decentralized campaigns

Hey, my name is Ryan Jackson, and I write the mildly unhinged political diatribe/blog ChugBleach. FutureMajority gave me my first readership boost, allowing me to cavort around the internet like a violence mad Viking prophet, and being given the chance to write here is both an honor and a privilege.

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I’ve been rolling this article around in my mind for the last four or so days, trying to put it into the full context of total coverage/final wisdom. Written by Lindsay Beyerstein, it details the Edwards attempt to hire her into what would finally be the doomed position of Campaign Blogger, and well:

It was already dark and drizzling when Bob and I left the church. Bob was telling me how John Edwards was going to be a different kind of candidate. We, a new generation of Internet-savvy activists, had finally come of age. We were going to help Edwards run a campaign that was totally outside the Beltway.

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“I’m probably not … the person you want,” I said, finally. “I mean, I’m on the record saying that abortion is good and that all drugs should be legalized, including heroin. Don’t you think that might be a little embarrassing for the campaign?”

Bob assured me that my controversial posts weren’t a problem as far as the campaign was concerned. They were familiar with my work. And Bob did seem to know my writing. I didn’t get the impression he was a daily reader, but it was obvious he had been reading the blog for a while.

“That’s you, that’s not John Edwards,” he said.

So, just to throw some questions out there:

Was it pot brownie day at the Edwards campaign for the last two months? “That’s you, that’s not John Edwards.” She was going to be a paid representative of the campaign. She speaks for The Candidate.

“Decentralized campaigns” and giving the movement to the volunteers is probably a big part of the future of politics, but when does it just completely jump the shark? Could it be announcements on Edwards blog about his campaign office inside The Matrix being attacked, and people comparing it to the conspiracy behind 9/11?

Convential wisdom credits a great deal of the success behind the Bush campaigns in 2000 and 2004 to his absolute ability to maintain brutal message discipline. John Edwards spent a full week ignoring the Two Americas to endlessly deny he personally didn’t want to throat punch the pope. Can you really hope to integrate bloggers into a modern campaign without somebody accidentally saying what they really feel about what’s going on, and the candidate having to deny it for the next week?

Just some thoughts going forward, as we try to break down the Evil Monolithic Political Party Machine using nothing but pluck, Fervent Youthful Enthusiasm, and Facebook.