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"New movements will arise and gain power very quickly. Obama beating Clinton was the first hint of this." I would argue that Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy was a

"New movements will arise and gain power very quickly. Obama beating Clinton was the first hint of this." I would argue that Howard Dean's 2004 candidacy was an earlier hint of this.

philwelch 17y ago
Yes, but the MSM torpedoed his candidacy after the Iowa caucuses. That didn't happen to Obama, largely because he was telegenic enough to impress the old media as well as the new. I actually think the internet's effect on politics is overstated. Ron Paul won the internet in 2008, but got single digit percentages of the vote.
- s3graham 17y ago
  Ron Paul might have won reddit, but he sure as shit didn't win "the internet".
  - kiba 17y ago
    He broke records on fundraising.
  - jimmyjim 17y ago
    I would say he did. He won Digg (which has a considerably larger userbase than Reddit), a sizable portion of Fark, and many other similar social-bookmarking websites.
gaius 17y ago
In what sense was Obama "new"? His political career began in '96 (state legislator) whereas Hillary Clinton's began in 2000 (New York). Both had elements of the Democrats political machine behind them, which are as old as the two-party system. When an independent wins the Presidency on the strength of his or her Internet campaign, then that'll be news.