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June 25, 2003
Virtual Voting
MoveOn.org's virtual Democratic primary has been creating a lot of buzz on the Internet and among activists this week. The primary has attracted so much attention, in fact, that the website crashed this morning during the second day of voting. I'm curious to see how this online grassroots movement will unfold, and while I'm generally optomistic that these types of grassroots movements can be very useful, I've already encountered some potential abuses, including cross-voting by Republicans who wish to skewer the results. I'm also wondering how my perception of candidates might be limited due to the fact that I generally only pay attention to online news sources and avoid televised news whenever possible, with the result that I'm seeing a much different presidential race than most candidates (Howard Dean is apparently much less popular on TV than he is online, for example). It remains to be seen how much the online world can effect the political one, but at the very least, I think MoveOn.org has proven to be a great organizing force, a means of sharing information and creating community. When I voted for Dean (like film director Rob Reiner), MoveOn asked for my contact information. The goal is to get local people with similar political views to get in contact with each other and hopefully create some grassroots political networks.
Then again, when the majority of people support pre-pre-emptive war against Iran, I feel like I'm from another world altogether.
Posted by chuck at June 25, 2003 1:12 PM
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Comments
Well, I finally got the nerve to respond. As we have discussed, statistics lie. I checked out what the survey was asking and from what I can tell, the question was: Do you think Iran should be prevented from obtaining nuclear weapons? (Sorry I don't have the exact wording) One could imagine how this could be a missleading question. For example, an over-thinker like myself might say, I think no nations should have nuclear weapons. Which is not to say that this is what everyone thought or that its not sad that so many people do support a preemptive war. Anyway, I thought I'd just call you out.
Posted by: S at June 26, 2003 6:58 PM
You're certainly right. I overreacted *just* a little there. I think I was trying to be cautious in response to my enthusiasm about MoveOn.org, but that's no excuse. :)
Posted by: chuck at June 26, 2003 8:15 PM
If you are still a Dean supporter, would you like to trade bloglinks?
Posted by: Mousepads, Shoe Leather and Hope - The Great Grassroots Campaign at October 12, 2003 3:41 PM
Once Blogrolling is up and running, I'll be happy to add you to my roll. I'm still leaning strongly toward supporting Dean in the Democratic primary. I have been less explicitly political in more recent blog posts, but with the Plame scandal brewing, I'm sure I'll be revisiting some of those issues.
By the way, I only read a few entries, but I really enjoyed your blog.
Posted by: chuck at October 12, 2003 5:07 PM
Thank you! I can't wait until blogrolling comes back...I have been unable to register for an account, but he said I could register when he was done fixing it, so i am looking forward to that.
Posted by: Laura in DC at October 12, 2003 6:16 PM