2004 Presidential Election
Wired is running an article about the Wesley Clark's Tech Corps today. From the article, "Clark's effort is similar to an initiative by rival Howard Dean's campaign, which has operated an open-source software community called DeanSpace since late May. Dean technology staffers said they welcomed Clark's open-source initiative. 'We both have the same exact problem: We need to mobilize our grass-roots base. There are vendors who have tools that help, but the complete toolkit doesn't exist. The pieces are out there, but there's no solution,' said Zack Rosen, a Dean technology developer involved with DeanSpace." I don't like the miliataristic sound of "Tech Corps" but ... I think both campaigns are correct about Open Source software being their answer. Dave Winer disagrees with both campaigns and the 'Ol Coyote. Mr. Winer is someone you should listen to whether or not you agree with him. If it's any consolation Dave I run Radio for this weblog and we use Manilla internally at the City and County of Denver (Public Works - Wastewater Management).
Gary Wolfe tells us How the Internet Invented Howard Dean in another Wired article. From the article, "It is 83 days before the Iowa caucuses, and I'm sitting at a small table on a private jet above Colorado getting a pure dose of Internet religion from Howard Dean. 'The Internet community is wondering what its place in the world of politics is,' Dean says. 'Along comes this campaign to take back the country for ordinary human beings, and the best way you can do that is through the Net. We listen. We pay attention. If I give a speech and the blog people don't like it, next time I change the speech.'"
Wolfe lays out several patterns of the modern campaign network: Make the network stupid, Let the ants do the work, Leaders are places, Links attract links, and Allow the ends to connect.
Are you candidates listening and learning?
Update: Here's some Christmas Eve polling info from the Daily Kos.
6:56:18 AM 
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