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By Kellie Lunney, National Journal
© National Journal Group Inc.
Friday, Nov. 16, 2007

At first glance, David All and Justin Hamilton are an unlikely duo. During a recent interview, All sported jeans and a camel blazer atop a blue button-down shirt. The GOP communications strategist looks like an older, more laid-back version of Alex P. Keaton, the poster child for Young Republicans portrayed by Michael J. Fox on the 1980s sitcom Family Ties. All even hails from Columbus, Ohio, Keaton's fictional hometown. Hamilton, on the other hand, is scruffy and intense. The deputy chief of staff to Rep. George Miller, D-Calif., was clad in a dark fleece jacket thrown over a T-shirt. Hamilton, a Houston native, resembles the rocker Dave Matthews and seems too funky for Capitol Hill.

But Hamilton and All, who met at a poli-tech event earlier this year and have become friends, defy Beltway stereotypes. Well, some of them, anyway. This is Washington, so it's not surprising that the two were involved in student government and are members of the same fraternity (Sigma Chi). More important, though, they share an enthusiasm for innovation and an unshakable faith in technology's potential to engage citizens in the political process. That attitude is a shift from the establishment's tried-and-true approach to Washington -- which is more comfortable with sending messages to the populace than with receiving them. Traditionally, tapping into the pulse of America has been the hallmark of self-proclaimed Washington "outsiders," people such as 2004 Democratic presidential candidate Howard Dean, who now heads the hardly anti-establishment Democratic National Committee.

These days, though, it's not just the masses that are itching for change. Hamilton and All aren't rogue techies firing up a long-shot presidential campaign; by any measure, they are Washington insiders. Both have been here at least five years and have worked on Capitol Hill for various lawmakers and political campaigns. All served as deputy communications director and speechwriter to Sen. George Voinovich, R-Ohio, and as communications director to Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga. Hamilton, a Miller aide since 2004, also worked for then-Rep. Chris Bell, D-Texas, and then-Sen. Jean Carnahan, D-Mo. All left the Hill earlier this year and opened a Republican consulting shop. This summer, he helped to launch Slatecard, an online independent political action committee that raises money for GOP candidates. Hamilton and other folks from Miller's office have been pushing the House to adopt open-source technology, which would allow lawmakers' offices to use more-sophisticated software to communicate with the outside world through blogging and other means.

In fact, it was on Capitol Hill where the two really got religion about using technology to talk with constituents rather than at them -- at the same time raising the profiles of their bosses and respective political parties. All, 28, credits Kingston for giving him a big backyard to run around in. "Jack was willing to be the guinea pig, so that we could learn, make mistakes, and teach other people," he says. All live-blogged from the Rayburn Building in 2006 during a lockdown that was prompted by a report of gunfire (it turned out to be false). ABC News and CNN used Kingston's blog as a source during their reporting. Hamilton, whose background is in foreign policy, says he watched what All and others were doing and decided to jump into the tech pool. "I immersed myself in microtargeting, psychographic data, and data mining." Says All, "I think the politics and technology circle is very, very tiny. At the end of the day, we all want to teach each other how to do this stuff, because it's good." Hamilton agrees. "It's about making it easier for the public to interact with the policy-making process."

Hamilton says that his family members were "early adopters" of technology. They were also politically active. Hamilton's uncle, William Hamilton, worked for the National Security Agency and then founded Inslaw, a software company that developed an intelligence-tracking case-management system for the Justice Department in the 1980s. A controversial lawsuit ensued over whether Justice was authorized to disseminate the software beyond the department. The incident spawned conspiracy theories and cloak-and-dagger tales. "These were the stories told around the dinner table," says Hamilton, a graduate of the University of St. Thomas in Houston. "I knew everything I wanted to do was in Washington."

Hamilton and All, a graduate of Bowling Green State University, say that the 2008 presidential election will be the tipping point for technology. "You're going to see the best of both minds coming together," All says, adding with a glance at Hamilton, "I'm sure he'll help out the Democratic side. And I'll help out the Republican side, even if they don't want us to." The two agree that if an idea generates results -- in politics, that means eyeballs and dollars -- the parties will embrace it. "That's the bottom line," Hamilton says. "If it works, people will want it."

There's something else that All and Hamilton have in common: All cops to being a Democrat during his college years. His conversion happened after graduation when his older brother's friend talked with him about his political beliefs. "It was the first time someone connected with me."