NDN: Week in Review

There's always a lot happening here at NDN, so in case you missed anything, here's what we've been up to in the last week:

The Dawn of a New Political Era - The 2008 elections have brought about the dawn of a new political era, one characterized by new communications tools and new voters, a new majority coalition and a new electoral map, new global and domestic governing challenges, a new ascendant political party, the Democrats, and the emergence of one of the most remarkable political figures in American history, President-elect Barack Obama. This new political era is the first such era of the 21st century, and it has little resemblance to the political eras that have come before.

Prior to the historic November 4 election, NDN released the best of its political and election analysis, memos and essays since the 2006 midterm elections. After the election was called for Obama, NDN was ready to go with important and detailed analysis of the impact of the Hispanic vote and the Millennial vote on the election; Obama, race and the end of the southern strategy; and much more.

NDN's analysis broke through in the major media even before the election, when Atlanic Media and National Journal's Ron Brownstein quoted Simon on an interview he did with MSNBC's David Gregory. Post-election, Brownstein wrote an amazing overview on the changes in the American electorate; NDN Vice President for Hispanic Programs had a home-run on National Public Radio on the importance of the Latino vote; our brand new NDN Fellows, Morley Winograd and Mike Hais, authors of the best-selling Millennial Makeover: MySpace, YouTube, & The Future of American Politics, were in high demand and were featured prominently in this smart piece in yesterday's San Jose Mercury News; both Andres and Morely and Mike showed up in this national Associated Press piece; and Simon showed up in fantastic USA Today and Los Angeles Times reports on the Latino vote and the possibility of a new Democratic coalition that might see a run for the next 20 to 30 years. Finally, yesterday, "Meet the Press" host Tom Brokaw cited Simon's quote from Jill Lawrence in her same USA Today article as he questioned U.S. Sen. Mel Martinez (R-FL) about how the GOP would ever bring Hispanics back into the Republican fold.

For more post-election NDN press coverage from the last week, click here and here; for pre-election coverage, click here.

Simon Wins The Hill's Election Prediction Contest - Simon unpacked his crystal ball for the election, winning The Hill's Election Prediction contest. Simon beat out the likes of Joe Scarborough, Lanny Davis, Armstrong Williams and Grover Norquist to claim first prize. From the article:

NDN’s Simon Rosenberg triumphed in The Hill’s 2008 election prediction contest, having said earlier this week that Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) would attract 353 electoral votes.

At press time, Obama had 349 electoral votes, with the winner in Missouri and North Carolina still undetermined. Rosenberg predicted Obama would win the popular vote 53-46. Obama is leading, 52-46.

Rosenberg accurately forecast that Senate Democrats would fall short of 60 seats and would pick up 20 in the House. Some House races have not been called, but Democrats are expected to bolster their majority by about 20 seats.

Making the Economy a Top Priority - As President-elect Obama prepares to appoint his economic team, his first priority is to set priorities. Obama took a step toward that during his first post-election news conference Friday, making it clear his top priority is to pass a stimulus package. As he said, “I want to see a stimulus package sooner rather than later. If it does not get done in the lame-duck session, it will be the first thing I get done as president of the United States.” NDN has been advocating for a stimulus package for the long run, one that works to create a 21st century economy through investing in clean infrastructure and innovation. With more bad news on jobs, this package must get passed quickly. NDN Globalization Initiative Chair Dr. Robert Shapiro was quoted on Obama's economic expectations in a major article yesterday in the Chicago Tribune. For more of NDN’s economic analysis, visit the NDN blog.

NDN to hold Tuesday, November 18 Event with U.S. Rep. Jay Inslee on Investing in Clean Infrastructure - To advance discussion on clean infrastructure and clean technologies, NDN’s Green Project will host a Tuesday, November 18, event on Capitol Hill with Congressman Jay Inslee, a leader on energy and electrical grid issues. Representative Inslee will be joined by Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) Commissioner Jon Wellinghoff, as well as Dan Reicher, Google.org’s Director for Climate Change and Energy Initiatives, and Kurt Yeager, the Executive Director of the Galvin Electricity Institute. The event will be held from 12 p.m. to 1:30 p.m. in Rayburn House Office Building, Room 2322. Please click here to RSVP.

Obama to Reinvent the Presidency - In an article in Wired last week, Simon discussed how technology helped to propel President-elect Obama to the White House. But as Simon and Joe Trippi predicted in our election forum on October 28, and as I speculated in last week’s New Tools Feature, Obama’s pioneering use of technology will not come to a halt now that the election has ended. In fact, Simon argued in last week's National Journal’s Daily Tech Dose that:

“With Obama in the White House, "we're going to see something more radical and innovative than what they did on the campaign because more people are going to be paying attention now," ...noting that Obama's ability to use whitehouse.gov to ask Americans to "help him solve the problems of our day" could be revolutionary. Rosenberg said technology will be "central to the way he tries to govern" because innovative platforms are "now so engrained in their brand." The progressive pundit said he expects to see "massive experimentation" with Web efforts to get public input and also rally netroots to push the administration's agenda on Capitol Hill.

The launch of www.change.gov last week confirms his analysis. From an article in Friday’s Washington Times:

"The most interesting thing to watch will be what do they and how do they reinvent the way a president speaks to the American people," said Simon Rosenberg of the liberal think tank NDN and a veteran of the Clinton White House.

"There's no doubt this is going to be more of a YouTube presidency than a fireside chat presidency," he said. "President Obama will be reinventing the relationship between the president and the American people using these new tools."

Agence France Press, the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel and the Houston Chronicle all talked to Simon about how Obama will reinvent the presidency in this way.

To hear more on this subject, watch Simon's video blog from last Friday: