Today is the eve of the Iowa Caucuses, the defining point in the 2008 presidential candidate nomination process. by Milo Robert
(libertarian)
Thursday, January 3, 2008
As we all know, today, January 3rd, 2008, is the first stage in the nomination process for both parties for their candidate in the 2008 Presidential Election. We will watch as history continues to be written.
We have seen a very interesting year leading up to these nominations, but this year will no doubt be much more interesting than the last. We watched as Hillary Clinton tried to buy the Democratic nomination, with what seems to be at least some success. We have watched Rudolph McRomnabee battle neck and neck for the front of the Republican race, and we have seen an underdog slowly climb to the top of the fundraising ladder in the Republican field. We have watched celebrities push Obama into the lead in states like Iowa and New Hampshire. And now, tonight, we will watch the caucus goers of Iowa determine for the world what this year's elections will look like.
What I think will be most interesting about this year's elections is the ever-growing power of the internet. Today, any Joe-Schmoe like me can run an internet column and recieve a respectable readership, and it no longer takes a lot of money to have your voice be heard. No longer do Americans turn on their televisions to see what's going on in the world... they log on to the internet and perform a google search, because the results are much quicker, and often more credible than what you might find on the airwaves. We have seen this phenomenon play a role in the election already, with Obama's utilization of MySpace and Facebook to attract attention, and with Ron Paul's spontaneous internet-based grassroots success driving him above and beyond the other Republican contenders.
One effect of the new internet-based information movement is that the old media are dying out... Fox News, in their usual manner, has excluded a candidate from one of their up-coming debates because the candidate does not promote their agenda. Normally they would have gotten away with this, as they have countless times in the past, but this time the supporters of that particular candidate are going to make them hurt. As News Corp's stocks plummet, Ron Paul supporters and others who think that biased censorship is wrong will be boycotting products advertised on Fox, and so the advertisers will be pulling their funding out as well. We may soon see Fox News crash and burn, giving way to the ever-expanding internet media movement. Ratings for network news stations have been declining steadily for the past few years, and the networks are failing to adjust to the changing ways of modern information.
So what will we see tonight? A lot of surprises, that's for sure. We are on the eve of the first election in which the internet runs the show. I guess it's really in the hands of the citizens of Iowa and the fates now. On that note, I'd like to wish you all a happy caucus day, and good luck to all the contenders!
Did you like this article? If you did, Thumb It! 5
thumbs so far
The views expressed
in this article are those of Milo Robert only and
do not represent the views of Nolan Chart, LLC or its affiliates.
Milo Robert is solely responsible for the contents
of this article and is not an employee or otherwise affiliated
with Nolan Chart, LLC in his/her role as a columnist.
