1st Edition
Mousepads, Shoe Leather, and Hope Lessons from the Howard Dean Campaign for the Future of Internet Politics
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.
Biography
Authored by Teachout, Zephyr; Streeter, Thomas
“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.
