How much influence will blogs have on the '08 Dem Nomination?

[More Than A Feeling]

I think we can all agree that the blogs are knitting together the (internet-using)democratic base, as well as enlarging that base due to their influence among young people, who get more of their news from the internet than they do from traditional sources.

It has been four years since the liberal blogs began, and they now have the strength and influence to seriously alter the results in house races (where would Paul Hackett be without the internet?). They have 2-3 more years to continue building infrastructure, and interim races to test it out and make corrections/changes.

How much of the battle for the '08 Democratic nomination will be won online?

[SteppingRazor]

1. Very little...

Let's face it. The candidate of the Democratic Party will, as usual, be primarily picked by -- The Democratic Party. Whoever the party throws most of its support behind gets the nomination nine times out of 10. Kerry upsetting Dean in Iowa is a perfect example.

[More Than A Feeling]

2. I voted for a lot.

The fundraising and the ability to make the voices of ordinary democrats heard regardless of location, means that the netroots can be present in every state, and have incredible flexibility to direct resources for strategic purposes. The net can also be an incredible idea machine and traditional media influencer through its construction and dissemination of common ideas and talking points. Its going to be more omnipresent than right-wing radio, and we have seen how much influence that has had.

[nvliberal]

3. The blogosphere is highly overrated in terms of influence.

Bloggers on the left and right tend to be more on the fringe than in the mainstream, and the movement for unelectable candidates such as Dean and Clark last time around is proof of that.

Bloggers tend to be anti-establishment, and many backed the anti-establishment candidates, and those type of candidates never get elected.

Most voters don't even read blogs, and probably most activists don't read them, either. Blogs, despite some advantages in fundraising and the like, are no substitutes for being truly actively involved in politics.

[zann725]

4. This assumes they haven't closed down/censored the "Internets" by then...

or at least the most "trouble-making" blogs...

[More Than A Feeling]

5. If they wanted to unleash naked revolt among the american people

There would be no better way to do it than to censor the internet.

Think about it. It's something that many people take for granted, and it hits people in their homes. Affluent people, who right now may be complacent. This would wake them up, perhaps. Information is so plentiful, even without the internet, that they couldn't hide it.

There would be mass protests and other (non-violent, hopefully) action against the government that dared to do that.