Who's With Fred? A Look At Thompson's Web Team
Ex-Sen. Fred Thompson (R-TN) has quickly and quietly recruited talent for his Web team over the past few weeks while he prepared for his WH '08 campaign. He premiered his exploratory Web site, www.ImWithFred.com, live last night on Fox News Channel.
Thompson spokesperson Mark Corallo confirmed what the Politico reported earlier this week, that former Bush Cheney '04 eDirector Mike Turk will serve as the "chief architect" in Thompson's Web site and online operation. Thompson has already pro-actively reached out to conservative blogs in the past few months and has said that he's looking to make heavy use of the Internet and other technology in his campaign.
"I got involved because Thompson said he's really not interested in running the same campaign we've been running for two generations now," said Turk. "He really wants to do things differently... He understands the power of the Web."
Also on board for the Thompson Web team:
New Media Strategies will do Web 2.0 outreach and online intelligence, overseen by CEO Pete Snyder. Snyder's wife, Blunt spokesperson Burson Taylor Snyder, will work on the campaign's press staff.
Jon Henke, who recently left the Senate for NMS, will also work on the Thompson account. Henke is best known for his work on Allen's Senate bid last fall when he was called in for damage control in the blogosphere after the Virginia Senator's "Macaca Moment." NMS Practice Director Howard Mortman and Senior Online Analyst William Beutler (both former Hotline staffers) will also work on the Thompson account.
Blaise Hazelwood of iWebStrategies, said she'll be working under Turk's direction on the Web site and blog in an effort that "is going to be different from any other Republican or Democrat site that's out there right now." Hazelwood was Political Director at the RNC in both 2000 and 2004 during the construction of the Voter Vault.
Hazelwood will work closely with Ken Smith, chief strategist for Episode 49 and Todd Zeigler of the Bivings Group. Smith's firm does programming development and builds databases and his Web sites' client list includes the RNC and NRSC. A former intern for Thompson, Zeigler said his firm will do some design, strategy and build tools for the Web site. Hazelwood, Smith and Blaze have already worked together on other political projects including Web outreach for Rep. Bobby Jindal's bid for Louisiana Governor this cycle.
Dan Hopkins of Segmented Media said his firm will do the back-end technological development, including designing and building the Web site. [SHIRA TOEPLITZ].
UPDATE: Rob Bluey reports Thompson's Web site raised $220K in its first 18 hours since it was launched.
Join the Discussion
The National Journal Group has the right (but not the obligation) to monitor the comments and to remove any materials it deems inappropriate.
Comments powered by Disqus