Why the Political Left is More Powerful Online

Jon Henke explains on the The QandO Blog why the political Left has been much more powerful than the Right online, and what we can do to fix it. He says the three mechanisms working for the Left are:

1. Messaging – between Moveon.org, the blogs and the many issue-advocacy outfits, the Leftosphere has a very powerful communication mechanism for candidates and issues. They have messaging and distribution capacity and it is well-coordinated with advocacy and awareness elements of their coalition.
2. Money – the Presidential money is high-profile and not every candidate gets a lot of online money, but the Leftroots can move significant sums of money to the challengers that hit the right notes, make the right friends, and jump into the hot progressive issues. They have succeeded in tapping the long tail to move fundraising – and the financial incentive machine – outside of the establishment channels.
3. Mobilization – the Progressives are passionate, energized, over their ideas. They have a story they’re excited about, they have effectively tied their stories together and they’re tightly wedded to the (dangerous) tactic of populism. They’re unified around that mission, so they can and do mobilize people. Again, that moves significant power outside the traditional channels.

Read the rest of the explanation, and Henke’s recommendation to the political Right, here.