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.