Page 190 - Information and American Democracy Technology in the Evolution of Political Power

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Campaigns for Office in 2000
The Juvenile Crime bill votes represented a classic policy-making
window: clear policy instruments and well-defined decision points,
willingness to invest effort on the part of leaders inside the institution,
and attention from the public and mass media. It also fit a classic pattern
in gun control policy: the rapid closing of the policy-making window as
public attention temporarily aroused by an event turns elsewhere. Re-
search on protests and Washington marches shows that throughout the
twentieth century, groups typically have not won immediate policy con-
cessions or contributed directly to short-term changes in public policy.
The common effects of marches are more diffuse than immediate policy
change: They appear to contribute to the strength of social movements,
influence public opinion, and elevate the status of issues under discus-
sion in the public sphere. 170 Measured against that historical standard,
the Million Mom March is by no means a failure.
Like marches historically, it was a case of event-centered politics. But
unlike most marches of recent decades, it was largely disconnected from
traditional political organizations – unions, civil rights organizations,
and interest groups – especially at the outset, and it mobilized citizens
in the political middle as a result. Abundance of information and com-
munication opportunities were an important reason the March occurred
as an event, especially at the beginning. As one participant put it, until
February, the organization “existed largely in cyberspace.” 171 It was not
that information technology permitted organizers to wholly bypass the
media;onthecontrary,itprovidedameansforanorganizationlessgroup
eventually to attract the attention of the mass media. As in the McVeigh
case, the new information environment lowered the resource require-
ments for an organizer to identify and mobilize a core of participants.
Once in place, their efforts garnered the kind of mass media attention
that permitted the group to reach the national policy agenda.

CAMPAIGNS FOR OFFICE IN 2000

More attention has been paid to the role of the Internet in election cam-
paigns than in any other aspect of American politics. 172 For the most

170
Barber, “Marches on Washington.”
171
Quoted in Susan Levine, “Fight Against Guns Gives Moms a Cause,” Washington Post,
April 19, 2000, p. B1.
172
This case is based chiefly on about two dozen interviews with officials and candidates
of the following campaigns. For President in 2000: Pat Buchanan, George Bush, Bill
Bradley, Al Gore, John Hagelin, John McCain, and Ralph Nader. For President in
other years: Bill Clinton (1996); Bob Dole (1998), Steve Forbes (1996). For Senate:
173