Unity08 Transcript of June 22, 2007 (Minus First Question)

Here follows a transcript of the online chat with new Unity08 CEO Robert Bingham, which happened at 12pm ET today, June 22, 2007. The text of the first question, which disappeared off the temperamental Unity08 chat screen before I could grab it, is missing. I counted 33 participants, at least a half of dozen of which (such as Robert Bingham himself, Unity08 VP Bob Roth, Unity08 CoFounder Roger Craver and Unity08 COO Anya T. Harris) are in the corporate leadership of Unity08 itself.

You have joined room: Unity08_Chat
Thank you for joining today’s chat with Unity08 CEO Robert Bingham. We’re expecting a high volume of questions, but we will do our best to answer them quickly. Thanks for your understanding!

robert_bingham: Hey everyone, I’m the new CEO of Unity08, I’m glad to be here and hope to not completely make a fool of myself in answering your questions. Let’s get started….

[Question posted which I was unable to capture. Can anyone supply this text? At any rate, in response, Bingham writes:]
(Jun 22-12:07) robert_bingham: I’m still getting the lay of the land, we have much work to do in the future and we need everyone to pitch in. We can and will make this work, but only with the everyone’s help. Tell friends. Don’t be afraid to talk politics, Unity08 is an easy topic of conversation.

(Jun 22-12:11) nikki: what did you do before this?
(Jun 22-12:11) robert_bingham: I’ve always been a technologist. I love gadgets and how stuff works. But more importantly, I really enjoy the application of technology and have made a career of taking these applications to market. Most of this experience is in the Internet sector. I was very successful with one company called SimpleNet that I sold about 8 years ago and have been investing in good ideas since then.

(Jun 22-12:15) jimcook: Would you please clarify the current number of “members” of unity08, the number of current “delegates” of unity08, and the distinction between the two?
(Jun 22-12:15) robert_bingham: As you might know, we’ve been signing up both members and delegates. The distinction is that delegates have given us name, address etc. and members have simply given us email, zip and name. We want to get as many people involved as possible, and will moving our message from the term ‘delegate’ to something that sounds like less work. We really need to get people signed in and hope to engage them to eventually become a delegate or voter when we get ready for the convention next june. Currently 62,000 members of which 38,000 are delegates.

(Jun 22-12:18) skontinos: Robert, what made you decide to join unity08?
(Jun 22-12:18) robert_bingham: I really enjoy the application of technology, and it’s impact on markets. I have to admit my hook was how Unity08 could decisively change politics forever with what could only be described as a perfect storm. People know the system is broken, and record number of people are no longer affliated with the major parties, and technology can finally be deployed that can build communities online and make the Internet not just a place to raise money, but change everything from an organizational sense.

(Jun 22-12:22) bobroth: How will Unity08 deal with the digital divide and allow those who aren’t online to participate?
(Jun 22-12:22) robert_bingham: Luckily for us, things are only getting better as more Americans than ever are getting connected. Pew just came out with some great stats that 50% of american households are broadband connected. That’s good news in many ways for all sorts of online inititives in politics. But beyond that, we hope that our volunteers will eventually help us reach out to communities that not currently online and both get them engaged in our convention and when it’s time to support our eventual Unity ticket for President as well. We also hope to schools, library programs to get the word out, and engage those that don’t have access… Give us some suggestions on this, as we really need to reach out!

(Jun 22-12:26) Need4Change: Are you building the technology behind this and what is the assurance that it won’t be hacked or manipulated?
(Jun 22-12:26) robert_bingham: As CEO my role is diverse. Clearly getting the technology architected, selecting vendors, and initating this audacious plan is on my plate. I’m building a team of people to do much of this work. I can tell you that the founders probably thought this would be pretty easy, we have some work to deliver on the promise.
Hacked or manipulated? I’m sure it will be tried, in fact, we are already the focus of some of that attention. We simply have to keep things simple, deliver on encryption, deliver on the authentication of delegates so we don’t get a ‘american idol’ type election.

(Jun 22-12:31) a1: What is Unity08? How would you define it?
(Jun 22-12:31) robert_bingham: Unity08 will be a third alternative on the ballot in all 50 states ballots for President in November of 2008. This third alternative, a better alternative, will be selected by millions of concerned citizens just like you in an online convention in June of 2008.

(Jun 22-12:34) a1: What has Unity08 learned so far? What is it doing well? What needs improvement?
(Jun 22-12:34) robert_bingham: we’ve learned that it’s harder than it looks! We have a lot to learn still, but we also have the makings of a very experienced team on both the political side and the technology side. We learned that the current campaigns are raising a lot more money and sooner than we expected and have forced us to attempt to catch up. But the end result is that have done a great job to date in placing us in the game, getting some media attention, and beginning to attract enough contributions to invest in the tech and ballot access. we need improvement in getting the message out, and this is how all of you can help!

(Jun 22-12:35) Abbey: are the 2 main parties and the candidates taking Unity 08 serious?
(Jun 22-12:35) robert_bingham: I doubt it. I think the Bloomberg announcement probably woke them up a bit. I think they will pay attention when we start announcing our ballot access wins.

(Jun 22-12:36) a1: See how slow this chat is. Your system is broken. Too much control. It’s not innovative. It’s hierarchical , top-down.
(Jun 22-12:36) robert_bingham: I think your right. I’m typing as fast as I can !!!! Let’s try and do a video chat next time and use voice. It still works better….

(Jun 22-12:38) Tommy_Lewis: What do you think is the percentage rate of successfully completing the online convention with a platform and Pres. & VP Candidates selected?
(Jun 22-12:38) robert_bingham: 100% – I’m sure you think that’s insane or somehow unmanageable but at the simplist, we can do this thing with lots of work and help from our Unity08 members. We have to do this, and that’s why I’m here. I would be very upset if it didn’t happen and think I can deliver on the promise.

(Jun 22-12:41) williamcerf: It is now June 22, 2007. The online convention will be held in about 12 months from right now. Can you get this all up and running smoothly in that amoutn of time.
(Jun 22-12:41) robert_bingham: I think we can. Obviously we’ve slipped on all previous deadlines, so I think it’s important for people to realize that what we are going to build a very complex application that needs to pass the test of scrutiny and we hope to do it with transparency and open source to the degree that we can without jeopartize our security. It’s time to stop talking about it, and get to work building it.

(Jun 22-12:43) williamcerf: This chat is a pretty old technology, isn’t it? So one of the things on your to do list is to get voice/video up and running reasonably quickly.
(Jun 22-12:43) robert_bingham: Let’s do it, do you have a service you like? send an email to comments@unity08.com and we’ll check it out. Obviously this is the first time I’ve used this service so I also have some feedback

(Jun 22-12:46) a1: Build communities online, how? How, as a community, are we interacting with each other??
(Jun 22-12:46) robert_bingham: Currently, we are not. The current website is simply a placeholder as we architect the go live system for the American Agenda and the Convention. Just throwing up a social network site does not induce community either, so we are really looking at how we engage everyone while educating. And do this all on a shoestring tech budget….

(Jun 22-12:47) williamcerf: I think it was a good idea to do this chat during your first few days on the job. You get an idea of the challenges that lay ahead.
(Jun 22-12:47) robert_bingham: Yeah, I have to tell you, I’m more excited every day as the ideas from our members, donors, candidates come flooding in. We really have an important opportunity to change politics forever. I hope that people know that we are about to unleash the Genie from the bottle…

(Jun 22-12:51) a1: Historicly, what politicians inspire you personally, and why ?
(Jun 22-12:51) robert_bingham: I’m an Arnold fan. I really have to tell you that the special election to kick out the governor of CA really inspired me to at least read the paper and watch the circus that ensued. The parties scrambled to sue to stop have an open process and essentially lost. We had a contest with porn stars, movie stars and guess what…. we ended up with a guy who is moderate. I think someone like Arnold ignites the imagination and makes Politics entertaining.

(Jun 22-12:55) marjorie_fox: How many delegates are presently participating? For a successful campaign, how many are needed for a critical mass? By when?
(Jun 22-12:55) robert_bingham: I mentioned earlier that we have 62,000 members of which 38,000 are delegates. We think it’s still not impossible to get to millions by June of 2008. The internet is about exponetial growth, and simply saying ‘well, Unity08 is only signing up XX number a day’ is an old way of looking at growth and should be applied to straight line growth industry for example. As we’ve seen with Bloomberg’s announcement, it only takes a few words to change the landscape. we’re working to make that happen.

(Jun 22-12:59) milligan: What is Unity doing to enhance its centrist quals by leveraging other centrist organizations in building a centrist platform, informing delegates of centrist issues, and reaching out the the vast centrist majority out there.
(Jun 22-12:59) robert_bingham: We want to pitch the biggest tent in politics. Clearly centrists should resonate with our mission and we hope to reach out. You have to understand that we want to open our tent to all disaffected people who feel that politics have left them. We know that there are millions who feel the system is beyond fixing so why should they tune in? We want to be the reason they tune in. I’m all for centrism, pragmaticism, unityism, bring it all into the tent and let’s pick a leader who can build a team and get to managing the largest organization in the world.

(Jun 22-13:01) margies: how are we going to decide who is the best canidates? and will thy run under unity08
(Jun 22-13:01) robert_bingham: I’m not, YOU ARE. As a Unity08 delegate, you’ll be asked to review the candidates that are seeking the Unity08 nomination and select the one you think should represent you in the general election vs. the Republicans and Democrats

(Jun 22-13:03) JAJ: Robert, would you ever consider running for President with Unity08?
(Jun 22-13:03) robert_bingham: NO!!! does someone want me to sign something that says “I will not run for President of the United States of America!” I will sign in triplicate.

(Jun 22-13:09) robert_bingham: Well, that’s it for the timed live chat for me. I have a number of question still in the que and I will attempt to answer some of them for the archive. Remember to ask others to join Unity08 to make a difference!

(Jun 22-13:09) robert_bingham: Thanks everyone, I have a number of questions still in the que and will attempt to answer some of them. We will attempt to find some other software and do a video version of this to get to all of them in a timely manner. Thank you everyone for your patience with my slow typing! Looking forward to talking to you soon. Bob

Unlike his predecessor, Robert Bingham seemed willing to identify misstakes, missteps, and underperformance by Unity08 — such as the low delegate number and the numerous missed deadlines Unity08 set for itself. That’s part of the value of a new CEO to replace the old, I suppose. Will Bingham’s leadership change Unity08, or will restrictions on citizen participation continue? Let’s wait and see.