Jonathan Alter writes in Newsweek that all successful leaders in America, from the Founders on, have relied on the mastery of earned media, and in 2008, the Internet could make the difference for a presidential campaign, calling it "the rise of open-source politics."

No one knows exactly where technology is taking politics, but we're beginning to see some clues. For starters, the longtime stranglehold of media consultants may be over. In 2004, Errol Morris, the director of "The Thin Blue Line" and "The Fog of War," on his own initiative made several brilliant anti-Bush ads (they featured lifelong Republicans explaining why they were voting for Kerry). Not only did Kerry not air the ads, he told me recently he never even knew they existed. In 2008, any presidential candidate with half a brain will let a thousand ad ideas bloom (or stream) online and televise only those that are popular downloads. Deferring to "the wisdom of crowds" will be cheaper and more effective.

Alter goes on to talk about a centrist group with a weird plan to nominate a third-party candidate. That could be interesting, but centrist candidates seem weak to me, as what kind of convictions does a moderate have?

Posted by Ryan S. on Tuesday, May 30, 2006 at 2:59 PM | Permalink |