Quote Originally Posted by StrontiumDog View Post
Give us feedback, Democrats urge

Give us feedback, Democrats urge

By The Nation
Published on May 31, 2011

The Democrat Party plans to revamp its website and invite visitors to offer policy input in a bid utilise social networks and connect with the people in their election campaigning.

"The Democrats have received positive responses from Netizens in the online community, hence the reason for a new design of the party's web-page to further engage the people," the party's Bangkok campaign manager Apirak Kosayodhin said yesterday.

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Quote Originally Posted by StrontiumDog View Post
Campaign strategists in a see-saw battle

ANALYSIS

Campaign strategists in a see-saw battle

The Nation
Published on May 31, 2011

Democrats hope their 'door-to-door' approach will eventually yield fruit even though opinion polls show Pheu Thai forging ahead with big campaign events

Approximately one month to go and the mountain standing in the Democrats' way seems to be getting bigger. At least that is what the opinion polls are suggesting, which makes it understandable why the incumbents are choosing to virtually ignore them and the looming shadow of Yingluck Shinawatra.

There remain hopes among the Democrats that their door-to-door strategy and the much-taunted "For continuity, choose us" slogan will finally pay off, although their opponents have taken a runaway lead in opinion polls through big presentations and promotion of Yingluck.

The Democrats do have sound logic behind the decision to scale down their tradition of big rallies. In this campaign, they have been going straight to groups benefiting or standing to benefit from state policies. It has been a tiresome, whirlwind drive that targets smaller audiences with the hope that "real messages" could be spread mouth-to-mouth or through the unproven social media networks.

"We used to focus on big rallies but now that we are incumbents, the approach could give us a disadvantage because people, especially the media, may concentrate on what we say politically, not what we have done with tangible results," said one of the party's election strategists.

"This new direct-sale approach may bear fruit slowly, unlike big events showcasing big speeches, but we are confident that when real messages start to get across, it will eventually work in our favour.".....
Taken together, these two reports indicate a (for them) worrying lack of Dem certainty about what to be doing and how to be doing it. A third of the way into the campaign - and they're revamping their website?

They're now not into "big rallies"? Unsurprising - when comparing the mass turn-outs for the Yingluck + supporting company roadshow events with the noticeably less than impressive numbers at the Dem rallies that have been staged. So they're now concentrating on the less conspicuous "door-to-door..... direct-sale" approach..... The trouble with "less conspicuous" is, obviously enough, that it doesn't generate much attention - particularly from TV coverage. Just how many photo-op Abhisit visits to markets, factories and rice paddies do the Dems imagine the viewers will find worth watching over the next month?

They're now not into "big speeches" either - so what's left to show on TV and report in the print media? Canvassers door-stepping voters (compelling stuff - not) and people texting/tapping at their keyboards as they use "social media" to spread the "real message"? Are they serious?

Difficult to escape the conclusion that the Dems are flummoxed - despite having had all the planning and preparation time available to them in the run-up to calling the election. There seems to be no real life let alone positive and coherent strategy in their campaigning - and, to judge by the reports, most of it is reactive and negative. Voters will only do so much based on provoked fear; to vote for continuity there has also to be at least wide-ranging and strong satisfaction with those asking to continue - and a confidence that things will not just continue but get tangibly better. Whether from the rally stage or on the doorstep, there's little sign that many are being persuaded of it - and Abhisit's Facebook fan-club aren't enough to outweigh that.