I offer my response to Arnold Kling's article at Tech Central Station (referenced below) as a starting point of discussion.
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Arnold,

I appreciate your article I read at Tech Central Station (http://www.techcentralstation.com/122303B.html).

I agree with much of what you have said except that you may only have won a Phyrric Victory in your argument if at the end of the day the internet actually does change the face of politics. Having run statewide and legislative campaigns for nearly 20 years, I know the value of grassroots organization. This was made most evident to me in the victory of John Hostettler in the (former) 8th Congressional District in Indiana in 1994. In a 56% Dem district, his grassroots was far superior to the late Frank McCloskey's. His organization was strongly motivated by his conservative, pro-life stance which resonated among the strong Catholic (Dem) and Evangelical (Rep) population of the district. He organized them through a mirror precinct-by-precinct organizational structure which was managed at every political boundary level. And he has held the district with that organization despite predictions of his demise until 2002 when he won easily. The internet has matured now, and many campaigns are taking advantage of it to enhance grassroots organization and fundraising.

Dean has utilized sites like Meetup.com to organize his troops around small meetings that take place all over the country and are co-organized by individuals and the Dean campaign. The people involved are motivated by his strong liberal stance which has a strong internet presence to be sure, but the conservative right is equally strong there evidenced by the popularity of sites like WorldNetDaily.com, DrudgeReport.com, RushLimbaugh.com et. al. I don't believe with you that the internet is merely a refuge for cloistered Silicon Valley/Seattle former University-Liberal types. Conservatives are there in force to find information and participate in the public debate.

Therefore, what we must not overlook is the fact that the internet is having a profound effect on the Democratic nomination and is getting credit in the press for doing so. To be sure, political organization on the internet is in its infant stages and we have yet to see how it actually influences the Democrat primaries, but I see an opportunity to enhance its effectiveness for the benefit of conservative Republicans in the future. And if we encourage conservatives to ignore the Dean internet efforts because of the false perception that a bunch of washed up environmentalist liberals rose up of their own accord to support him, our activists will end up passing by one of the most important ways we have ever found to provide retail politics at Wal-Mart prices.

I invite and request your response to my thoughts at republicancalls@novexcontact.com.

- posted by Jim Pfaff @ 12:11 PM