How to Hack a Party Line: The Democrats and Silicon Valley [Hardcover]

Sara Miles (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: January 2001

Twenty-eight-year-old multimillionaires meet canny Democratic Party insiders in this behind-the-scenes account of the attempt to build Silicon Valley's first political machine. How to Hack a Party Line chronicles a high-stakes experiment to turn the Democrats into the party of business, reshaping the politics of the twenty-first century.

In this wickedly funny and often disturbing tale of power, Sara Miles introduces us to a clique of successful geeks, unschooled in politics, and the political operatives who saw their potential. We meet ambitious Democratic fund-raiser Wade Randlett, would-be kingmaker, who declares, "Whoever cracks Silicon Valley is going to be the champeen of the world." Randlett leads Miles at breakneck speed through back rooms, boardrooms, and bars, chasing influence during the boom years leading up to the 2000 elections. The author eavesdrops on the political education of powerful venture capitalist John Doerr, dines with White House aides and consummate Beltway insider Tony Podesta, and follows two dozen New Democrat congressmen on a giddy, wine-soaked tour of California.

This book is the first significant analysis of a major realignment in American politics as the country struggles with the social meaning of the New Economy. How to Hack a Party Line looks at centrist New Democrats who have left behind the liberal coalitions of the industrial economy and are seeking a new identity in the values proclaimed by hightech capitalists: growth, globalism, efficiency, and innovation. It explores the often contradictory forces behind Silicon Valley's political awakening -- a mixture of naïve libertarian sentiment, mellow Left Coast attitudes, and aggressive business instincts. Through vivid storytelling, it asks what values prosper when high-tech business becomes the metaphor for society -- and how democracy will respond.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

With billions in revenues and little political affiliation, Silicon Valley in the early 1990s was a jewel waiting to be snatched by either major party. The Democrats acted first, due largely to the efforts of Wade Randlett, the main figure in Miles's lively, firsthand account of the awakening of Silicon Valley's political consciousness and the wrangling that ensued. Randlett, an independent fundraiser and democratic political consultant, saw a chance to become an important player on Vice-President Al Gore's team by serving as the primary conduit between the Valley and Washington. Miles shows how Randlett, with significant backing from the powerful venture capitalist John Doerr, organized the mostly apolitical business and technical leaders of the Valley in a successful effort to defeat California's Proposition 211, designed to allow for shareholder lawsuits against California executives. Following the proposition's defeat in 1996, Randlett and Doerr formed TechNet, the first major political action committee to represent the interests of the Valley's high-tech companies. With Randlett's party ties and Gore's eagerness to be associated with the New Economy, TechNet tended to favor New Democrats. But as thoroughly as Miles charts the dynamics that tied the Valley to Washington, she writes in something of a vacuum. Though Gore's relationship to Silicon Valley is a major focus, Miles refers only passingly to his nomination in 2000 and fails to discuss the Valley's role in his campaign. She also overlooks the possible effects of the New Economy's crash on Silicon Valley's political influence. Given the current postelection turmoil, Miles's book is the victim of events happening at Internet-speed. (Feb.)
Copyright 2000 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist

Readers fascinated by either national politics or Silicon Valley will definitely want to read this vivid narrative of the sometimes explosive juxtaposition of these two highly idiosyncratic subcultures. Miles, who covers politics for Wired and recently wrote "The Nasdaq-ing of Capitol Hill" for the New York Times Magazine, was a fly on the wall at dozens of committee meetings, cocktail parties, brainstorming sessions, fund-raisers, and lobbying trips that marked the stages in the development of an alliance between New Democrats and the New Economy. She describes key activists (Wade Randlett, John Doerr, John Witchel, Simon Rosenberg, David Ellington), organizations (the Democratic Leadership Council, TechNet, the New Democrat Network, PAC.com), and issues (including opposition to California's Proposition 211, which gave stockholders broader rights to sue corporate executives, telecommunications and biotech regulation, trade with China, access to foreign-born engineers, and the shifting meaning of the "digital divide"). An involving, sometimes appalling "sausage-making" tale of a political courtship whose consequences may be substantial. Mary Carroll
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Farrar Straus Giroux; 1 edition (January 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0374177147
• ISBN-13: 978-0374177140
• Product Dimensions: 9.1 x 6.1 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,116,646 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Sara Miles is the founder and director of The Food Pantry, and serves as Director of Ministry at St. Gregory of Nyssa Episcopal Church in San Francisco. Her other books include Take This Bread: A Radical Conversion, and her writing has appeared in the New York Times Magazine, the New Yorker, Salon, and on National Public Radio.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars When worlds collide, March 6, 2001

By 

Mark Pritchard (San Francisco, CA USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Hack a Party Line: The Democrats and Silicon Valley (Hardcover)

It's the late 90s, and Silicon Valley is overflowing with cash. A minor Democratic Party operative, Wade Randlett, realizes that the centrist Clinton-Gore New Democrat ideology is a perfect fit for the libertarian-leaning just-get-it-done millionaires of California's high tech industry -- and better yet, they're political virgins. If he can play the matchmaker between cash-rich techies and cash-hungry politicos, Randlett could leapfrog into Democratic Party power.

In this funny and ironic account, Sara Miles recounts what happened when Silicon Valley techies, who knew nothing about how politics works, met Washington politicians who knew nothing about high tech. The clash of styles is entertaining enough, but their attempts at communicating, while badly disguising their selfish agendas, are hilarious. Don't miss the scene where Tipper Gore sits in on drums at a high-tech fundraiser, or the scene where two busloads of congressmen visiting the Napa Valley sing drunkenly to each other over their cell phones. An engaging, insightful, well-reported document of how things get done, or don't.

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Good but hope there is a sequal to get full picture, March 5, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: How to Hack a Party Line: The Democrats and Silicon Valley (Hardcover)

In the early 1990s, Silicon Valley gave the world instant millionaires, who were also apolitical. That lack of interest changed by 1996 when Wade Randlett decided to form an action committee that supported new Democrats. HOW TO HACK A PARTY LINE is refreshing as it ignores the software side of the Valley. Instead, the tome chronicles the rising of political involvement by the Valley's previously aloof membership. The book is fascinating, similar to White's look at presidential elections, but is also disappointing because most readers will be interested in the .com community's relationship with the election of 2000 which is barely mentioned. Though well written and insightful, the Guttenberg speed of present day publishing costs Sara Miles a coup.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars fascinating slice of intersecting worlds, December 25, 2008

By 

gadgetcollector (arlington virginia) - See all my reviews

This review is from: How to Hack a Party Line: The Democrats and Silicon Valley, Updated with a New Afterword (Paperback)

As someone who was marginally involved in this relationship from the DC side of things, I found Miles' revelation of the view from the other coast very interesting. For me the key to any book, regardless of the subject matter, is the author's writing ability. Sara Miles' style is extremely engaging, without ever seeming obtrusive or affected. She also seems to have good instincts, and to know the right questions to raise in response to what she's hearing. If I have any criticism, it is that she while she is basically well informed and bright, at times she seems naive about the overall political context in which she is writing, and misses some major elements of the political dance she is documenting. On the other hand, a more traditional political journalist would probably not have been able to present the Silicon valley end of things as perceptively. Overall, a good read about the clash of egos and norms when two very different cultures interact. I wish she would write a sequel.