Under The Power Lines

Under the Power Lines is in South Carolina, but it was born in Michigan.

In 2006 Terry and Wesley were there helping a US Senate race when Wesley asked “how do these buildings get electricity? I haven’t seen any power lines since I’ve been here.”

Terry responded “they bury their power lines up north. Overhead power lines are a southern thing.”

Wesley then said “I used to live under a bunch of power lines” to which Terry promptly replied “that’s probably what’s wrong with you.”

A few weeks later, while still in Michigan, they realized that there is no one filling a much-needed niche in politics. Although there are firms that build really great looking websites, no one really spends time shaping an effective web strategy around a campaign’s game plan. There are a bunch of folks at the presidential level playing around with Facebook and Myspace, trying to figure out how to use them in political campaigns, but no one is taking new technologies and strategies to local races - the largest segment of United States politics.

One day while making a Michigan-left (they don’t allow left hand turns in large Michigan intersections – you have to pass the intersection and make a U-turn) Wesley was thinking about all this while listening to Jump, Little Children to get his South Carolina fix. He heard the line “under the power lines.” That’s when it all clicked and our little web company was born. Okay, maybe not born. More like conceived.

Under The Power Lines Netroots | New Media was actually born when Wesley got back to South Carolina and now it’s a growing firm of strategists, operatives, and artists. We don’t like to wear suits, we go bare foot throughout most of the day, and our office walls don’t go all the way to the ceiling. That last part sucks.

We have fun, build great websites, and work with candidates who want to win.