Big Announcement: I Am Now Consulting For The Duncan Hunter Campaign

15 Feb, 2007 by John Hawkins

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A little more than a week ago, I mentioned that I had gotten a gig helping one of the presidential contenders build up his web presence, but that I couldn’t mention who it was at the time. When they gave me the go ahead, I promised to post again and give you all the details. Well, at long last, that time has now come.

On February 3, Nathan Tabor from TCV Media got in touch with me and asked if I’d be interested in consulting for the Duncan Hunter campaign. We bantered back and forth, came to a basic understanding that Saturday, and then finalized the deal the next day. Long story short, TCV Media brought me on board to be their point person in building up buzz for Duncan Hunter online.

Since I am a blogger who’s doing some consulting on the side, not a consultant doing blogging to get his name out there, I did attach a condition to my employment that Nathan was willing to go along with:

#1) I agreed to work a maximum of 3 months for the campaign — which should be, in my estimation anyway, plenty of time to give Hunter a huge boost in name recognition and prominence in the blogosphere.

Additionally, while I am working on the campaign, I’m not planning to blog about any of the 2008 Republican contenders on RWN unless a story too big to ignore hits the wires. That’s because I don’t want to come across like a shill for Duncan if I eviscerate one of his opponents or talk him up. Additionally, if I’m done by May of 2007, at the latest, it’s not as if it will be too late to get in on the serious 2008 discussions.

** While I was hired to work specifically on the Duncan Hunter campaign, I want to emphasize that I was recruited and hired as an independent contractor by TCV Media, not by the Hunter campaign. Additionally, I am not a blogger or public spokesperson for the Hunter campaign.

** If you’re wondering what kind of dough I’m making, let’s just say that it’s less than what most blog consultants make (Nobody will ever get me this cheap again), which is fine with me, because I wanted the experience and I’m a big fan of Duncan Hunter.

In fact, after I interviewed Hunter back in December, I liked him so much that I actually offered to set up some interviews for him with bloggers to help get his name out there. In the end, none of them actually came off and ironically, I am now getting paid, in part at least, to do exactly the same thing.

** I am particularly jazzed to be helping out Duncan Hunter because he is a hawkish, tough on illegal immigration, pro-2nd Amendment, social conservative, with the best national security credentials in the Republican field — and don’t just take my word for that now that I work as a consultant for the campaign. Read what I wrote about Hunter before TCV Media contacted me and asked if I’d be interested in working on the campaign:

An Interview With Duncan Hunter
Can Duncan Hunter Win The Primaries?
Ranking The Most Desired 2008 Republican Candidates
The Conservative Case for Duncan Hunter In 2008

** Last but not least, if you have a large online media outlet and are interested in doing a profile on Duncan or setting up an interview, you can reach me at John -at- TCVmedia.com.

Blogs writing about this story include:

The David All Group
Riehl World View
Eckernet
Smart Christian
Pajamas Media
Outside the Beltway
bRight & Early
Blue Crab Boulevard
Chicago Ray
Spark It Up!!!
Bitsblog
GraniteGrok
Election Projection
Reasoned Audacity
Solomonia
IMAO
The Jawa Report
Pro-Life Blogs
The Political Pitbull
Alarming News
Big Blue Wave
Beltway Blogroll
Brainster’s Blog
American Pundit
Free Republic
Sister Toldjah
Sites That Don’t Suck
JackLewis
Newsbeat 1
Reformed Chicks Blabbing
Iowa Voice
Marathon Pundit
Nationwide Monthly Call For Life
Ankle Biting Pundits
The Real Ugly American