Ron Paul, Barack Obama, and the Digital Divide
In the run up to the 2008 presidential election, an extremely interesting trend seems to be emerging. The 2008 primary contest, for both the democrat and republican sides, has put a spotlight on the digital divide in American politics.
Ron Paul is a recent phenomenon, and by all rights, traditionally would not be that big of a contender in the republican competition. He is, however, bolstered by a dedicated legion of online supporters. His supporters are raising awareness for their candidate by taking over online polls and check him out on MySpace, Technorati, and Digg. His online presence is unprecedented for the Republicans.
If you think that is impressive, it is minor in comparison to the support that Obama is getting. Last I checked, he was nearing 80,000 friends on MySpace, his online fundraising is nearly unstoppable, and the internet grassroots are on fire to support him.
These two candidates may be trailing in the traditional polls and somewhat in the traditional media, but they are excelling online. I’m not quite sure what this says about the leading candidates, or the power of the internet. Paul’s surge seems to be more manufactured, based on rigging the democratic systems of the web to return results favorable to the supported candidate. Obama’s support has more of an organic feel with power in numbers.
Who knows what the landscape will look like in a year, but Obama and Paul certainly are not in a _bad_ position with their online support. It does prominently point out that the traditional machine is still more successful with the traditional media, but it may also be a sign of the end times for that machine. Get ready, this is the last election of television and newspaper.
(And what’s in Ron Paul’s hand in that photo? I don’t know, you tell me.)
Category: Politics, barack obama, ron paul 3 comments »
May 21st, 2007 at 4:03 pm
The Ron Paul Spam Machine™ is how he’s getting exposure: http://ryanunderdown.com/2007/05/21/10-political-sites-that-violate-diggs-tos/
No clue what that is in his hand though, looks photoshopped in.
May 21st, 2007 at 4:33 pm
Yeah, I’m thinking it is a magic eight ball photoshopped in. I hope that is some sort of message.
December 20th, 2007 at 6:28 pm
Hey Ryan,
I guess raising over 6 million dollars in a day online was part of the ron paul spam machine too , right? I would LOVE to see a Paul vs Obama race!