In a fantasitc exchange among power media gaints, the House Majorty Leader and a small virtual community coordinated by five staff. The little guy wins in a networked society. MoveOn benefitted from the further attention to the cause, highlighted a serious issue, and made the opposition look small and petty. Nice work.
This response raises some interesting challenges for MoveOn. The more MoveOn staff get dragged into the spotlight the more likely they become a "single" point of failure. Hopefully, MoveOn will expand the "guest" voices but not really target existing recognized spokespeople (big nonprofit or poltiticos) but instead expand the voice of regular members that could take leadership of MoveOn for a moment then disappear back into regular working life.
How would the same call and tactics have worked if instead of Eli the target from MoveOn was a local cop, teacher, nurse, etc.? Hello, Chicago Trib a Nancy the Nurse from MoveOn suggested I call you about the Novak colum. Here is her number 555-temporary MoveOn cellphone. 4000 calls from Nancy the nurse. Tom Delay staff screaming about the ability of some random nurse to shut down his phone system. MoveOn needs to adapt some strategies that will freustrate the counter punch of its opponents.