Overview

The 2006 elections will be remembered as the year when the center of power in American politics shifted from traditional top-down central broadcasters to new bottom-up decentralized activists in the blogosphere and netroots. The authors give firsthand accounts of the burgeoning power of the netroots to determine the outcome of political contests, most notably as when the national balance of power was tipped by Jim Webb's rag-tag army of bloggers and netroots activists. They assess the prospects for Netroots 2.0: whether the netroots hordes will crash the party or work out an uneasy cohabitation with the traditional party power elite. The 2006 elections will be remembered as the year when the center of power in American politics shifted from traditional top-down central broadcasters to new bottom-up decentralized activists in the blogosphere and netroots. The authors give firsthand accounts of the burgeoning power of the netroots to determine the outcome of political contests, most notably as when the national balance of power was tipped by Jim Webb's rag-tag army of bloggers and netroots activists who provoked and exposed the gaffe that proved fatal to George Allen's senatorial bid. Veteran online campaigners Feld and Wilcox recount and analyze many other political campaigns in which netroots activism was decisive or instructive, including:* U.S. House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's downfall. *Tim Kaine's election as Virginia govenor. *Howard Dean's and Wes Clark's presidential campaigns. *Ned Lamont's primary victory over Joe Lieberman. The authors conclude with an assessment of the prospects for Netroots 2.0: Will the netroots hordes crash the party or will they work out an uneasy cohabitation with the traditional party power elite? The foreword is written by Markos (Kos) Moulitsas Zuniga, founding editor of the world's biggest political blog, Daily Kos.

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9781440836220

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Lowell Feld is a political consultant and netroots specialist. He was the netroots/blogging/online fundraising coordinator for the successful senatorial campaign of James Webb in 2006. He contributes regularly to Raising Kaine, Daily Kos, Blog Talk Radio, and Heading Left Radio. He served for 18 years as an analyst in the Energy Information Administration of the U.S. Department of Energy. Nate Wilcox is a political and public affairs consultant with the WebStrong Group advising clients such as Senators John Kerry and Tom Harkin on online strategy. He was online communications director for Governor Mark Warner's Forward Together PAC in 2006. He has pioneered many online political campaign innovations, including podcasting, online video, use of social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace, blogger outreach, and aggressive online advertising.

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