Campaign wiki?: A suggestion to Steve Novick

I submitted this letter to the Steve Novick for Senate campaign. It is about a novel idea that came from Pete Ashdown's race against Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) back in 2006. Ashdown's campaign maintained a wiki as a public forum where people could collaborate on policies they thought Ashdown should adopt. As I say in the email, it exemplifies the saying "democracy in action".

— Athelwulf

Dear Mr. Novick,

Recently, one of your volunteer callers contacted me, and we talked about the campaign. I told him that a while ago I emailed the campaign an amazing idea but that I didn't get a response about it. I'm sending an email about it again. I'm interested in what you think.

Back in 2006's midterm election, Pete Ashdown, a Democrat, ran against the incumbent Republican Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah. He lost, but his campaign did something I think your campaign should do: They maintained a wiki which anyone could edit. It served as a public, ongoing forum for Ashdown's potential constituents to voice their ideas. People could collaborate on public policy which they thought Ashdown's campaign should adopt. It was a way for the people to influence his platform. At the end of this email is the URL to this wiki: Ashdown kept it up even after the election.

If anything exemplifies the saying "democracy in action", a campaign wiki as a public forum is definitely it. Of course, Mr. Novick, you would have the final say on your own platform. But if this wiki is nothing else, it's the easiest way to learn Oregon's thoughts and concerns that I can think of. I know you support net neutrality, and I'm sure you recognize that netroots organization and support are essential both specifically to your campaign and generally to the democratic process itself. I think it's a good idea to build on this theme of the Internet being a priceless asset to a campaign. I strongly believe that your campaign would greatly benefit by creating a way for your potential constituents to share their ideas and influence your platform. I ask you, as a potential constituent and a strong supporter, to create a campaign wiki which will serve the same purpose Ashdown's wiki served.

Of course, even though a lot of good would come of this, there would be some slight headaches too. You will have Smith supporters attempting to sabotage the campaign and generally running amok in this forum. However, if there are enough participants, the wiki will be self-healing. Anyone, such as supporters, neutral parties, and even opponents of the campaign, can easily volunteer their time to clean up the sludge that will make its way into the forum. A wiki is easy to vandalize, but it is also easy to moderate and clean up.

Please consider implementing this idea. And if you have the time, please tell me what you think. Here is Pete Ashdown's wiki: http://peteashdown.org/wiki/

Sincerely,

[name and city withheld]