Politics 2.0

Fight Different

The neutrality of this story is disputed.

Open-Source Politics

Open-source politics is the idea that social networking and participatory technologies will revolutionize our ability to follow, support, and influence political campaigns. Forget party bosses in smoky backrooms—netroots evangelists and web consultants predict a wave of popular democracy as fundraisers meet on MySpace, YouTubers crank out attack ads, bloggers do oppo research, and cell-phone-activated flash mobs hold miniconventions in Second Life. The halls of power will belong to whoever can tap the passion of the online masses. That kid with a laptop has Karl Rove quaking in his boots. And if you believe that, we've got some leftover Pets.com stock to sell you.

Crashing the System
Are we entering a new era of digital democracy—or just being conned by a bunch of smooth-talking geeks?

 Politics 2.0: What we’re ready for, what we’re not

 Who's Plugged In? A snapshot of the online political elite

Meet the New Bosses
By Daniel Schulman
After crashing the gate of the political establishment, bloggers are looking more like the next gatekeepers.

 MoveOn Keeps Moving On

 www.president.com: How the candidates' sites stack up

 What's Hype? Is MySpace for politicos or pedophiles?

 10,000 Deaniacs: Where are they now?

PLUS: Daily Kos' lead site designer on the search for the ultimate digital community.

Masters of Their Domain
By Josh Harkinson
Silicon Valley conservatives are trying to build the right-wing MoveOn from the top down.

 A Vast YouTube Conspiracy: Conservatives take their videos and go home.

 Dick Morris' Footage Fetish: Going after Hillary online

 The Digerati Code: Know your netroots from your socnets

The Attack Ad's Second Life
By Leslie Savan and Dave Gilson
Despite "macaca" and "Hillary 1984," the 30-second TV campaign spot ain't going anywhere—yet.

 TXT MSGS 2 D RESQ?: Cell-phone activism is still on hold

 Stupid Tech Tricks: As politics moves online, so have the dirty tricks.

• Bob Garfield — Advertising Age columnist and On the Media co-host
• Chris Rabb — Founder of Afro-Netizen.com
• Eli Pariser — Director of MoveOn
• Kevin Rose — Founder of Digg
• Esther Dyson — Digital philosopher and digerati
• Howard Dean — Chairman of the Democratic National Committee

• Jerome Armstrong — MyDD founder, former Dean advisor
• Jimmy Wales — Wikipedia founder
• Joe Trippi — Howard Dean's 2004 campaign manager, now advising John Edwards
• Lawrence Lessig — Stanford Law School professor, Creative Commons chair
• Phil de Vellis — Creator of the "Hillary 1984" video, former strategist for Blue State Digital