Our “Midmorning” broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio tomorrow (Friday, 9 a.m. Central, 10 a.m. Eastern) takes up the “bubble” questions that obsess the blogosphere: the boom and bust of Howard Dean’s Internet campaign, the “miracle” and/or the media manipulation inside the Kerry comeback, the reality and the future of Internet democracy.
I invite all the faithful readers here and at BOPnews to weigh in. The toll-free phone is 1-800-242-2828.
Our other guests will include William Saletan of SLATE; Tom Schaller of Salon; and Hendrik Hertzberg of The New Yorker.
Here’s the way I’ll toss it to the radio listeners:
As they say in politics: one day you’re a peacock, the next day you’re a feather duster. Or in the case of Senator John Kerry, you’re a peacock, then a feather duster, and then a peacock again. Or if you’re Howard Dean, you go from peacock to pigeon feather and then you pretty nearly disappear. Overnight. Literally, within a few days in January, Dean collapsed from prohibitive favorite and front-runner to gasping also-ran.
Are there rules to this game? Is the building of a popular consensus around a candidate an open political process, or a pinball game?
Do voters really drive it? Do the media companies, or the Internet tilt it?
Is the game that seems to have chosen John Kerry fair? Is it wise? Is it over?
Would you understand this process of picking the people’s choice if it were unfolding in China, or Sweden, or Canada?
Over to you, bloggers. I’ll be delighted to hear you on the clear Minnesota air. Just dial: 1-800-242-2828 and be prepared to start talking. Thanks.
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