Halley nails it on the missing element in the Dean campaign. They failed to arm the electorate with the best information. For a fraction of the cost of a state campaign, they could have deployed an information system for voters that would have made history. We'd be raving about how the Internet has made it possible to be a responsible voter for the first time. $40 million isn't a big drop in an ocean of television ads, but in the space of public information systems it's a virtually infinite amount of money. Next time we, as citizens, decide to endow a candidate with millions of our dollars, let's find out first what they plan to do with it. If they say “run ads” or hire expensive consultants, let's pass. [Scripting News]
