Dear Jay Rosen,

I find your ideas fascinating, but since I haven't gotten an email back from you I'm going to apply your arguments to the Bobby Jindal campaign:

Jay Rosen, a writer for the MediaShift Idea Lab has been writing about the shifting presence of the media for years. The excerpt below is from an essay written in 2003, but I think it's particularly relevant for our discussion on the changing face of The Atlantic:

"We need to keep the press from being absorbed into The Media. This means keeping the word press, which is antiquated. But included under its modern umbrella should be all who do the serious work in journalism, regardless of what technology they use. The people who will invent the next press in America--and who are doing it now online--continue an experiment at least 250 years old. It has a powerful social history and political legend attached."

In other words, bloggers and internet journalists (citizen and professional alike) aren't reinventing the wheel; they're continuing the hallowed tradition of the free press. In general, blogs are representations of "public opinion." Normal people who otherwise wouldn't have their voices heard can communicate with millions via the internet. So, how does this change campaigning, especially for Bobby Jindal and The Atlantic? Exploring political blogs can give insight into the stories and people that the public wants to see covered. Are a lot of bloggers talking about Olympia Snow? Mike Huckabee? Bobby Jindal? Well, then The Atlantic should cover those people, or a particular story associated with them. The beginnings of a grassroots campaign for Sarah Palin 2012 are already solidifying. The Atlantic has to keep its ear to the ground as other potential players come to the fore.

Within the next year, I imagine that bloggers will start to seriously vie for their chosen candidates, much like what happened during '06 and '07. The Atlantic must keep these grassroots bloggers abreast, perhaps doing an interview with some of the larger names in the near future. The 2012 election is too far away to start naming potential candidates without the guise of interviewing a blogger, rather than a candidate. No one wants to see a candidate look too eager too early. The tricky part of the next year and a half is getting people interested without over exposing anyone. A segment every other month on a different blogger who endorses a different candidate would be a good way to give the public a heads up and a taste of things to come.

Bobby Jindal and Barack Obama: The comparions begin! (And, probably won't end)

Just the other day, the Washington Post had an interesting article that declared "Jindal May Prove To be Republicans' Version of Obama." The article states,

Already, a fierce fight is looming between him and other Republicans -- former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, who arrived in Iowa a couple of days before him, and Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin, who is said to be coming at some point -- for the hearts of social conservatives.

Social conservatism appears to be the new "it" thing for Iowa Republicans, probably because they already view Obama as too liberal. Jindal fits into this mold well. He has very conservative policies, and, much like Palin and Huckabee, checks every box on the right.

What can Jindal do now? It's clear that Huckabee and Palin see themselves at the future of Washington Republicanism, but Jindal is the Governor of a state that has been in turmoil since 2005. For now, Jindal appears to be focused on Louisiana, instead of a White House bid. This seems like the best approach, but that doesn't mean that someone (meaning me) from The Atlantic shouldn't keep an eye on him, just in case he does something of note. It's good to highlight the achievements and disappointments of contenders, even if they haven't officially stated that they're contenders yet.

Barack Obama had a lot of early buzz, and because of it, most of the potentially damaging stories were aired out during the early stages of the campaign. The longer one is in the public eye, the longer they're scrutinized, but sometimes that can be beneficial. Getting to say your piece early is helpful in politics and Jindal is in on the ground floor.

Bobby Jindal

Bobby Jindal - though I may not agree with most of his policies, I think he's an impressive figure. Look at his Wiki Profile:

"Following high school, Jindal attended Brown University, graduating with honors in biology and public policy.^[7] Although he had thought of a career in medicine or law and was accepted by Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School, he chose to pursue a political career. He received a master's degree in political science from New College, Oxford, as a Rhodes Scholar."

So, how does one parlay these impressive credentials into an impressive campaign? Well, first of all, he's only 37, so he has a potentially long political career in front of him. Also, this makes him young enough to be cool, especially to young conservative voters who feel disenfranchised from Obama's politics. Instead of comparing Jindal to Obama because they were both men of color, why not showcase Jindal's youth to younger conservative or Christian voters? The Democrats don't have the "cool" market cornered. Just ask Mike Huckabee:



Few things are cooler than joking around with Chuck Norris. "Principled authentic conservative"? Bobby Jindal fits into that mold! Celebrity endorsements, Daily Show or Colbert Report appearances, and early buzz are all things that could rocket Bobby Jindal to the White House.

But, how can The Atlantic get in on the ground floor? Interviewing Louisiana natives about Jindal would be a start. Researching his policies, his changes as governor, or even his family history would be a good segment. However, I think it's too early to jump aboard the Jindal train quite yet. Instead of focusing on a White House bid, focusing on "The New Head of the Republican Party" seems more prudent. People are tired of hearing about campaigning.

After a few months of an Obama presidency, however, Jindal and the other 2012 contenders are fair game.

WSJ: Obama's National-Security Team Set

Part of why I love the WSJ print edition are the fantastic stippled hedcuts. Sometimes, they say more than the article can. Take a look at the three George W. Bush portraits below:


In just a year and a half, Bush seems to have aged 10 years. (As an aside, Kevin Sprouls is the artist who pioneered this style in the WSJ and if you have any interest in art, I recommend browsing around his site.)

The Wall Street Journal online is one of the best designed websites for a major news outlet. The entire thing is packed full of interactive graphs and graphics, user-friendly tabs, and an extensive back catalog. However, I think that the stories lose a bit of their flair without the requisite portraits. Take this story for example. Obama National-Security Team Set is the same sort of article that you'd see in the print WSJ, but the actual photographs of people and events add something different to the story. I'm not sure if I like it as much as the stylized portraits above.

Twitter: John McCain and Barack Obama

Both John McCain and Barack Obama have Twitter pages, but the difference is in the numbers:

McCain:

5,605 Following

4,840 Followers

25 Updates

Obama:

143,629 Following

138,979 Followers

263 Updates

So, roughly 137,000 more people follow Barack Obama. Ok, that's understandable. Younger generation and all that. But, let's take a look at the content of their pages. Let's take a peek at some highlights from John McCain:

Girded Loins at NBC: Joe Biden's commented on Sunday that Barack Obama's election as President would, .. http://tinyurl.com/6nb2fk 10:30 AM Oct 21st from twitterfeed
Biden: 'Gird Your Loins' for International Crisis: Joe Biden tells it like it is: "Mark my words,.. http://tinyurl.com/6yfuej

Obama Surrogate Unable To Cite One Obama Bipartisan Accomplishment: http://tinyurl.com/3q7hck 6:00 PM Oct 15th from twitterfeed
STATEMENT ON ACORN'S LETTER: ARLINGTON, VA -- Today, McCain-Palin 2008 campaign manager Rick Davis rel.. http://tinyurl.com/4wxy97 9:00 AM Oct 14th from twitterfeed
Obama and ACORN: Just one week ago, the Obama campaign declared that 'Barack Obama never organized wit.. http://tinyurl.com/4xlm4z 3:30 PM Oct 11th from twitterfeed

Above are 5 Twitter posts out of 25, or 20% of McCain's content. Note that not one of the above posts are about John McCain. Instead, they're links to negative articles about Barack Obama. In other words, his posts are small snippets of headlines, not about how wonderful John McCain is, but about how frightening and bad for America his opponent is.

Perhaps this is because surrogate Twitter-McCain (because he can't use a computer) only posted from September 19th through October 24th. Not really enough time to become familiar with the medium, but enough time to say more positive things about John McCain himself, no?

Now, let's take a look at Obama's page. From the start, it's aesthetically more sedate, forgoing the bunting-esque American flags on the McCain page. Additionally, the content is related to Obama. Links to Obama speeches, articles about Obama policy, and even a reminder to vote. Instead of fear-mongering anti-McCain rhetoric, Obama's page is about Obama. Interesting. Perhaps this is the "Change we can believe in."

Twitter: Anyone else?

So, I don't actually have any friends whom I know personally on Twitter, and I'm not too adept at finding people from our class...

Does anyone else have a Twitter name? I'd really like to see how "following" works.

My Twitter name is Carolinemooney and I'd love a friend or two!

Twitter: Short and Punchy

As I explore Twitter, I'm reminded of how we talked about how candidates were utilizing the internet to build a youth base. The youth vote has been talked about for years, but this election seems to be a turning point. Obama reached out to younger voters and let them know that he's different and has the best interest of the younger generation in mind.

So, how does a candidate reach out to the young? Well, it helps to be dramatically younger than your opponent, but one has to appear to be "of" or at least "connected to" the younger generation. Take Obama's Facebook page, for example. As I type this, he has over 3.2 million supporters, or friends, in Facebook lingo. 3.2 million people who can log onto Facebook every day and "Get exclusive content and interact with Barack Obama right from Facebook," according to the Google summary.

But how did he do it and how did it help? He (or his team) did it by employing Facebook co-founder Chris Hughes. And, it doesn't hurt that he (or his team) filled out the Detailed Info:

Detailed Info

Website:	http://www.facebook.com/pages/Students-f... http://www.myspace.com/barackobama http://www.facebook.com/pages/Michelle-O...
Gender:	Male
Relationship Status:	Married to Michelle Obama
Birthday:	August 4, 1961
Religious Views:	Christian
Interests:	Basketball, writing, spending time w/ kids
Favorite Music:	Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Bob Dylan, Stevie Wonder, Johann Sebastian Bach (cello suites), and The Fugees
Favorite Movies:	Casablanca, Godfather I & II, Lawrence of Arabia and One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Favorite Books:	Song of Solomon (Toni Morrison), Moby Dick, Shakespeare's Tragedies, Parting the Waters, Gilead (Robinson), Self-Reliance (Emerson), The Bible, Lincoln's Collected Writings
Favorite TV Shows:	Sportscenter
Favorite Quotations:	"The Arc of the moral universe is long, but it bends towards justice." (MLK)

How much more short and punchy, yet personal can you get? His favorite books, his favorite movies. This page shows a man who is able to comfortably cultivate intimacy through a medium that the younger generation actually uses.

How many twenty-somethings read Newsweek or Time every week? How many twenty-somethings look at Facebook every day? I can guarantee that the numbers for the latter are exponentially higher.

The next Presidential candidate will have to be able to comfortably use media much as Facebook or Twitter to communicate with younger voters. As more young people get their news from online sources, the internet will become the newest battleground state, and, arguably, the most important.

Looking Forward: Possible 2012 nominees

Who will be the Republican nominee in 2012?

Well, odds are looking good for Mitt Romney according to Intrade. Interestingly, on the same page, Intrade has 3:1 odds for a Democratic winner in 2012. The Mitt Romney buzz is on the people's lips already, as well as the internet.

With a bit of searching, I came upon this bizarre pro-Mitt (?) website. I'm enchanted with entires such as this:

The topic:

How should Mitt keep himself occupied over the next three years?

For sake of argument, take as a given that winning the Presidency in 2012 is the goal.

A non-exhaustive list of possibilities to consider:

• Mend fences with the older gentleman who will likely win the nomination, in hopes of a VP nod, and a one-term Presidency.
• Take a cabinet position (e.g. Treasury, Commerce, etc.).
  
• Take over as Chairman of the RNC (as suggested by Newt on Fox News last night).
• Grow a beard, get fat, lecture at Harvard (aka "the Gore Plan")
  
• Play with the grandkids
  
• Do what he does best - fix broken companies and make a pile of money.

Though said tongue in cheek, some of those ideas aren't half bad. Plus, Romney was the Republican governor of oh-so-liberal Massachusetts for four years. That has to give him some cred with Democrats, or at least centrist Republicans.

Though the numbers are close, and the primaries are far away, Presidential hopefuls have been campaining earlier and earlier over the last few decades. Obama announced his candidacy about a year and a half before. Senator Clinton announced hers on January 20th, 2007, exactly two years before President Elect Obama will be sworn in. Ostensibly, it's not too abstract to discuss potential Presidential nominees, but one must remember two things:

1) A single day or a single scandal can change a politician's entire career. Trent Lott is a perfect example of this maxim in action.

2) The Republican party doesn't have a defined path...yet. Over the next few years, the party could turn entirely to the right and follow the Huckabee/Palin path (wouldn't that be quite the ticket?), or the party could do a 180 and become more socially centrist and fiscally conservative. At this point, the party appears to be up for grabs, but the prediction of Mitt Romney, though not overwhelming, is an interesting one. He won 11 states and caucuses, roughly 20%, which isn't too low of a number considering the Republicans had a cast of thousands for potential nominees.

This article from The Atlantic does a nice job of exploring some other potential candidates who may, someday, represent the Republican Party. Bobby Jindal and Tim Pawlenty are two candidates whom I could easily see in the limelight with four more years of experience. But again, all of these predictions are, essentially, moot if the Republican Party drastically changes direction.

But, where does all of this talk leave our good friend Sarah Palin? Luckily, the buzz over her potential 2012 bid seems to have died down compared to the two weeks after the election when there was story, after story, after story about Gov. Palin potentially becoming President Palin. Though it's entirely too early to count her in or rule her out, I will leave the reader with this sign, lovingly hand-painted for an anti-Palin rally held in Alaska earlier this year.

Happy Thanksgiving!

President Bush pardons his last turkey.