[Politics]

Mehlman Conference Call

One of the increasingly popular tools for grassroots organizing is the conference call. It's sort of like a secret party--a list of people (bloggers, usually) get an email with a time and phone number. They call in and listen to a party/activist/political bigwig go through the talking points on a specific issue and then they can ask questions. I've done a couple, and they're mildly interesting.

If you want to hear what they sound like, Crooks and Liars has a pirated version of a GOP conference call with RNC Chair Ken Mehlmen. It's sort of torturous to listen to the whole thing, but if you want a sense of how the grassroots communicates, listening to the first couple minutes isn't too bad. (The audio picks up with the end of Mehlman's prepared statement and then goes into questions.)