![](\"http:\/\/cyber.law.harvard.edu\/blogs\/static\/dowbrigade\/pigmes.jpg\")
The
\n Presidential election, incredibly, is looking more and more like a replay
\n of 2000. The electorate is so deeply and evenly divided that the
\n decision may very well come down to a few electoral votes in one of the
\n swing states, which in turn may swing on a few thousand votes.<\/p>\n
Campaign tactics and spending have shifted from the The "Get out the vote" <\/a>; effort is a massive and sophisticated Although the race is too close to call, and each side In the opinion of this observer, there is only one possible The potential for on-line organizing and get-pit-the-vote After a similarly hard fought, no-holds-barred campaign resulted in We are willing to go on the record here We are afraid America will have to wait for its own First Internet President. But we remain convinced it will happen. Howard Dean was just the The Presidential election, incredibly, is looking more and more like a replay of 2000. The electorate is so deeply and evenly divided that the decision may very well come down to a few electoral votes in one of the swing … Continue reading
\n frenetic search for the elusive and dwindling stock of undecided voters
\n to equally frenetic and even more crucial "get out the vote" <\/a>efforts. In
\n an election this close, the percentage of their partisans each party
\n can deliver on election day will determine the winner.<\/p>\n
\n multi-front effort, including targeted telephone trees, institutional
\n transportation, grass-roots mobilizations, poll watching and mass emailings. Plus,
\n inevitably, black ops designed to impede the efforts of the opposition
\n to do the same,<\/p>\n
\n unquestionably has a few last minute dirty tricks and a "Halloween Surprise"
\n or two up their sleeves (we hope!), latest
\n internal polling gi<\/a>ve the
\n President a slight edge., especially in the key swing states. Two or
\n three points, within the margin of error, but enough that Kerry is going
\n to need a big last
\n minute
\n push
\n to put
\n him
\n over the
\n top.<\/p>\n
\n place that Kerry can get the juice to overcome whatever nasty surprise
\n the dastardly Karl Rove has cooked up for election eve – and it is the
\n Internet. <\/p>\n
\n efforts was dramatically demonstrated in South Korea two years ago by
\n the dramatic, last minute, internet-fueled, come from behind victory
\n of Roh Moo-hyun, hailed as the World’s
\n First Internet President.<\/a><\/p>\n
\n an extremely tight race, Roh found himself on the business end of a classic
\n election eve dirty trick; the orchestrated defection of a key ally and
\n supporter, tipping the balance in favor of conservative candidate Lee
\n Hoi Chang. On the day of the voting a massive electronic get-out-the-vote
\n mobilization, via email, cell phones and Instant Messaging, advising
\n people of the opposition’s last-ditch move to steal the election, produced
\n an
\n unprecedented
\n turnout
\n of younger
\n voters
\n which gave the victory to Roh.<\/p>\n
\n as predicting that only a similar last minute cyberspace effort by the
\n Kerry campaign will be enough to
\n put him over the top. Unfortunately, we don’t think Kerry himself
\n is capable of making the commitment to cyberspace necessary to pull
\n it off. John Kerry is no Roh Moo-hyun. Roh, a human rights organizer
\n before entering politics, is the first world leader who knows how to
\n code in HTML. We doubt John Kerry even knows what HTML is.<\/p>\n
\n It was shocking to hear in the final debate that Bush talked more about
\n Information Technology than Kerry! Bush wants to save America by wiring
\n health care! Who knew? We may have to wait through four more years
\n of this sort of nonsense before an authentic Internet candidate emerges.<\/p>\n
\n tip of the iceberg, pointing the way towards what is possible, inevitable,
\n and essential – the technology enabled transformation of American Democracy.
\n Although of course it makes a tremendous difference in millions of lives
\n who wins this election, in the final analysis both Bush and Kerry are
\n conventional American alpha male politicians who don’t have a clue about
\n the changes around the corner in the electorate and the political landscape.
\n The stage is being set for The
\n One<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/table>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"