One Candidate Mastered Online Campaigning. Too Bad It Was Ron Paul
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The Texas Republican may be shifting his focus to his congressional campaign, but as the Web's favorite dark horse, Ron Paul harnessed the power of the Internet to turn his long-shot candidacy into a powerful rallying cry for disaffected Netizens.
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I think something pretty amazing may be happening with our political process that mirrors what's happening on the Internet, in the blogosphere. I've been talking about it on and off since the Howard Dean candidacy in 2003, which I think most people misread or misunderstood, seeing it only in the existing context of how it can be used to make a candidate more competitive in raising money to buy ads to run on TV. Perhaps that's what was going on from the candidates' point of view, but it was not what was going on from our side of the tube. What was happening was we were flexing our political muscles using a new tool for organizing, the Internet. We were waking up, saying Hello World to the candidates. One of them heard us, Dean, although he misunderstood what we were saying. It's as if we, collectively were tapping a microphone and tentatively asking "Is this thing on?" Anyway... Let's summarize what's happened so far in the 2008 political process. 1. We had a long run-up of a year or so, with candidate debates, lots of punditry, two front-runners, one in each party, Hillary Clinton and Rudy Giuliani. 2. The Democrats outraised the Republicans for the first time in a long time. Obama actually raised more money than Clinton did. 3. Huckabee, a candidate who raised little money, and who was never considered a front-runner, won the Iowa caucus on the Republican side. Money didn't choose the winner in Iowa for the Republicans.  4. McCain, a candidate who in the end spent very little money and had almost no organization, who had long since been forgotten as a front-runner, won the Republican primary in New Hampshire. Again, money didn't choose the winner in NH for the Republicans. Now, in the aftermath of New Hampshire, the pundits on TV, most notoriously Chris Matthews on MSNBC, are quickly snapping back with new crazy theories on why what happened happened, but we shouldn't believe them or pay much attention, because they don't see what's happening in the electorate. Neither does Clinton, but the Republicans may be beginning to get a clue (and Clinton will soon too).  My belief: The electorate is waking up. Maybe it's just my hope speaking. Can't tell yet.  The electorate doesn't need messages, just as Doc says there is no market for messages. What the electorate needs is to hire someone to lead us for the four years between elections. It needs someone who will ground our collective behavior in something resembling reality, so we deal with the problems that are collectively in front of us: 1. The honor and prestige of our country (the equivalent of goodwill for companies, settle the wars we started, accept that we have to protect against terrorism, stop hyping it in terms of conventional warfare, that's insulting). 2. The integrity of our homes (everything from disaster response to changing behavior on a global level to respond to global warming). 3. Caring for ourselves (health, education, protecting the Constitution). We've gone crazy in the last seven years. The 2004 election was amazingly crazy. The candidates appeared to be running for President of Iraq, that's all they talked about, what was good for the people of Iraq. The lunacy of the electorate is that we didn't throw it back in their faces saying "Let us know when you have something to say about the USA." We need to communicate with each other and with the pols and pundits without going through the polling process. When they quote blogs on TV they're quoting people who used to be print columnists who now publish on the Internet. That changes nothing.  I'm not expecting very much from people who live "Inside the Beltway." I don't live there, never have, don't even like visiting the place. To me it's much like the arrogance of Silicon Valley. You can't pop out every four years get us to vote for you and then go back into your nest. Politics belongs to all of us, in this country, the people are the government. We really lost our way, now it's time to come back. It's the change that's happening in everything, decentralization, disintermediation. Obama speaks of a plurality, his campaign isn't about a mere election, it's about changing the way we do things.  My advice to candidates going back to Dean was and is to start implementing the change you seek before the election, while you have the full attention of the electorate. Ask us to give money, not to buy ads, but to buy health insurance for 50,000 uninsured people in a particular state, so we can see how powerful we are collectively, how we can do good, starting right now. We yearn for this, to feel our muscles flex collectively, and individually to make a difference, not just in your hype, but in real terms. Hillary Clinton could have gotten up yesterday and said "There's no time to waste. We can't wait until January 2009 to solve the problems. Let's start right now." Maybe she won't get elected, but getting us organized now would make it more likely. JFK: "Ask not what your country can do for you, ask what you can do for your country." See how that works??
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For the 2008 presidential candidates, the Web is the newest place to stump for votes. Surprisingly, Republicans are more "Googly" then Democrats
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Underdog Ron Paul is airing the first TV ads of his presidential campaign, hoping to capitalize on a fundraising surge and promote his blend of anti-war, anti-spending libertarianism in New Hampshire.
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The onetime GOP frontrunner's strategy of sitting out the early primaries now appears to have big risks
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The business of US politics is booming on the Internet, as 2008 White House hopefuls rake in donations, organize, and get their message out, hoping that online efforts will yield real-world votes.
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The upcoming presidential election has become a media battle, which online has been playing a huge role in. Video distribution has been a dominating factor and a key component for presidential candidates.   Two videos of candidate Hillary Clinton have sparked great attention from TV and Radio media and got the most attention. One had [...]
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One leading candidate has been debilitated by what he said was an attempt to poison him.
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It wasn't long ago that Rep. Ron Paul was an anti-war asterisk in the race for the Republican presidential nomination. Then his campaign raised a record $6 million in a single day.
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Candidates could face problems as they try to integrate online political discourse into traditional campaigning.
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Ron Paul registers in the single digits in most polls, but he's the top searched Republican presidential candidate on Google, according to the Web site's trend history.
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Presidential candidate's campaign staff leak news to  internet journalist who nearly ruined husband.
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Some are born to rule, others to  ridicule is a worthy reminder to U.S presidential hopefuls  struck by an endless arsenal of satirical barbs on the Web.
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Blogs and other Web 2.0 technologies are having a profound impact on this year's presidential campaign, and candidates are using the new media in different ways to boost their campaigns.
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Analysis: Every campaign has a site, but this presidential candidate uses technology effectively to connect with voters.
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As Howard Deanâs campaign proved four years ago, it takes more than a core group of dedicated, Web-savvy supporters to win votes.
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The Republican debate in Columbia, South Carolina on May 15 broached the issue of 'enhanced interrogation techniques' and torture, and whether or not the use of either is legitimate. &nbsp;Ron Paul and John McCain were the only two in the whole field who called 'enhanced interrogation techniques' a euphemism for torture, and they were the only two who expressly rejected the use of these techniques. Ron Paul at one point accused Brit Hume, a Fox News moderator, as well as the other candidates, of engaging in 'newspeak.' &nbsp; This was a big highlight for me, even though I have, for years, resisted the urge to simply compare Fox News or the Bush administration to the societies described by George Orwell in his novels. I always rejected it as overly simplistic, or as breathless left-wing hysteria on par with 'OMG BUSHITLER' and the like. I must admit however that the exchange was getting pretty surreal until Ron Paul pointed it out. But that was hardly the strangest thing that happened. That would be the exchange between Paul and Giuliani, facilitated by moderator and all-around Fox News hack Wendell Goler. Paul comported himself well in spite of the openly hostile treatment by Fox News and some of his opponents, notching 2nd place in the Fox News text message poll. This is notable because Paul's positions on almost every issue stand in stark contrast to those of his opponents. Links, transcript, and some thoughts below the fold, with a poll.