When Barack Obama accepted the Democratic nomination for President on Thursday night, he capped a long and inspiring campaign that set records for fundraising and personal involvement – and he also put the exclamation point on the first national campaign where the winner was determined online. The numbers simply don’t lie – by any of [...]

“Can we just put up a site like Barack Obama’s?” Surely I am not the only person working in the philanthropic sector who has been asked that question in the last six months. Even as nonprofits, foundations, social entrepreneurs and activists have forged a new online world of connected activism over the past couple of [...]

As Hillary Clinton conceded the hard-fought Democratic primary to Barack Obama on Saturday, many observers noted their campaigns’ online grace notes. The Obama campaign thanked Clinton on its front page, and prepared a special video page to pay tribute to the pioneering New York Senator. Clinton’s campaign called for supporting Senator Obama, and even included [...]

Is Barack Obama the candidate of the millennials? Well, he’s garnered the lion’s share of under-30 votes, yet he was born in 1961 – a year usually grouped with the very same Baby Boomers whose politics Obama has made a point off dismissing. Obama is a real phenomenon in CauseWired world, and I’ve written an [...]

Say what you will about the results, but you can’t argue the method. Last night’s Iowa caucuses were totally “CauseWired,” if you’ll pardon my attept to turn a book title into geekspeak. From the hordes of young and indepenent voters who migrated from Facebook and MySpace to actual caucus sites in Iowa for Barack Obama [...]

Ron Paul presents a contradiction to those who believe a totally-wired, socially-networked population will change politics and how we elect candidates. The libertarian Republican Congressman from Texas has been a true gadfly in the GOP race – contesting the legitimacy of the Iraq war while calling for the virtual end to the large Federal government [...]

Ah, good old 1996 – the first of our “wired” national elections. Bill Clinton versus Bob Dole, with special guest appearances by Ross Perot, Pat Buchanan, and Lamar Alexander. The information superhighway, online debate transcripts, participatory democracy, candidates on email – and all that jazz. We were so smart then. Fast forward to the 2008 [...]