Monday, July 5, 2010
I came upon a very interesting article by the Washingtonian, in which they proclaimed, in essence, the era of big party establishment tight control of elections are over. The article stated that four tools "online video, cell phone, blog, and social networking sites provide unparalleled power to ordinary voters." A new infrastructure has been created, as witness by the 2008 presidential election, for "launching and rebutting political attacks." I agree with alot of their setiments, but I don't believe 'big political establishments' have loosen their grip whatsoever. If anything I think the margin for error for candidates are alot less. Any gaffe can see a leading candidate go from leading in the polls to being lost in the wilderness. This is a new fact of life in a 24 hour news cycle.The article used for example a couple of blunders by two senate incumbents during the 2006 election cycle that went viral on youtube that may have cost them their bid for re-election. I think it remains to be seen if local officials are under the same microscope of scrutiny. Canidates have also learned adapt to their new enviroment. Both Hillary Clinton, and Barack Obama first announced their candidacy over the internet. Millions of dollars were raised online during the 2008 elections, and both parties even held a youtube debate. We are now in the era of the endless election cycles. With the political enviroment so toxic I wonder if America is ready.
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You make a very good point. All of the current technological advancements have been both beneficial and detrimental to elections and political agendas. I remember during the most recent presidential election, John McCain's daughter had a blog following his campaigning. It offered a different perspective on the campaign that voters would have never seen in years prior.
ReplyDeleteBut with more technology comes more loss of privacy which can make it much easier for politicians to be caught slipping up and for more people to find out about it. One such example can be seen in a youtube video showing President Obama talking very casually prior to an interview. The comment he makes is amusing, although others might find it inappropriate, but it shows a side that people never had easy access to before.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=078BGtKNL1o
I think local candidates are safe from such social media scrutiny. I work for a communications agency in Tallahassee and we represent a number of political candidates running for various levels of office. I feel that the bulk of social media attention is garnered by candidates for federal positions. Since the candidates we represent are local the best we can do is try to be on top of the social situation, unfortunately some days it feels like no one's listening. I think it would be really cool to get a taste of managing a social media campaign for a Senator or a Congressman one day.
ReplyDeleteRebecca Morse
http://morse-online.com/rlm/