
I have been a life long volunteer as Firefighter and a Paramedic.  I started on my home town departments while still in high school.

This is something that I feel prepares Pols for service and will give you credibility with voters, but it is not enough.

I continue to do that in Wakefield as well as being very active with the Moose Mountain Area Democrats and the Carroll Country Democratic Party.

There is a value to Facebook and Myspace. I did connect with some voters on the two sites. More on Myspace since I could search by town and send people messages asking for support to more people and younger people which is key for Democrats in a Republican stronghold.

Fund rasing was very successful for me on Myspace. By having quick easy access to anyone I have ever known I was able to send a link to Actblue to a lot of people quickly.

For the State Rep it comes down to knocking on doors. I was told going in that I would need 700-800 votes to win in my district.  I knocked on at least 700 doors, which if you have been to Brookfield, Effingham and Wakefield you know that is no easy feat!

Turns out I needed 1500 to win this year and got 1250!


[ Parent ]
I hope you try again (4.00 / 1)
In our area it is very hard to win the first time out, name recognition is a big part of it.  
Thanks for being a life saver in your community.  

We believe in prosperity & opportunity, strong communities, healthy families, great schools, investing in our future and leading the world by example. We are Democrats; we are the change you're looking for.

[ Parent ]
Wakefield, Effingham, and Brookfield (4.00 / 2)
is a tough district. It's been a GOP stronghold for a long time. Joe Who is from Wakefield, after all.

You did really well, Jeff - you should be proud. As Bob Bridgham can tell you, if you campaign again with the same diligence, you'll win. I strongly urge you to run again. You were so close.

This is how we've transformed Carroll County, election by election.

Next....the boros...

member of the professional left  



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