Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope: Lessons from the Howard Dean Campaign for the Future of Internet Politics

by Knerr; Jennifer

• ISBN13: 9781594514845
• ISBN10: 1594514844
• Format: Nonspecific Binding
• Copyright: 2007-09-30
• Publisher: Routledge

Summary

Howard Dean's campaign for president changed the way in which campaigns are run today. With an unlikely collection of highly talented and motivated staffers drawn from a variety of backgrounds, the Dean campaign transformed the way in which money was raised and supporters galvanized by using the Internet. Surprisingly, many of the campaign staff members were neither computer whizzes nor practiced political operatives, even though that is how some of them are identified today. This book allows key individuals in the campaign the chance to tell their stories with an eye to documenting the Internet campaign revolution and providing lessons to future campaigns. Howard Dean's inspirational statement of what it took for his campaign to get as far as it did'”'œmousepads, shoe leather, and hope''”holds great wisdom for anyone campaigning today, especially the 2008 presidential candidates. Includes an interview with Howard Dean. Visit the companion website for Mousepadsat: http://www.deaninternetbook.com Watch an interview with Larry Biddle on YouTube at: http://www.youtube.com Zephyr Teachout was interviewed on NOW discussing the similarities between Howard Dean's use of the internet and Ron Paul's internet campaign. Read the full transcript here: http://www.pbs.org

Table of Contents

Overviews
Introduction: Redefining the Possible	p. 2
How the Internet Taught Me That You Have the Power	p. 15
Theories: Technology, the Grassroots, and Network Generativity	p. 23
Stories of the Campaign
How a Blogger and the Dean Campaign Discovered Each Other	p. 38
Something Much Bigger Than a Candidate	p. 55
Swept Up in "The Perfect Storm"	p. 74
A Coder Becomes a Political Activist	p. 86
Blogging for America	p. 100
The Meetup Story	p. 110
Experiences of a Grassroots Activist	p. 130
The Lessons of Generation Dean	p. 147
Fund-Raising: Hitting Home Runs on and off the Internet	p. 166
A Web Activist Finds Dean	p. 179
E-Mail: Sign Your Own Name	p. 192
Participatory Political Culture: Everyone's a Kingpin If He or She Wants to Be	p. 201
An Organizer's View of the Internet Campaign	p. 212
After New Hampshire	p. 220
Reflections
From Media Politics to Networked Politics: The Internet and the Political Process	p. 225
The Legacies of Dean's Internet Campaign	p. 233
Index	p. 244
About the Contributors	p. 251
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