Interactive Campaigning ala Wiki

brettlg writes to tell us LinuxInsider is reporting that Utah Democratic hopeful, Peter Ashdown, is hoping to leverage his knowledge of the internet and small business resourcefulness to take down the incumbent Senator Orrin Hatch next year. From the article: "Peter Ashdown is the founder of Xmission, Utah's oldest Internet service provider (ISP). His Web site includes a blog and a monthly live chat session. But Ashdown's site takes public participation on his campaign Web site one step further -- opening his platform to all. The site is based on the "Wiki" open-source model made famous by Wikipedia."

Political Wisdom ?

[Anonymous Coward]

Is wiki such a good idea in politics where partisanship is everywhere.

Off-topic: Leverage.

[cablepokerface]

Peter Ashdown, is hoping to leverage his knowledge of the internet

seriously, is it so hard to just 'leverage' the word 'use' instead. I run into leverage freakin' everywhere whenever something has to sound important.

Poor guy.

[Yirimyah]

He's gonna get flamed worse than Stormfront. Edit wars, anyone?

Great way to Hatch a campaign

[digitaldc]

Or in Pete's office, they say 'launch' a campaign.

Good luck Pete, nobody in their right mind wants the incumbent Senator Orrin Hatch who once advocated putting malware on people's computers in order to stop them from downloading songs.
See: http://www.computerworld.com/securitytopics/securi ty/cybercrime/story/0,10801,82317,00.html [computerworld.com]

Great Ideas, over qualified though...

[IndigoZenith]

"Any legitimate purchaser of media or technology should be able to use their property as they see fit without government intervention. Technology progresses rapidly and we need technologically savvy lawmakers who can lead us in sound policy making. Currently, there are legislators who repeatedly attempt to pass laws reigning in the Internet and other technologies. They do this at the beck and call of multibillion dollar industries by expanding the definition of copyright. Industry which refuses to adapt to technology should not be protected by making that technology illegal. Smaller music and film companies use the Internet to their benefit and should not be penalized by the behemoths' refusal of progress. Lawmakers tilting the playing field do not encourage small business and home innovators to take risks, and thus hold back our economy." from http://vote.peteashdown.org/bio/ [peteashdown.org]

He gets my Vote... if I lived in Utah, also one of his previous jobs was a Computer Tech, which makes him over qualified for Politics... but oh well :)

Credits?

[ceeam]

I like Wikipedia but I thought Wiki were made famous by c2.com [c2.com].

Interesting idea

[codeTurtle]

.. but this is definitely going to end up counteracting any positive coverage he gains from the site. At best, he ends up with a lot of negative posts from people who support his rivals. At worst, he ends up drowning in noise.

Also - bandwagon, jumping on?

Ridiculous to think he'll win just because of tech

[putko]

Hatch has advantages, one of which is his seniority. The fact that he has been in office so long means that he can bring home more bacon. The new guy, were he to win, wouldn't be able to bring home so much bacon.

Anyone who is getting bacon from Hatch would tend to not want the new guy, figuring that he'd be losing out.

The tech is a minor point -- the bacon hits people in the pocketbook.

"Bacon" here is political slang for "benefits that your politician brings to his community via the political process."

Re:Off-topic: Leverage.

[mokiejovis]

Honestly, though, there is a difference in meaning. While it is still sort of marketing-speak, he's not just looking to "use" his knowledge of the internet, as everybody running for office "uses" the internet. He is specifically trying to "leverage" it, insofar as he is trying to "use [the internet] to gain advantage." [wiktionary.org]

Re:Credits?

[Big Nothing]

"I like Wikipedia but I thought Wiki were made famous by c2.com."

I'd have to respectfully disagree. Although c2.com existed prior to Wikipedia and is a great place for people to get started with wiki, I'd certainly say that Wikipedia made the technique famous - at least outside the geek community.

Re:Credits?

[Eivind Eklund]

Invented, yes, made famous, no, not really. Wikipedia is what's made it famous.

Eivind.

Idiotic Issues

[TheSync]

At Pete Ashdown's site [peteashdown.org] page on economic issues, he claims "The United States of America has historically been an economic superpower and an innovator of technology. We harnessed electricity, invented the light-bulb and the television, but what have we produced lately?"

Let's see: The iPod, the SonicCare toothbrush, the Tivo, the E-Z pass, and there are these little things called CPUs produced by Intel and AMD.

U.S. resident inventors received 85,238 out of 165,485 U.S. patents in fiscal year 2005, which isn't too bad for a country that has only 6% of global population.

He then goes on to add: "Meanwhile the international community is closing in on energy production through fusion, and guess where the first operating plant is being built -- not in the U.S.A." Despite the fact that the plant in question, ITER, is a multinational project with partial American funding and scientific support! Moreover, ITER is not going to be an "operating plant," it will be a "fusion experiment" and is in no way a real prototype of a fusion plant.

Furthermore, he states "The Chinese are gearing up to clean our clock economically with no oil dependence at all." Based on empirical evidence, Chinese economic growth is compatible with US economic growth. Moreover, while the Chinese are beginning to investigate nuclear fission, and they have plans to build huge numbers of coal-burning electic power plants, they have no plans to eradicate their oil usage.

Mr. Ashdown appears to be AN ECONOMIC IDIOT.

Where is that Wiki...

All Very Fun...

[ml10422]

But if he wants a real shot at getting elected, he had better have a plan to get his face seen on TV, get endorsements, get on the radio, put up yard signs, flood the voters with mailers, get volunteers working the precincts door to door, and all the other old-fashioned tactics.

Hatch In Trouble Too

[namespan]

Here's the thing: I know a Republican state delegate or two in Utah, and the rumor around town is that Hatch doesn't have a whole lot of support from the conservative end of his own party.

Now, the end I speak of is obviously not going to vote for a democrat of any stripe -- these are the people who think Clinton was a communist and the entire aim of the democratic party is to abolish religion and property rights.

What *would* be ideal would be if Hatch faced a primary challenge -- and lost. Ashdown would probably still lose, but it'd be a more interesting fight. I think he ought to be quiet up until the Republican Primary is over, or appear weak in some way -- and then come out swinging.