Republican e-chief exits, denounces 'blog-flogging simpletons'

Must program harder

By Gavin Clarke • Get more from this author

Posted in Government, 9th March 2009 15:40 GMT

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The former Microsoft and Yahoo! exec who helped take the US Republican party online has quit saying the party must out-program its rivals.

Cyrus Krohn did not give reasons for his exit, but blamed "more than a software glitch" for the party's defeat during the US presidential elections to the Democrats and Barrack Obama.

Krohn was credited with helping the GOP harvest 12 million email addresses from a starting point of just two million, build a Republican presence on Facebook and Twitter, and harness the internet to harvest contributions to form a draft policy platform.

For all that, the GOP suffered a defeat to the Democrats in last November's elections.

Krohn did not give his reasons for quitting but in a farewell blog indicated the GOP had been out gunned in the technical expertise it could draw on online.

According to Krohn, the GOP got off to a strong start against the Democrats in the early part of the decade but its rivals quickly caught and surpassed the party online for the campaigns of 2006 and 2008.

"The perception that the GOP is woefully behind online and can't catch-up is the blog-flogging of political simpletons," Krohn blogged.

"Change comes quickly online and the tide will turn again in favor of the GOP, once we hone our message and harness emerging technologies. To do that, we must match Democrats, programmer-for-programmer," he wrote.

"Regrettably, we're in terribly short supply of professionals focused solely on building platforms and applications. This is where we got dot bombed in 2006 and 2008. Maybe we should start providing computer science scholarships in exchange for a commitment to serve our party?" ®

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