Technology and Campaigning

I just finished reading a blog post by Will Richardson discussing the use of today's technology in the 2008 Presidential Campaign.

http://weblogg-ed.com/2008/preparing-for-participatory-politics/

It is amazing to see how today's candidates have and have not used technology to gain access to voters. It is not just used in the schools where our students are using computers to learn reading, writing, and arithmetic but they are using it in politics as well. Our family does not get the major daily news papers anymore because the webpages of the news sources are so much more accurate and updated more frequently. Many of the political candidates have rss feeds in order to update their supporters more frequently. A person doesn't even have to search for updates on campaigns, they are automatically sent to you. Being active in politics I have observed first hand how successfully candidates use email as well. Candidates are also being held accountable by bloggers who post comments that the major media outlets miss. If these avenues have an impact on a national presidential election still remains to be seen, but if they do, what impact will they have on state and local politics? If our young people or just society in general can become more informed politically, how will politicians react if their statements and actions are circulated via the Internet. Imagine being elected to a political office and being held accountable by an educated, well informed electorate...its something to think about.