| Subject: Chat with neal rauhauser |
| From: neal rauhauser <nrauhauser@gmail.com> |
11:21 PM neal: hey
me: howdy
I'm going to be on Russian television tomorrow evening
going to start some trouble
11:23 PM neal: oh
me: meanwhile
11:24 PM we've had a bunch of successes
neal: do tell
me: a producer out in LA is offering to raise a great deal of money
neal: I have been making slow inroads
me: by which to fund Project PM
which really doesn't need funding
and also
more ambitiously
to start up a new cable news outlet
which he would put me in partial charge of
11:25 PM did you happen to see my vanity fair piece from two weeks back?
also, any news on your end?
11:26 PM neal: vanity fair?
I did not
11:27 PM on my end we are putting together editorial desks for Progressive Congress
and I need more eyeballs on this stuff
me: you need more volunteers?
11:31 PM neal: yeah, just a few - gotta be deadly serious players
http://bit.ly/CPC-Immigration
take a look - situational awareness via Twitter data collection
11:35 PM me: I've got a lot of people now
with various skill sets
including former Wash Po editorial board member
head of theoretical physics at Case Western
Michael Hastings, who wrote the McChrystal piece
and plenty of random people who are all intent on reform
11:36 PM I can provide you with some help
for now, get in touch with my lawyer Clark Robinson
he's a great guy, retired, formerly with Social Security administration
11:37 PM very erudite, and very up to speed on the sorts of informational strategies we're dealing with
robinsonchicago@gmail.com
I believe I have mentioned you and your project to him
in fact I think we have you down as a potential member
anyway, consider all my people at your disposal
also
11:38 PM in a moment I will e-mail you a more concise description of what we're doing in terms of the blogging network
neal: ok
you have counsel to help you navigate, that is good
I would like to look over what you are doing and then maybe we get together and talk
me: yes, he's been indispensable
11:39 PM I've actually left NYC
am in Dallas
was hoping to go to Mexico but now I have to hang around Fortress America to tend to all of this stuff
but at any rate, I am reachable by phone at most any time
neal: where in Dallas?
me: I just signed six month lease in Uptown
neal: I am working on TX-06 race - Arlington & points south
11:40 PM me: ah. I'm actually from here and grew up here
was recruited to work on Laura Miller's city council campaign when I was 16 and a columnist at school paper
I guess you don't know her, she later became mayor, instituted damned smoking ban at bars
11:43 PM neal: great smoking ban!!!!
yay!!!
me: you can bring a concealed pistol to a bar, though
but you can't smoke
11:44 PM neal: I am so allergic to that stuff
me: I sort of am
it causes me to develop cancerous tumors over time
neal: haha
11:45 PM so
briefly
http://bit.ly/CPC-Energy http://bit.ly/CPC-Environment http://bit.ly/CPC-Economy http://bit.ly/CPC-NationalSecurity
11:46 PM http://bit.ly/CPC-Immigrant http://bit.ly/CPC-LGBT http://bit.ly/CPC-Healthcare
these are curated situational awareness systems meant for the House Progressive Caucus
11:47 PM me: wonderful
I'm pleased to see you've made progress on that sort of thing in particular
broadly, we're looking at the same general problem of how to improve information flow
neal: we're also doing social media CRM for political campaigns
that is going right along
11:57 PM me: okay, just sent a note to Clark updating him on this, will send description of network schematic now
neal: nrauhauser@gmail.com
to reach me
11:58 PM I don't h ave email for you
512-560-2302 still best phone?
me: barriticus@gmail.com
yep, my cell
keep in mind that the media network I just sent you info on
11:59 PM is only one component of our plan
I'd also like to have you on the governing network
which will involve no time commitment
neal: there
What I have been seeing
is lots of efforts like this from analytical folk
and I seem to have better reach/salesmanship
12:00 AM me: that's certainly crucial
12:01 AM the VF article I mentioned
has been a breakthrough for us
12:02 AM got us a lot of new members
increased my standing quite a bit and thus my ability to act and recruit
etc
neal: link to it?
me: one sec
12:03 AM http://www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2010/06/why-the-hacks-hate-michael-hastings.html
neal: hey
how you do that?
12:04 AM me: what?
neal: get into Vanity Fair
me: skillz
neal: haha
me: actually
neal: Do an article on what we're doing for Progressive Congress
12:05 AM me: queried them last year
neal: is innovative++
me: I'll write you up somewhere, VF only tends to take a certain sort of subject matter
I'm expanding my mags right now, luckily
12:06 AM Harpers is considering running an excerpt from upcoming book
neal: haha
damn
I get blog glory
but not real, paper pubs
me: and altogether I've got more access to editors than I used to
neal: teach me oh great one
I write
a lot
me: well, I can give you some contact info for pubs where you might have luck starting out
neal: they tell me I'm good at it
as far as bloggers go :-)
12:07 AM me: off the top of my head
Toward Freedom
is a great pub
pays decently
covers progressive politics
as in, actual policy
neal: pay?
neal: you get paid for writing?
neal: how ... strange
me: I'm actually trying to avoid it now
me: part of what we're doing
me: is trying to create a system that will free the best young journalists from having to deal with mainstream outlets
me: that will require independent funding, but that may be attainable
neal: Hot, Fat, and Clouded
neal: hahaha
me: meh, I don't get to choose my titles
me: but I'm happy with the book itself
neal: heh
me: oh, I'll send you a manuscript
me: it is filled with editing mistakes put in by the shitty editor who is the publisher's girlfriend
me: fucking publishing industry
neal: ohhh
neal: you can do that?
me: sure
me: I've sent it around already
me: to get blurbs, reviews, etc.
me: also because the book provides a lot of background on why I feel compelled to launch Project PM
me: however you feel about the competence and honesty of the pundit class as a whole right now
me: you will hate them far worse after reading this
me: I went through ten years of columns by Thomas Friedman and Charles Krauthammer
me: among other things
me: it drove me nuts
neal: haha
neal: they do suck, don't they
neal: you did comm coding
me: comm coding?
neal: yeah, you marked up their stuff for research
neal: I got techie stuff on political messaging from that sphere
neal: a sneior level poli sci course from UIUC.EDU
me: ah, I just call it "being a pain in everyone's ass"
neal: well, that's accurate, too