Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope: Lessons from the Howard Dean Campaign for the Future of Internet Politics

by Zephyr Teachout, Thomas Streeter

Overview

Howard Dean's campaign for president changed the way in which campaigns are run today. With an unlikely collection of highly talented and motivated staffers drawn from a variety of backgrounds, the Dean campaign transformed the way in which money was raised and supporters galvanized by using the Internet. Surprisingly, many of the campaign staff members were neither computer whizzes nor practiced political operatives, even though that is how some of them are identified today. This book allows key individuals in the campaign the chance to tell their stories with an eye to documenting the Internet campaign revolution and providing lessons to future campaigns. Howard Dean's inspirational statement of what it took for his campaign to get as far as it did-"mousepads, shoe leather, and hope"-holds great wisdom for anyone campaigning today, especially the 2008 presidential candidates.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781317255864
Publisher:	Taylor & Francis
Publication date:	12/03/2015
Series:	ISSN
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	256
File size:	5 MB

About the Author

Authored by Teachout, Zephyr; Streeter, Thomas

Table of Contents

Part I Overviews; Chapter 1 Introduction, Thomas Streeter; Chapter 2 How the Internet Taught Me That You Have the Power; Chapter 3 Theories, Thomas Streeter, Zephyr Teachout; Part II Stories of the Campaign; Chapter 4 How a Blogger and the Dean Campaign Discovered Each Other, Jerome Armstrong; Chapter 5 Something Much Bigger Than a Candidate, Zephyr Teachout; Chapter 6 Swept Up in “The Perfect Storm”, Bobby Clark; Chapter 7 A Coder Becomes a Political Activist, Aldon Hynes; Chapter 8 Blogging for America, Mathew Gross; Chapter 9 The Meetup Story, Michael Silberman; Chapter 10 Experiences of a Grassroots Activist, Pam Paul; Chapter 11 The Lessons of Generation Dean, Amanda Michel; Chapter 12 Fund-Raising, Larry Biddle; Chapter 13 A Web Activist Finds Dean, Nicco Mele; Chapter 14 E-Mail, Kelly Nuxoll; Chapter 15 Part Icipatory Political Culture, Josh Koenig; Chapter 16 An Organizer’s View of the Internet Campaign, Zack Exley; Chapter 17 After New Hampshire, Kelly Nuxoll; Part III Reflections; Chapter 18 From Media Politics to Networked Politics, Araba Sey, Manuel Castells; Chapter 19 The Legacies of Dean’s Internet Campaign, Zephyr Teachout, Thomas Streeter;

Editorial Reviews

To really use the Internet well, you have to build community, not just enable fundraising.”
—from the interview with Howard Dean

“Written with the passion, enthusiasm and honesty that characterized Howard Dean’s historic grassroots presidential campaign, Mousepads, Shoe Leather and Hope shows how the Internet can transcend cynicism, build communities, and engage ordinary people in a way that is already rejuvenating our democracy.”
—Matthew R. Kerbel, editor, Get This Party Started: How Progressives Can Fight Back and Win

“The way we do politics changed in 2004. The Dean Campaign gave new meaning to grassroots organizing, revitalizing democracy – and the Democratic Party along with it. A glorious failure, it may yet prove to herald new triumphs. The Internet was at the core of that moment, and this volume captures the flavor and excitement of those heady – and headstrong – days.”
—Toby Miller, author, Cultural Citizenship: Cosmopolitanism, Consumerism, and Television in a Neoliberal Age

“Here scholars of communication and politics, as well as activists on that and other campaigns, offer analysis beyond the partisan sound bite.”
—Book News Inc.

From the Publisher