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

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)