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Royal Masset Commentary Number One
November 15, 1999

Welcome to Politics over the Internet

The Internet will be a major player in the election of candidates in the year 2000. Candidates who make use of the Internet will have a tremendous advantage over those who do not.

Until five weeks ago I was among those who felt the Internet would have no real impact on elections until 2002 or 2004. I consider myself very Internet savvy. For over five years I've surfed the Net. All of my transportation reservations are done over Travelocity, at an incredible savings! All the research needed in politics can be done over the Net. E-mail is much faster and cost effective than the telephone. I believe the Internet will change the world.

But Web sites in the 1998 Elections didn't have much impact. For campaigning purposes I believed the Internet was still somewhat gimmicky and limited in its ability to deliver a campaign message. Web sites were basically passive. They only attracted the already converted or those rare individuals who were really searching for information. The only way you could go to www.rickgreen.com was if you knew the site was there or maybe had a link. Fat chance the undecided voter would even find the site, much less be influenced by it.

Five weeks ago I had an epiphany. I was eating lunch with Tom Greenwell, an outstanding candidate for the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals whose opponent, the sitting incumbent, was arrested for scalping UT football tickets. The problem we faced was that no Texas Court of Criminal Appeals Candidate in all of recorded history has ever raised enough money to send a message, such as a simple mail piece, to all voters. How does Tom Greenwell cost effectively get his message out?

The key insight of this epiphany was that campaign web sites do not have to be passive. The very word web site, or home page, conveys something fixed that people must volitionally go to. This thinking has you trying to attract voters to your site by getting a lot of links and being listed with search engines. Five minutes after that lunch I called Bill Fairbrother.

Try this simple thought experiment. Don't use the word Web site. Use the concept "Internet Brochure". Don't think of passively getting voters to go to your web site. Think of aggressively sending your Internet Brochure to everyone who might vote for you!

By General Election day in 2000, over 60% of your potential voters will have e-mail. It would cost you 70 cents to mail them a letter. It will cost 0 cents to send your Internet Brochure. And your supporters can send your Internet Brochure to hundreds of their friends with a personal note of endorsement. They can't do this with a mail piece.

An Internet brochure is much more persuasive than a piece of mail. Do you or anyone you know really read most campaign mail? The newness of Internet Brochures guarantees they will be read and influence voters. Undecided voters can instantly access far more information than is possible with a mail piece. Besides your regular brochure and campaign pitch you can send a biography, position papers (with links to studies), calendar of your schedule (so the voter can meet you), pictures and information about your family, newspaper articles, your e-mail address for their questions, all sorts of contact information about your campaign: phone numbers, addresses, campaign leaders, members on your committees, volunteers, endorsements & etc. Because of the interactive nature of e-mail your Brochure can even recruit volunteers and raise money.

I am not in the Web design business. The purpose of this message is to strongly encourage you to learn about the Internet and aggressively campaign with it.

My new web site you are visiting is my way of trying to learn about the Internet. This is much more an experiment than a commercial venture. It is also a way for me to reach out and serve Republican candidates as I did when I was Political Director of the Republican Party of Texas. I am trying to find ways I can meet your needs enough for you to use this site and visit again. My page on "All the Forms and Rules you will ever need" should prove invaluable to candidates.

With this page you will never need to have someone mail you a blank form ever again, or have to mail a form or rules to someone. Need a designation of campaign treasurer form? An application to file? A petition in lieu of filing fee? An application for the RPT Campaign School? Need to know filing fees? Qualifications for office? It is all here. FREE. Go to the page, now! New candidates should find the page "Essential Advice for Potential Candidates" equally valuable.

But all this is for naught if you don't access my site and use this information. And the more people who use this site, the more helpful information I can provide. Not because I'll make money off of providing these services. But because I really want you to do well, get your friends elected, and serve Texas! If I know several hundred people are using this site I will kill myself making it even better for you. And I'll get paid exactly what the guys at the Alamo got paid.. Nothing. Please register your name. Ask me questions. Comment about this site. Where does my grammar stink? What would make it better? How can we serve Texas even better? What information, or links, or advice would help you the most? What will bring you back to this site?

We are on a wonderful adventure. There is no way of telling where we will wind up. Truthfully, I have no idea what I am doing on the Internet. But we will make mistakes and learn. Failure is the secret of success. I intend to fail many times in developing this site. But I won't rest until this is the most useful Republican site in Texas.

I will take some criticism for allegedly helping Democrats by making my advice and these forms available to the general public by posting this information on the Internet. I am absolutely convinced that fifty times as many Republicans will use this information as Democrats. We are, after all, the party on the ascendancy. I also believe we have more to gain by sharing our ideas in public than hiding behind walls of secrecy within limited self-centered cliques. There were many pilots far more qualified and organized than Charles Lindbergh. But he just went out and did it.

We aren't in competition with Democrats. Our competition is every tyrant and bureaucrat who doesn't believe in individual freedom, and wants to snuff out liberty and dampen the human spirit. Texas must win that fight.

Special thanks must be given to my web designers at GOPUSA.com, Bobby Eberle and Bill Fairbrother. They are statewide leaders in the Republican Party of Texas. They may make a little money designing web sites and Internet brochures. But like me and you they are primarily here for the cause. I have no financial interest in them. I called them because, although everyone designs web sites these days, I believe they are the best. Sort of like the Ryan Aeronautical Company in Lindbergh's day. I encourage you to visit their site and use them.