July 11, 2003
View From Lodi, CA: The Internet Erupts Into Politics [With Joenote to
VDARE.COM Readers]
By Joe Guzzardi
The Internet is the political wave
of the future. The net is already a major player in the
certain recall of California Governor Gray Davis. And
Democratic Presidential candidate Howard Dean has
stormed onto the national scene thanks in large part to
the Internet.
In the years to come, savvy pols
will turn to the Internet and away from traditional
whistle-stop campaigning. The days of going from
Bakersfield to Fresno to Modesto to Stockton to Lodi to
Sacramento in a single morning to press the flesh may
soon be over. Why bother when a candidate can accomplish
so much more in cyberspace?
Ironically, Davis recognized in
2000 the
growing power of the Internet. In a Los Angeles
Times Op-ed he co-authored with New York Governor
George Pataki, Davis wrote:
“We
live in a remarkable moment when technology is turning
the impossible into the commonplace. Just as computers
and the Internet have transformed the way we shop,
communicate and work, it is a matter of time before
these innovations transform the way we govern
ourselves.”
What Davis envisioned, of
course, was that the Internet would provide a new avenue
for supporting his policies. And Davis no doubt
anticipated that one-day citizens would be able to vote
electronically. The political process would become the
modern day “Front Porch” campaign.
Just stay home like
President
William McKinley did at the beginning of the 20th
Century. But be sure you’ve logged on.
But life has curious twists
and turns. Now the Internet, which Davis admired so much
he refused to impose taxes on it, is his arch-enemy.
According to Teri O’Rourke,
Treasurer of the Recall Davis campaign:
“One
reason none of the earlier recall efforts against
California governors got off the ground is because the
people simply didn’t have ready access to information.
But the Internet changes all of that.”
Every day Davis makes it easier for more Californians
to add their signatures to recall petitions. Davis'
2003-04 spending plan includes cigarette, income,
automobile and sales tax increases. Additional
legislative proposals would create new taxes and both
increase and widen the reach of existing taxes.
Larry McCarthy, President of
www.caltax.org,
wrote in the Silicon/San Jose Business Journal
that
“There
are nearly 100 bills awaiting consideration in the
California Legislature that would gouge taxpayers with
more than $20 billion in higher taxes or fees. This is
Sacramento's unfortunate response to a broken state
budget and financial management system.”
Substitute “Davis” for “Sacramento” and it is easy to
understand why Californians are lined up to support the
Davis recall.
Former Vermont Governor Dean has found the Internet a
more inviting place. To the amazement of every veteran
Washington DC observer, during the second quarter Dean
raised nearly $7.5 million for his campaign. Of that
impressive sum, nearly $800 thousand came on a single
day.
Dean is expanding his Internet reach as he presses on
with his surprising run for the Democratic nomination.
On July 1, thousands of Dean supporters in 300 cities
showed up at coffee houses, restaurants and Internet
cafes. A new Dean
website organized by 432 of his supporters, ,
enabled the groups to meet. In the true grassroots
spirit, participants in each city were given stationery
and asked to send two letters to Iowa Democrats in
support of Dean’s candidacy in the January 2004 caucus.
A University of Virginia
political scientist, Larry Sabato
said
"People have been
pooh-poohing the Internet and saying it has never lived
up to its promise and it never would. Well, guess what?
They're wrong, and it is living up to its promise. And
it's going to be one of the primary vehicles for both
organization and coverage from now on."
And Joe Trippi, a long time Democratic consultant and
now Dean’s campaign manager says the Internet is perfect
for his candidate.
Said Trippi, in an interview last week from
Dean's Vermont headquarters, said various factors have
converged to make this year a "perfect storm" for an
Internet candidacy.
Most importantly,
according to Trippi, is that the Dean campaign
unlike traditional efforts is not tightly run from the
top. That style isn’t a good match for the Internet.
“You have to have a
campaign that's willing to let go,”
said Trippi “to allow the grass-roots groups to set
up independent operations and Web sites.”
Dean still has a long way
to go to match George W. Bush’s golden touch. Raising $7
million in three months is a long way from Bush’s record
of $5 million in a two-day California swing.
Dean may be a flash in the
pan. But he doesn’t have Bush’s increasingly heavy
baggage: growing unemployment, a deepening deficit, the
floundering effort in Iraq and the frustrating pursuit
of the world’s most famous missing people, Osama bin
Laden and Saddam Hussein.
[Joenote to VDARE.COM readers: Guess which
issue is conspicuously missing from Dean’s
“Where I Stand Page?” Dean might have a half-baked excuse; immigration hasn’t
reached crisis levels in Vermont. But when I e-mailed
the Dean staff questioning why immigration didn’t appear
among the hot topics, I got no reply. I guess all those
latte sippers aren’t going to raise any politically
incorrect subjects. But at least they’re showing how to
organize!)
Joe Guzzardi [email
him], an instructor in English
at the Lodi Adult School, has been writing a weekly
column since 1988. It currently appears in the
Lodi News-Sentinel.
