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<DIV>Found via <A href="http://www.boingboing.net/">BoingBoing</A>, from the <A
href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58554-2003Dec12.html">Washington
Post</A>: For all Dean's talk about wanting to represent the truly "Democratic
wing of the Democratic Party," the paradox is that he is essentially a
third-party candidate using modern technology to achieve a takeover of the
Democratic Party. Other candidates -- John Kerry, John Edwards, Wesley Clark --
are competing to take control of the party's fundraising, organizational and
media operations. But Dean is not interested in taking control of those
depreciating assets. <BR>Cheap information has allowed firms to shrink. Size is
now less of an advantage in organizations, and that means more competition in
the global marketplace. For companies, it's either reorganize or die. This is no
less true for political organizations, as Dean's success shows. He is the first
candidate to use the Internet effectively as a political organizing device.
<BR>The ability to have "virtual political parties" is the greatest challenge
the two parties have ever faced. There are strategies available to them, of
course -- deft positioning allows them to preempt competitors, as it does in
every industry, and they can use the same technology, although Internet culture
doesn't seem readily amenable to either Democrat.com or Republican.com. Being a
Democrat or a Republican isn't enough of an advantage anymore -- there are
simply too many other places where people can get political information and find
political bedfellows in an age of low information costs.</DIV></BODY></HTML>