One hears about “talking points” being sent from the RNC to Republican supporters, with what I assume are suggestions on what points to bring up in debates, etc.
How “official” is this? You can’t just sign up on the RNC website to get on an email mailing list, can you? (I looked a bit). How does one get on the distribution list? Is it kinda secret, and difficult to get, sort of like a battle plan?
Is there a similar thing from the Democratic party?
I think these are factual questions appropriate for GQ, but due to the political nature of the subject I could see this going to GD too.
There’s a form at the top of every page at RNC.org where you can sign up for their email list. Same thing at DNC.org. There doesn’t seem to be any barrier to entry… sign up for both if you like.
They don’t call them talking points, because that’s come to be a negative term. However, each website has briefing documents organized by subject – foreign policy, health care, social security, etc.
As for how official they are, they come right from the party itself, so I’d say 100%.
Almost every organization, not just major political parties, is going to have talking points in some form or other. That’s kind of the point of being an organization - getting lots of voices saying the same thing to build clout. Whether they call them talking points, hot topics, or major issues, any group from the Sierra Club to your local chamber of commerce is likely to have a list of things that should be mentioned whenever a member has a chance at media coverage.
Republican Senate offices get a set of information and themes (talking points) from the Republican Conference offices. Offices use them at their discretion. I assume the Democrat offices are similar.