The road to the White House is full of babies to kiss, fried foods to sample at county fairs, sweaty hands to shake, pancakes to flip, goofy hats to wear, and stump speeches to nail. All of these moves in the campaign dance are aimed at connecting candidates to voters, generating positive media coverage, and, most importantly, raising money.
On the surface, this presidential election isn’t much different from those that came before — except that this one started a heck of a lot sooner. But everything changes when you turn on your computer, your cell phone, or your BlackBerry — and you come face to face with a whole new world of political communication.
It’s not even 2008, and the election won’t take place until next November, but for months, the campaigns have already been employing a dizzying array of new technologies to reach out and touch you. They hope the methods help to lure your money and your vote. In fact, there are so many gizmos and doodads out there that
John Edwards’s Web site features a “technical corner” — a special glossary that breaks it all down for neophytes. One example: twittering, which is a way to send blog entries on the go and to update people on minute campaign developments via the Internet, cell phones, or wireless handheld devices.