Blog Ryan

We are at a very interesting time in our political evolution. The power was always supposed to be in the hands of the people. I believe there was a time when that as true. That time slowly disappeared as the power was transferred to mega labor unions and special interest groups. Politicians became beholden to a few massively powerful groups and forgot about the individuals that supported them. I believe that the power is starting to be transferred (granted not very quickly) back into the hands of the people. How is this happening? Social Media. Web 2.0. User generated content.

Whatever you want to call it, the power of individuals to shape an election is arguably greater than it ever has been. Don’t believe me? Just ask former Senator George Allen. His racially insenstive remarks were caught on camera and put up on YouTube and instantly became one of the most blogged about stories. That got immediate and significant attention and many believe was the turning point in the Virginia Senate race that cost Allen his political career. A one time presidential hopeful now finds him self sidelined.

Mitt Romney’s camp displayed its political savvy when faced with a potentially damaging YouTube video showing past campaign statements that contradict current stances was quick to release his own video response, quickly curbing the issue before it overwhelmed his campaign.

Here is a look at some of what some of the other candidates are doing:
Hilary Clinton is trying to harness the power of the masses by turning to Yahoo Answers to seek solutions to the nations health care. As of today she has received 37,570 answers–many of which are well thought out intelligent responses. Try getting that kind of response on a listening tour.

Nancy Pelosi is leveraging the power of the blogosphere to further the agenda of Democratic cause. She has singled out time to field questions from a few dozen bloggers on a conference call that is NOT available to the mainstream media. She has hired a full-time staffer to monitor the blogosphere. She is also organizing training sessions to educate politicians about blogs as well as starting to blog herself.

John Edwards has probably the most robust website of all the candidates so far with YouTube videos, blog, “web 2.0 design”, flickr, Facebook, MySpace, and YouTube badges. and maintains his own blog on the website.