The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web, and the Race for the White House (Hardcover)

by Garrett M. Graff (Author)
Key Phrases: United States, Democratic Party, Howard Dean (more...)

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly
With this accessible but unfocused book, Graff explores the political, economic and technological changes that he believes will make the 2008 presidential election the first campaign of a new age. Before examining the direct impact that globalization and the Web will have on the next campaign, the author lays out the recent history of American national party politics, from the collapse of the Democratic Party and ascendance of the Republican Party in the early 1980s to the racially charged comment that may have cost Republican George Allen the Virginia Senate race in 2006. These historical chapters cover too much ground in too little space (the first chapter, for example, includes discussion of the social revolution of the 1960s, the economic decline of the Rust Belt, the 1980 election and the Monica Lewinsky scandal). However, Graff, an editor at Washingtonian magazine as well as a blogger and former webmaster for Howard Dean, knows a great deal about the contemporary political issues he discusses in the book's more streamlined second half, which brings a thoughtful clarity to his wide-ranging analysis, from the need for sweeping health care reform to the political uses of Twitter.com. (Dec. 10)
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Review
"'The First Campaign' is a graceful book, and an important one. It's a success born of perspective: Graff gets enough distance to sketch the landscape - with all its moving parts - while remaining firmly embroiled in the fight." -- Christian Science Monitor

"Graff offers an up-to-date synthesis of the multiple challenges facing Americas as we adjust to living in a flattening world, and a valuable critique of how our policy debates on everything from health care to education haven't yet caught up with reality." -- Tech President

"Having invented most modern technology, including the Internet, the United States is walking blind and backwards into the future, argues a former Howard Dean webmaster and current Washingtonian editor. Ardent tech-evangelist Graff offers an incisive and fairly persuasive text laying out the reasons why the 2008 presidential campaign will not only be extraordinarily important, but unlike any ever seen before. New technologies have reshaped not only the electoral scene but the fabric of everyday life, and 2008 is the first time in a half-century that neither party has a sitting executive to nominate. Therefore, writes the author, 'the first campaign of a new era is upon us.' Graff is realistic enough in his acknowledgement that no matter how web-savvy a candidate may be, if there's no message to deliver, voters won't care: 'The candidate who best understands that the internet isn't an end to itself but merely a means to an end--a chance to pull people in and get them involved in the political process--will triumph.' [Graff]... lay[s] out the tough issues the country faces (everything from globalization to climate change), making the case that 2008 and the following decade may well be the last chance 'to make changes and address those looming challenges before they begin to become truly painful.' Graff is mostly hopeful, though he paints a bleak picture of lagging educational standards and politicians so woefully out of step with the times that as recently as 2001, Sen. Dianne Feinstein was quoted saying, 'I don't believe the Senate should be on the internet until we get rid of pedophilia and pornography." -- Kirkus Reviews

"In this ambitious book about technology's impact on politics, the author argues that the key issues of the 2008 election--business investment, education, health care, and global warming--all are tech issues at their core. But Graff, who ran Howard Dean's first Web site in 1997 (while still in high school!), is at his best when he maps the ways in which the internet is rewriting the rules of presidential campaigning." -- Wired Magazine

"In his lively new book, The First Campaign: Globalization, the Web and the Race for the White House, Garrett M. Graff... raises a lot of provocative questions about how candidates are grappling with 'the new campaign paradigm,' (which, he says, emphasizes a dialogue between candidates and voters, instead of a one-way conversation); how they are planning to chart America's course in a new, globalized world that is increasingly reliant on broadband communication and technological innovation; and how his own generation (born in the 1980s and 'more technologically savvy and more civic-minded than the one before it') regards the current state of politics.... [T]he astonishingly young Mr. Graff (who was born in 1981) proves in these pages that he is a cogent writer, willing to tackle large-scale issues and problems." -- Michiko Kakutani, The New York Times

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 336 pages
• Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (November 27, 2007)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374155038
• ISBN-13: 978-0374155032
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6.1 x 1.2 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.2 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #662,503 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A very useful book in following today's presidential race, January 20, 2008

By	Future Watch Writer (Washington, D.C. Area) - See all my reviews

This book is well worth reading. It shows a revolution that is taking place in political communications and can give any political person some ideas. You can gain more information on the book beyond Amazon by going to the book's web site, which has the same domain name as the title. As we watch the current political campaigns for the Presidency, you can see what Graff is talking about by going to You Tube and looking at the various different presidential campaigns on You Tube. You should also check out the main campaign sites on the web and see how they are linking to places like Myspace and You Tube. This would help you make the book come alive. I have a list of respected books relating to future watch studies on my Amazon profile for those who might want to get a larger picture of future trends.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Book For Our Time....aspiring leaders must read, August 19, 2008

By	Tyler Arthur "Author, God is not an Elephant" (Denver, Colorado) - See all my reviews

Since the advent of the division of labor it's not often you have somebody on so many sides of a debate who seems to not only articulate, but rationalize, educate and otherwise tell a compelling story about how and why the American political landscape will never look the same once the first campaign lifts off. Mr. Graff not only lays out a very realistic outlook of our nations politics and campaigns, but more importantly he spells out some very fundamental shifts that have and continue to take shape.

Every page is either filled with a history lesson and/or takes a good look into the future and how it might appear with many changes such as online donations to campaigns i.e. look at what Senator Obama has done vs. McCain in 2008. Blogging is another and the author looks at it's influence for those who simply have a web connection: they can perhaps for the first time since television get some news that's not so filtered, spoon fed and dispensed like a Pez candy toy. If those in power cannot be bothered with a 2 way discussion or some transparency than they ought not to apply. As the author points out the Democrats get this newly un-wired world far more than do the Republicans, but as the author rightly states (Warner) shouldn't be about left or right, but forward vs. backword looking candidates and our shared vision of the U.S.A. remaining competitive.

The one area I would have liked the author to expand on is the 2007 study where he cites there are only 30% of Americans under age 30 without a land line (telephone) and why we aren't further ahead with wireless technology than we are and other issues that he touches on like excellent healthcare for every American or even more advocacy around voters who like his ideas. For example he mentions 'the Sunlight Foundation' and the excellent work they seem to be doing, but doesn't expand on how ordinary people can get involved to demand that those we send to Congress must be completely held accountable or lobbyists an other insiders will surely steer the ship towards their treasure chest. Moreover, as much as I like the idea of simply voting for a 'great candidate' who will not only give hope a new meaning, I also feel that those who help put a candidate in office must constantly keep in communications so that what a politician says and how they govern remain trustworthy, relevant and authentic - not mere watered down rhetoric.

Overall this book if taken with the seriousness it deserves has the ability to tranform not only this election cycle, but to help Americans from all walks realize the tools at their disposal as well as to perhaps wake up some of the establishment. I found Garrett Graff well capable of telling a narrative spanning several Centuries all the while weaving a common thread of duty for country, mechanisms for our changing world and rightly stating time is of the essence.

2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Excellent read, January 25, 2008

By	Susan E. Martin "edudiak" (Atlanta, GA United States) - See all my reviews (REAL NAME)

This is a book that really has not been written before - while it is very high density, it is extremely readable. I enjoyed it!! All young (and older) people should read this and think about it.