BuzzMachine

The media pundit's pundit. Written by NYC insider Jeff Jarvis, BuzzMachine covers news, media, journalism, and politics.

Campaigns by the people, for the people

5 comments on Campaigns by the people, for the people

Campaigns by the people, for the people
: Steven Johnson creates a campaign ad on his blog. He says he hasn’t decided who’ll get his vote yet; the commercial is a whim. It’s a proof of concept: that in this new, bottoms-up world of populist media, the winning strategies,the best strategies — the memes with mo — will come from the voters, now that they have a voice on the web:

Ever since the fall of Trent Lott, I’ve been fascinated by the thought of the web contributing ideas and strategy to political campaigns, and not just money and meetups. (Both of which are crucial, of course.) I have a feeling that as the 2004 campaign heats up, the blogosphere will become an increasingly rich source of “message” brainstorming, given how easy it is to put together a relatively polished attack ad these days.

More on this at Bloggercon…

5 responses to “Campaigns by the people, for the people”

  1. Richard Bennett Avatar
    Richard Bennett

    Is the important thing that Steven Johnson is now shilling for Wes Clark, or that they’re both political amateurs? This isn’t bottoms-up as much as its bottoms to bottoms.

  2. Jeff Jarvis Avatar
    Jeff Jarvis

    Richard:
    I’m not paying attention to the quality of the medium or the message in this instance. What’s interesting is that, just as in media, I’ve been screaching that the big guys need to listen to the little guys online; the same holds true for the wise politician. In other words: Would it be more significant if Howard Dean were blogging or reading blogs?

  3. Lola Lee Avatar
    Lola Lee

    Anyone got pictures of Wes exchanging hats with Ratko? Juxtapose that pictures of mass graves. Do the same with him exchanging hats with whoever is/was in charge with KLA and juxtapose that with pictures of bombed Serbian churches and monasteries.

  4. Richard Bennett Avatar
    Richard Bennett

    I’d say reading, Jeff. In the hands of a politician, a blog is just another form of advertising, carefully crafted to get his message out. Nothing to see there.

  5. Dark Avenger Avatar
    Dark Avenger

    LL, the picture with Ratko was taken almost a year before he committed his war crimes.
    I suppose you might be saying that Clark should’ve been able to see into the future that Ratko would order the slaughter of civilians in the near future.
    But the Bible says that soothsaying is consorting with devils, and therefore if Clark knew what was going to take place, then he was consorting with devils……….
    My head is spinning.