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Netroots Rising: How a Citizen Army of Bloggers and Online Activists Is Changing American Politics

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For people involved in the tsunami of online political activism over the past five years (a.k.a. 'The Netroots'), Lowell Feld and Nate Wilcox are household names, and reading through their fascinating new book, *Netroots Rising*, reveals exactly why that is. Part social history, part activist manual, part political biography, *Netroots Rising* is--at its core--a first-hand description of the 2006 Virginia Senate race, wherein the Democratic Party candidate Jim Webb out hustled and out smarted the incumbent Republican George Allen, thereby giving delivering a new Democratic majority in the Senate. If ever there was an election tale that could make even the most disengaged reader jump out of their chair and shout, the 2006 Virginia Senate race was it. *Netroots Rising* is a perfect case study for college courses and field trainers alike. But what makes the book so rewarding to read, however, is more than just the tale from the trail. It is the masterful way Feld and Wilcox put their experiences in Virginia in the big-picture context of a shifting reality in American electoral politics. Insiders will relish the chance to read Feld and Wilcox' version of 'L'Affaire Macaca'--wherein George Allen insulted a Webb field staffer with an obscure, but well-documented, racial slur. Newcomers to the netroots will devour the brilliant genealogy of online politics that Feld and Wilcox lay out starting from the presidential bid of Gov. Howard Dean. In the end, Feld and Wilcox walk their reader from an election culture of flipping pancakes and soulless media buys purchased by shadowy consultants, to a brave new world of open-source campaigning, tech-savvy staffers, and engaged citizen journalists who take on the most powerful politicians with little more than a hand-held video camera, a laptop computer, and a fearless turn-of-phrase. Want to know how U.S. politics changed over the past five years, who changed it, and how you can join the fun? Stop listening to the pundit-rubes who litter the 24/7 network and cable shows and pick up a copy of *Netroots Rising*. And while you're at it: buy a few copies for your friends and family, too.

The American political landscape has been irrevocably altered by the rise of progressive bloggers and online activists. In Netroots Rising, Lowell Feld and Nate Wilcox have provided a gripping insiders account of this phenomenon. Every campaign manager and Party Chair in America needs to read this book.
Peter Rousselot ,Chair, Arlington County Virginia Democratic Committee

This book analyzes, through narrative, anecdote and commentary, the convergence of grassroots organizing/activism with the decentralized power of mass communication available through the internet. The stories are great and provide a unique perspective on recent political events. More significant perhaps is the identification of this emerging reality for political campaigns at all levels -- the reality of a newly democratic process, of citizen activism making a difference. The issues involved are reminiscent of the growth in community organizing in recent years through organizations such as the IAF.

By the end of the book, I had a renewed sense of possibility, if not hope, for local political activism. Perhaps citizens can influence candidates, campaigns, and, ultimately, policy. Now that sounds interesting; sign me up.

Political Science has a concept known as "empowerment theory." The idea is that, among other things, giving people an opportunity to participate meaningfully in campaigns is one way of showing respect for their skill, energy, judgment, and intelligence. As formerly frustrated political outsiders begin to perceive such an opportunity for empowerment, many of them will seize that opportunity. As a result of their action, they will feel more efficacious, their lives will seem more meaningful to them, and their belief in democracy will deepen.

This book is a confirmation of empowerment theory. It is a true story of how outsiders to an established campaign process found a new way to become effective participants in the system. As the authors suggest, this may be the beginning of a real revolution.

Who are the netroots? They include men and women, paid website designers and managers, bloggers (paid and unpaid), and especially the readers of these information sources. It is these readers who participate early in campaigns by using the net to seek and to spread information, and to contribute funds to favored candidates, whether in or out of their own voting jurisdictions. By no means monolithic in their opinions, the netroots lean both liberal and libertarian.

For well over 100 years the US has had a political system with a relatively closed campaign and election process run by the rich. Until, that is, 2002 when Howard Dean began his presidential bid.

As the authors show, the Dean campaign listened to its supporters in several ways. It took suggestions made in comments on its blog and in emails to its website. It conducted online voting. It joined with Meetup.com, and encouraged its supports to meet together, unsupervised by the campaign, and brainstorm over ways to support the candidate on their own initiative. This was authentic democratic empowerment.

People who felt frustrated by a perceived lack of empowerment saw an opportunity to exercise some significant power by using the Internet. Some started their own pro-Dean blogs. Daily Kos took up the Dean cause early in 2003. Dozens of Yahoo Groups came together, many self-organized by states.

As the narrative suggests, two of the major moving factors in this period were anger and frustration. The anger was over what they saw as the Bush theft of the presidency in 2000, and even more so at the unprecedented preemptive invasion of Iraq in response to 9/11, which they thought was justified by lies and deception.

The frustration came from believing in the ideal of democracy, while in reality being locked out of the political system, which was dominated by the military/industrial complex, as well as other rich corporations and individuals.

No one proclaimed "let's use the Internet to storm the barricades!" It just happened spontaneously. As the book shows, it happened at the same time in the Dean campaign, and in the Clark campaign. Never mind that both campaigns ultimately failed. Lessons were learned, people gained new and valuable experience, and precedents were set for a truly new politics.

One of the recurring themes in the book is the conflict between, what I call, "the pros and the joes." At one point, for one of the authors, it nearly came to blows! We see numerous examples of old style control freaks trying to shape the message put out by independent-minded bloggers. It just can't be done.

That conflict haunted the "Webb for Senate" campaign in Virginia. Here is the story of a hard fought campaign against a seemingly invulnerable incumbent. Remember the word "macaca"? All the details are in the book.

Other effective uses of the net in politics will be found in a variety of well-told vignettes. These include the story of Tim Kaine's victorious campaign for governor of Virginia. The netroots also played a big part in bringing down "the hammer," former House majority leader Republican Tom Delay. These authors speak from experience, because they were in on the action.

Another theme of the book is that the Internet is not neutral; it has a progressive bias. At first you might think that the Internet is just a tool, to be used as well by conservatives as progressives. But that's not the way it works out in practice. Because of, in part, its uncontrollable blogosphere, this technology is an instrument for changing, not preserving, the present campaign and election process, it is biased in favor of both progressives and libertarians. Libertarian because it liberates individual participants. Progressive because it connects people equally; hence, it elevates the value of all users. All users are equally empowered, and limited only by their own personal skills, drive, and wit. That is why progressives, like the anti-war pro-reform Deaniacs, were the first to put the Internet into effective political use. Progressive minded people are more energized by the net's possibilities than are conservative minded folks.

The writers of Netroots Rising are well aware that Internet technology also tilts progressive because it confronts one of the premises of consumer culture. That is, passivity. Most Americans get their political information from watching TV. Listening to the radio, and reading newspapers and magazines, are a distant second. But Internet technology requires its users to ask questions, and to actively seek answers. As the book suggests, the netroots are the advance guard of the new political activist.

While the authors sense the revolutionary potential of the netroots, they could have sketched in a little more vision in their last chapter. How, for example, can the netroots lead America towards a fuller realization of its potential for a more direct democracy?

Can the new net technology make the direct election of the president possible (that is, without the Electoral College, which contributed to Gore's loss in 2000)? Can the Internet be used to create a virtual republic in each Congressional district, or each state?

What is the full potential of the Internet and its related electronic technology? Is the political potential of this technology maxed out by the speed of communication it allows, or by the efficiency of its computerized record keeping? Is it maxed out by the profitability of its fund-raising efforts? Is it maxed out by its ability to publicize and to popularize a progressive candidate, or to let everyone know about the faults of an incumbent or an opponent of a progressive? Is it maxed out in its role as gadfly to the mainstream media?

One might also ask the authors, "what is the netroots long-term strategy?" Do the netroots want to become merely accepted as equals in the money-dependent presently dominant system, or do they want to find a way to compel that system to break out of its current wealth-serving mold altogether, and use Internet technologies to create a new system, which greatly magnifies the degree of democracy we progressives now find so frustrating? Are the current uses of the net the final realization of its full potential for democratizing our politics?

I would only add that as people become more sophisticated with e-commerce, and other forms of Internet usage, they will become more prepared for increased participation in e-politics. Mistrust and reluctance are currently high about the prospects of online voting; yet, as we have seen, this too was done by Dean. But once the electorate is as comfortable with the prospects of e-politics as they now are with the use of e-commerce and e-banking they will be more receptive for a great leap forward.

Attention teachers. This book is not only excellent as current history, it is a fantastic stimulant for critical thinking. Almost every page makes a claim for a causal relationship between netroots action and some political success, such as fund-raising, drafting a candidate, or winning an election. Your students will have a ball refuting or defending these claims. The book is easy to read, and the authors provide material for both sides of the arguments.

Read this important book and you will see just how a new chapter in American politics has begun to unfold. I highly recommend this book.

William J. Kelleher, Ph.D.

I suppose you really could start Netroots Rising and put it down. I'm also told there are people who can eat just one potato chip.

The book reads almost like a novel, with several narrative lines that switch back and forth between the points of view of both authors, Nate Wilcox and Lowell Feld. It has a rising story line with twist and turns, obstacles, and complications. And the varying plotlines converge at the end.

The book opens with the state of the political sphere in 2002, where the advantage went to the Republicans. Most fundraising in both parties consisted of large donors writing checks for at least $1,000 or $2,000 a pop. But the GOP had the lock on donations from small donors thanks to their mastery of direct mail and earlier computer technology. They built better databases than the Democrats and led the way with grassroots GOTV field efforts. Their ground game was cleaning the Democrats' clocks in every election cycle.

In addition, the earliest, most successful websites and blogs were dominated by Republicans like Drudge Report, Free Republic and Instapundit. They duplicated the success of Republicans, who had long dominated the airwaves on cable TV and radio, with talk show hosts like Rush Limbaugh.

Netroots Rising opens from Nate Wilcox's point of view with the situation in Texas and recounts the struggle of the progressive grassroots and the new netroots activists in local races there. It covers the antics of Tom DeLay and his newly formed Texans for a Republican Majority PAC (TRMPAC). It briefly describes Republican dirty tricks in other states, such as those that defeated Vietnam veteran and triple amputee Max Cleland in Georgia, and describes DeLay's successful attempt to force an unprecedented and barely legal mid decade redistricting scheme in the Texas legislature. The tome describes in fascinating detail the various attempts to unseat DeLay and the role of a growing grassroots activist core, which did an admirable job of challenging him.

The book then segues into the mounting frustration of Lowell Feld, who watched, with increasing dismay as the 2000 election unfolded, followed by 9/11, the invasion of Iraq, and the Democrats' totally ineffective 2004 election campaign, when John Kerry was Swiftboated into defeat while a core of paid professional consultants and party insiders appeared helpless to counter an aggressive Republican spin machine.

Lowell had earlier enlisted in the Draft Wesley Clark movement, attended meet ups, and gradually got involved in both netroots and grassroots activism. Meanwhile, Wilcox joined Howard Dean's campaign, one of the earliest to utilize the Internet effectively.

The book goes back and forth between Wilcox in Texas and Feld in Virginia. Of course, it ends with the triumph of Jim Webb's election, truly one of the glowing success stories of the progressive Netroots in 2006. It gives the behind the scenes account of the famous maccacca incident that led to George Allen's defeat by Webb.

The conflict between the grassroots and netroots activists versus the party insiders and professional staff is a constant theme running through the book. The tome also details the difference in campaign philosophy between the somewhat chaotic and exuberant bottom up style of the activists versus the top down, button down professional discipline of the professionals and insiders. A traditionalist would think that the top down model should be the more successful one because of its discipline and focus. But that wasn't borne out by the results. Democrats kept losing elections under the helm of the party professionals. So, grassroots activists, especially those newly enlisted from the netroots, felt justified in questioning the old top down model.

The book does not end on a triumphant note, however, content to rest on the laurels of Webb's and Jon Tester's victories in the Senate. Instead, I sensed a growing frustration on the part of authors Feld and Wilcox at the fact that netroots activists are still not exactly greeted with open arms by party insiders. There is dissatisfaction that, despite all the hard work of netroots and grassroots activists, they haven't been embraced as part of the Democratic Party's mainstream but are still outsiders looking in. So, Netroots Rising ends with a question: What is the future of the Netroots?

The answer to that question will have to await future election cycles. But hopefully Feld and Wilcox will be there to document the results of the netroots continuing efforts. Meanwhile, this is a fascinating social history of an important new movement in politics. If you want to understand modern electoral politics in the U.S, you owe it to yourself to read this book

Netroots Rising was super valuable to me in formulating my own theories of online organizing and blogging. I'd say that I really took two things away from Netroots Rising:

1) A better understanding of the historical development of online organizing and the people and campaigns that pioneered the field.

2) The fact that in many of the early successful online campaigns -- drafting Wesley Clark, defeating George Allen -- the web was used as a tool to completely upset the existing power structure.

The reason I found this valuable was because it really put online organizing into context for me and helped crystallize many of my theories on web strategies and tactics. I'd worked at environmental organizations as an online organizer for a couple years at the point I read Netroots Rising, and it occurred to me: Upsetting existing power structures is exactly what we're trying to do. So I spent a lot of time thinking about how I could take the historical examples presented in Netroots Rising and use them to inform my work to protect the environment.

Obviously the types of campaigning I do are far different from the types of campaigning the authors were doing for the likes of Howard Dean and Tim Kaine, so there's not exactly a direct transfer of tactics. But the booked definitely helped shape my thinking in a big way. And when you think about it, giving people the power to directly select the candidate they want (even in the face of opposition from the party establishment) isn't really too different from giving people the power to shape policy or influence decision-makers (even in the face of opposition from the party establishment, special interests, corporate PR firms, etc.). It's all about using our numbers to push back against the influence of money and entrenched power structures.

I was doing a blog training for the grassroots team at a large environmental org and I used many of the examples from Netroots Rising to illustrate how online organizing can be used in concert with offline tactics to make a huge difference. I was told by many folks that it was really quite enlightening for them. Believe it or not, there are still plenty of people -- even at progressive organizations -- who are not entirely sold on the web as a tool for social change, or at least aren't clear how it can be used to effect that change. I made many converts that day, though, thanks to the historical examples and lessons I learned from this super important book.

I have just finished reading Lowell Feld's and Nate Wilcox's new book "Netroots Rising" describing the growth in importance of the netroots and the blogosphere in the our democracy. It is a fascinating read. I was especially fascinated at the description of the contribution of the blogging community in causing the downfall of Tom Delay and the description of the Jim Webb phenomenon.

Lowell Feld was one of the leaders of the draft Jim Webb movement. Using his blog Raising Kaine Lowell and his band of merry bloggers built a groundswell of support that convinced Jim Webb to enter the race. This groundswell of support translated into a "ragtag army" of committed volunteers that enabled Webb to win both the primary and the general election despite being outspent over 2 to 1. Lowell was in the middle of all this from the beginning and the account in the book is a fascinating read.

Having worked in the Jim Webb campaign as a volunteer during the primary I can attest to the accuracy of the account. I can also attest to the difficulty that the volunteers had with the paid staff that the book so accurately describes. That difficulty was brought into sharp relief during the Obama campaign which handled volunteers in a uniformly outstanding fashion. I heartly recommend the book to you.

In 2006 I joined those fed up with the bush administration and stumbled into the netroots movement. Other than vote, I had never done anything in politics. However, I discovered Raising Kaine while doing a google search and soon joined Webb's "ragtag army" of volunteers to unseat George Allen. Raising Kaine became the center of my election activities. RK not only had discussions of events and issues, but flyers that you could download and print to distribute. A great endorsement from Webb's company commander in Vietnam was posted. I literally printed out hundreds of copies and distributed them throughout my neighborhood. Netroots Rising is a fascinating behind-the-scenes history of the whole netroots movement.

NETROOTS RISING: HOW A CITIZEN ARMY OF BLOGGERS AND ONLINE ACTIVISTS IS CHANGING AMERICAN POLITICS comes from two veteran online campaigners who analyze political campaigns in which netroots activism was decisive or instructive. Their survey offers insider and first-hand accounts of the power of the netroots to determine political outcomes and also offers chapters covering how activists build movements and insiders kill them, and how the passage of time affects political and internet movements. A 'must' for not only computer libraries, but any collection strong in social issues.