Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Glenn Reynolds, a/k/a the Instapundit, talks with Mother Jones magazine about the Internet, blogs, and political campaigns. Here's a piece of it:

MJ: Do you think either party has an early lead or advantage in harnessing these technologies?

GR: I think the Democrats have the advantage. The Republicans had a better machine using the last generation of new media such as direct mail and email, but I think Republicans have been behind the curve on using the Internet for fundraising and campaigning. I think Dean was proof of concept. He made clear to everyone that was paying attention that there was a whole new game here. There's plenty of time for Republicans to step up their game, but I'm skeptical they will do it. They've gotten so used to winning that they are no longer open to new ideas, and don't have that hunger that you need to change your program. That's a big mistake on their part. Until the Republicans have someone like Joe Trippi, someone who really understands the Internet, I don't think they will change, unless they are forced to.

Reynolds also talks about how the new technologies are being used...

MJ: What is the most exciting new use of technology in politics?

GR: I think it's the way things get covered that wouldn't normally get covered. For example, John Edwards spoke in Nashville yesterday and several bloggers covered it and they posted video and they posted photos on Flickr. You can actually learn a lot more about that speech there than you can from even the coverage in the Nashville papers, much less the national papers, which pretty much ignored it. The next thing people are going to do, and campaigns can do this some, is start aggregating some of that coverage on a daily basis so that you can go to the campaign's web site and follow this stuff. But I think we're going to see blogs come into their own as a true reporting medium between now and the election.

Find out why Reynolds thinks candidates' use of YouTube is the most overhyped use of Internet technology in politics today, by reading the rest of the Mother Jones interview here.