IMMania.com

Like many Americans, I’ve been following the progress of the 2008 US Presidential campaigns. I’m probably spending way too much time with the likes of CNBC’s Chris Matthews (”Hardball”) and Keith Olbermann (”Countdown With Keith Olbermann) on the TV most week nights. But it’s all just too enthralling for me to tear myself away.

I can’t really say why, since none of the candidates on either side of the great political divide interests me much at all.

The only explanation for my rapt interest is that there’s quite a bit of entertainment value in watching all the talking heads go at it.  It’s a lot like listening to sports analysts. A lot of these folks are really good and that’s what keeps me tuning in for more.

There was an article in last Sunday’s Washington Post about the impact of the Internet on political campaigns. Of course blogging has been around for the previous two presidential campaigns and it only continues to grow in the numbers of political bloggers as well as their influence.

The article interviewed a few staffers from various campaigns and they discussed their views on how the Internet is impacting political campaigns. The one comment that struck me the most was from a staffer responsible for a candidate’s Web presence saying that they were limited in what they could do by the higher ups in the campaign.

Isn’t that always the case in any organization?

There’s always a resistance to change and in many cases it’s to the detriment of the organization. Of course not everything some campaigns have done with respect to the Internet and technology has worked out, but that’s all part of progress. Fail fast as they say in IM.

Perhaps the most noticeable impact of the Internet and the deployment of technology in this presidential campaign is the mobilization of younger voters. New York alone has seen a 5 times increase in young voter activity over the last election cycle.

Sure, it’s not possible to say exactly how much of this reawakening is the result of campaigns doing more on the Internet as well as whatever other technology-related stuff they’re doing like with mobile phones and texting. However, I’m leaning towards technology having more than a minimal effect.

Speaking of young people, technology, and politics, there’s a young political blogger here in my area who has a very popular blog devoted to politics and he isn’t even old enough to vote. Yet his political thoughts and his writing about them are very highly developed.

16 year old Kenton Ngo and his “750 Volts” blog have cultivated a very good following and deservedly so. I’ve never been much of a reader of political blogs other then occasionally dropping in at The Democratic Underground when I’m feeling particularly aggravated about something the Bush Administration has done, but I’ve added Kenton’s RSS feed to my feed reader and will be checking back for the duration of the campaign.

It’s a very promising sign that young Americans are now taking a more active interest in the political affairs of the country they live in. Perhaps they’ve just been waiting for the message to be carried across their medium.