What does Ron Pauls primary performance mean for the political power of the Web?
Weigh in. Add your thoughts in the Reader Comments section below. Not yet, says David Thorburn, the director of the Masschusetts Institute of Technology’s Communications Forum and a co-author of Democracy and the New Media. “Intense and passionate support from an intellectually elite minority that lives in cyberspace does not translate into support among the general population,” he argues. “The Web will continue to be a major source of fund-raising for many candidates, but it remains far less influential and less significant than traditional old media, especially television, which continues to reach a far broader audience than is possible on the Internet.” The Paul campaign, which didn’t respond to requests for comment, surprised politicos by raising $4 million in a 24-hour online pledge drive in early November and another $6 million in online pledges in one day last month. Those Web-driven “money bombs” fueled a growing sense among candidates and consultants that the Internet is gaini
