GWToday: America Rising Founder: Social Media Fuels Populism

Former Mitt Romney campaign manager and GSPM alumnus discusses media tools.

When Matt Rhoades, M.A. ’99, launched the opposition research political action committee America Rising in March 2013, the organization didn’t have a website. It had a Tumblr page and a batch of video clips.

“We actually didn’t have a real site for the first four, five, maybe six months,” Mr. Rhoades said Tuesday at aStudent Association seminar hosted by the Graduate School of Political Management. “But within a few days of us setting up the organization, we had posted a video about Hillary Clinton and Benghazi that cost us nothing to make and ended up on ABC World News Tonight.

“That’s the power of social media.”

Speaking at an event that resembled a graduate school seminar, Mr. Rhoades and GSPM Director Mark Kennedy discussed campaign strategy and media tactics for more than an hour with a group of aspiring politicos, some of whom could be on the ballot when SA elections are held March 9 and 10.

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