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July 19, 2005
Direct Action Meets Direct Dial
Recently, the grassroots political organization People for the American Way (PFAW) sent out an email alert to their members as a response to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist's threat to use "the nuclear option" to kill the filibuster. The email briefed recipients on the issue and offered them a new, and virtually immediate, tool to act: their cell phones.
Although form faxes and emails have become a standard way to let one's elected representatives know how they feel on particular issues, it's often difficult to act quickly in response to a given development. The time between when an issue requires attention to when an organization can formulate a response, contact their base and actually have those individuals take action can be relatively sluggish—and can mean the difference between victory and defeat.
PFAW encouraged their members to fill out a form contained in the body of an email alert which included a request for the recipient's cell phone number. If the nuclear option was exercised, it would trigger a text message, pre-populated with their senator's phone number, to be sent to their mobile phone allowing recipients to directly contact their senator and immediately light up senate switchboards.
To check out the mailing, visit People for the American Way for more information.
Power to the people...
Posted by Matt Markovich at July 19, 2005 10:08 AM