Ronald Brownstein brings together two of my favorite worlds in his latest Outlook column for the LA Times: the Internet and third-party politics. Channeling Joe Trippi, who has been making this point for a while, he argues that when you combine the polarizing postures of the two major parties with the disintermediating power of Internet-based fundraising and organizing, you are creating the conditions for a potentially dynamic third-party or independent bid for the White House in 2008. He writes:
The Internet could allow an independent candidate to more easily identify an audience and financial base, just as it has allowed blogs like the liberal Daily Kos or conservative InstaPundit to find a community of like-minded readers. More precisely, the Internet has allowed readers to find those blogs. And because the audience mostly finds the product, rather than the other way around, the cost of entering the market is radically reduced.
Brownstein makes an interesting case for a John McCain-Bob Kerrey "all-maverick independent ticket" in 2008. Personally, I'd prefer an Oprah Winfrey-Jesse Ventura ticket. But I don't doubt the underlying hypothesis has merit.
Chris will have to connect the dots, but there is a refrain in T.S. Eliot's "The Lovesong of J. Alfred Prufrock" that says something like "And the women come and go/Speaking of Michaelangelo" describing a cocktail party or like social milieu.
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The Power of Many . Edgewise . X-POLLEN
delicious
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technorati
but on the other hand...
Excuse me while I do the heavy lifting here and bring over a the contrasting opinion from another PDF columnist, the always sharp Chris Nolan:
"The idea that the Internet could help create a viable third American political party isn't exactly news. But, like Tom Friedman and the networked economy, it is now in the hands of a Big Media pundit so we must, must, must take it very, very seriously."
And the Women Come and Go
Chris, since I can't chat with you on ChrisNolan.com, pray tell what the connection of the headline was to the story?