January 22, 2008
Dems Hold First Global Online Primary
For the first time, Democrats living oversees will be able to voice their presidential primary preference.
From February 5th to the 12th, an official arm of the Democratic Party called Democrats Abroad, will host the very first global primary completely online.
The process to register to vote in this global primary were very tedious because of the difficulties in reaching and signing up Americans that leave in foreign countries, but the winner of this global presidential primary will earn 22 delegates at the Democratic National Convention. 22 delegates is more than many of the early states in the primary process.
How will the presidential contenders campaign to win this Global primary? Technology and utilizing the Web will be crucial, and hopefully innovation will be one of the by products from this online primary.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 17, 2008
Google Checkout Introduced
The world's largest search engine offers fundraising tools for online political activists.
Google has announced Google Checkout, which will take on democratic and republican findraising site like ActBlue and Slatecard. Google Checkout is not partisan, and it seems a like a more high tech paypal then a fundraising site with an ideological agenda.
The most attractive part of Google Checkout is that bloggers, activists, or anyone with a cause will be able to use Google Checkout on their blog or website as a tool to raise money quickly and safely online.
Google is know for crushing competition. How will the ActBlues of the world hold up to the web giant?
Posted by Buzz Webster at 01:36 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 14, 2008
OLPC Aims to Bridge the US Digital Divide
The $100 laptop, One Laptop Per Child(OLPC) is a revolutionary idea, but clearly has not reached near its full potential.
The power of information and technology has change the way human beings have lived over the past thirty years. Imagine if access to that power is exponentially spread around the globe.
In 2008, OLPC is making plans to offer the $100 Laptop in the United States. Originally, OLPC was targeting developing nations with an ultimate goal of putting one laptop in the hands of very child in the developing world. The OLPC founder, Nicholas Negroponte, likes to say that the $100 Laptop is "an education project, not a laptop project." Education is the silver bullet for many of the world's problems, and in the 21st century education must include access to technology.
The US is not immune to the problems of the digital divide. Many parts of the United States are characterized by abject poverty, and access to the $100 Laptop could change communities.
In 2008 will this revolutionary idea finally take flight?
Posted by Buzz Webster at 11:29 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 09, 2008
Can Technology Sustain the McCain effort?
Technology has grown leaps and bounds since McCain's last run for the presidency...
McCain should be able to raise money quickly online, but he will have to organize in a hurry in the early states before Tsunami Tuesday on February 5th.
This moment in presidential politics will be a major test for the internet revolution. Technology is supposed to make political organizing faster, better, and more efficient, and the war hero from Arizona needs that to be true. In 1984, Sen. Gary Hart shocked the political world be doing "better than expectations" in Iowa, but did not have the infrastructure to raise money and organize supporters quick enough for the preceding primaries.
Does technology change the Gary Hart problem?
Posted by Buzz Webster at 10:33 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 07, 2008
Turning Point?
Techpresident makes the observation that the results in Iowa correspond with the candidates’ online popularity...
Is this election the turning point where online buzz translates in to real world results? Results meaning electoral success.
Barack Obama is far and away the most popular politician on social networking sites i.e. Facebook and Myspace. Is social networking the key to getting young people to actually vote? Many new media strategists point to Obama's in depth social networking outreach effort as key to the victory in Iowa. A key stat coming out of Iowa was that just as many young voters turned out at the caucus as voters over 65.
On the GOP side, Gov. Huckabee embraced the conservative blogosphere, but more importantly utilized paid media advertisements that made an impact on the electorate but also spread virally across the web. Who doesn’t love Huck Chuck Facts? In addition, in the closing weeks of the campaign, the popularity of the Huckabee 4 President website was surging just as Huckabee surged to victory.
However, online buzz is not a sure fire way to predict electoral success. Ron Paul is showing the power of the web, but it has not been evident in the results yet.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 12:02 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)
January 04, 2008
Movement Candidates and the Digital World
Rarely do movement candidates succeed in capturing their party’s presidential nomination much less the White House.
The last three movement candidates to secure a major political party presidential nomination were Barry Goldwater, George McGovern, and Ronald Reagan. Only Reagan garnered electoral success. Goldwater and McGovern changed politics, but both failed dramatically in the general election.
Sen. Obama’s rise in national politics has been nothing short of meteoric. Is the Obama quest for the presidency different from past movement candidacies? Does the rise of the digital world and technological innovation provide rocket fuel to propel the Illinois senator to 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue?
The “revolution” is here, and it has provided the Obama campaign with a means to harness the power of the grassroots. Team Obama has created a campaign with more than 400K online contributors, hundreds of thousands of social networking “friends”, and millions of people tuning into online videos. This community with roots in the online world and results in the real world may be the beginning of a new era in American politics.
Posted by Buzz Webster at 11:56 AM | Permalink | Comments (0)
