Let's Make Our Democracy Work!

The Democracy in Action websites, which I started running in 1998, are designed to help readers follow and understand presidential campaigns. I seek to provide context and perspective on the presidential campaign process and to connect you, the reader, with the best available resources on the subject so you can get involved and have an impact, regardless of your partisan or ideological views.

Within the Democracy in Action framework, I document the activities of Key Players (candidates/potential candidates and their organizations, political parties, interest groups, media and voters), provide Chronology, feature Photodog (photo coverage), and cover general developments affecting the presidential campaigns. My philosophy is to keep it simple, keep to the basics, and leave the bells and whistles to others.

THE CHALLENGE FOR 2020: FINDING THE WAY FORWARD

“Until one is committed, there is hesitancy, the chance to draw back, always ineffectiveness. Concerning all acts of initiative (and creation), there is one elementary truth, the ignorance of which kills countless ideas and splendid plans: that the moment one definitely commits oneself, then Providence moves too. All sorts of things occur to help one that would never otherwise have occurred." – William Hutchison Murray

This is a provisional website. What does that mean? Provisional means "arranged or existing for the present, possibly to be changed later." Currently, I'm working to make P2020 better every day. There are still some rough edges. Just as potential candidates weigh whether or not to run, in the off-season I have given serious consideration on whether or not to do a P2020 website. 2020 would be my eighth presidential campaign (sixth on the web). I like to make these better each cycle, and had set out several objectives which were not met, hence the provisional status.

• First I had wanted to the website infrastructure for the 2020 site to be up-to-date. This is not my area of expertise, and I didn't have a budget for it, but I was hopeful of finding someone who could provide technical assistance. The existing Democracy in Action sites are not optimized for digital devices and are very antiquated on the backend/coding, thus do not do well in search. I've also been told that the overall look of the sites is somewhat dated. While leaving the older sites as is, I wanted to upgrade these aspects on a P2020 site, and was hopeful of finding someone who could help make that happen, for example in settling on a CMS, figuring out whether databases should be incorporated, whether to shift to https, if social media would be doable, and setting up a half dozen page templates for a P2020 site that were optimized to work across devices. I'm not into a lot of bells and whistles and I was not looking for a quick fix to boost traffic, but I did want to make get the backend basics right from the start. While it's too late for a major revision, there are still some areas where a bit of technical guidance would be welcome. If you're knowledgeable on web development and might be able to help identify and correct deficiences please contact me.

• Getting the infrastructure up to date would have helped with another major goal, that of generating some revenue or income. These sites take a tremendous amount of work, and trips to major events and the key early states of Iowa and NH cost money. So far, running Democracy in Action has been a red ink proposition. Aside from a tiny amount brought in by Google ads and PayPal there has been scant outside financial support. Any ideas on this would be appreciated, as would contributions, even small contributions.

• I would welcome a partner or partnerships, an assistant or intern, and am very open to working as part of a larger team. If you are interested in this work and would like to be involved, let me know what specifically you can offer. For example, readers will note that I am not doing tracking of visits to the key early states. I view this as a very, very important part of the record on presidential campaigns and am trying to identify and encourage individuals or groups, possibly at one of the universities in each of the early states to take on this function.

If I move away from P2020, I can offer your team expertise on presidential campaigns going back to 1992, strong research and organizational skills, and a lot of experience photographing candidates and campaign events. My particular interest is on visuals and how campaigns and candidates communicate their messages. I am also interested in campaign organization. If you have a opening or specific project that would be a good fit, please let me know.

So for now, I'm all in. Your thoughts, input and suggestions are welcome and appreciated (e-mail: action08@gmail ... or call me at the number below).

BACKGROUND

I launched Democracy in Action on the web in May 1998, building on my work since 1989. Broadly, the aim is to educate citizens about the political process and their role in making it work. Specifically the objective is to provide news, context and perspective on presidential campaigns.

I have not incorporated Democracy in Action, but it has been my pen name day in and day out since launch. Democracy in Action has absolutely no connection with MoveOn or DemocracyinAction.org (which both arrived on the scene later) or with any other group. This is non-ideological, non-partisan project dedicated to educating citizens about and documenting presidential campaigns and political communications generally.

My goal is to make the sites better every day, and my main focus has always been on getting the content right. Readers will note, for example, that these sites do not perform optimally on mobile devices. I have improved navigation and design since P2000, but there is much room for further improvements. (Note that if you get lost, clicking on the top banner or the bottom "Democracy in Action" will always take you back, or there is always the back on your browser).

Users will also note that I'm not active on social media. I find Twitter/Facebook are very useful tools for following the campaign, but believe that keeping up a robust social media presence would distract from the main objective of keeping the site in tip-top shape.

I'm interested in how political entities from across the spectrum are communicating their ideas. I seek to understand what works and what does not. My particular interest or bias is visual aspects of political communications—images that resonate. Early editions of this site were been built and hosted on The George Washington University server (it was known to many as "the GW site").

In addition to the websites, I have pursued several other projects at Democracy in Action.

• Prior to running the websites, I developed CD-ROMs on the 1992 and 1996 presidential campaigns.

• I edited, in collaboration with the Association of American Editorial Cartoonists, two books: “The Race for the 2008 Democratic Nomination” and “The Race for the 2008 Republican Nomination” (Pelican Publishing, July 2008).

• I have done work on magazine cover portrayal of presidential campaigns and presidents from 1999 to the present, organizing three exhibits. If you have a suitable venue, covers are available for exhibits.

• I have assembled a library of general election campaign literature from almost every major candidate for U.S. Senate and governor since 1989. 2018 marked the 29th anniversary of the Campaign Literature Project. Although the importance of campaign literature has declined with the rise of the Internet, basic literature pieces can tell us much about the candidates and issues of the day (+).

• I believe there should be a resource center—an actual physical space here in Washington, DC—where visitors to our nation's capital can learn about current debates and about their role in making our democracy work.

ERIC M. APPLEMAN

I have managed all aspects of this work including covering hundreds of major and minor events (photography and writing) Iowa caucus and NH primary campaigns and national conventions since the 1996 cycle as well as doing research, editing and design.

Great professors at The George Washington University, where I graduated with a B.A. in political communication summa cum laude, were critical to my understanding of the presidential campaign process. While at GW, I organized an exhibit at Gelman Library on the 1992 campaign, and I started working on my Field Guide to the 1992 Presidential Campaign CD-ROM. Next, under contract, I developed the content for a CD-ROM on the 1996 presidential campaign, in conjunction with WMUR-TV. I started online in May 1998 with the P2000 website and have continued with the P2004, P2008, P2012 sites and now this P2016 website. I have also earned a certificate in graphic and web design from the CDIA at Boston University in Washington, DC. You can find out about other things I'm interested in here.

As noted above, your small donations to help with this work would be greatly appreciated (contributions are not tax-deductible and will be reported as income). Large donations are also helpful.

More generally, I'd like know what you think. If you have ideas, suggestions, comments or criticisms please send an email (action08@gmail...) with a clear subject line.

Thank you for your input and your consideration.