This morning I was reminded that this blog has been going perhaps too negative. It's easy to rant against the current government - goodness knows it is providing lots of material - but no one wants to read negatives continuously.
I think its ten contenders who have announced their intention to run for the Liberal leadership (difficult to remember all the candidates and, no doubt, a few will fade quickly) and the blogosphere is beginning to gear up. The candidates' websites vary widely in quality and interactivity. Michael Ignatieff's site leads, at the moment, in terms of community building. It's forum offers an opportunity to debate policy that is perhaps a natural for the leading academic candidate. I expect a lot more of on-line community building as an answer to the severe funding restraints and the mythical-proportion legends of the 2004 US presidential campaign websites and online communities.
The Liberal Party is also getting active on-line and making some badly needed changes. It's now possible for anyone to join the party on-line, bringing to an end the ridiculous limited-access paper application form process that typified the Chretien and Martin eras. On-line donation is now possible and the party will have to drive this aggressively to make up for corporate and union donations and the small personal donation limit. On-line donations to the leadership campaigns is on its way. Most importantly, the party renewal effort is addressing the use of electronic media and resources to define policy and build the party member/supporter base.
One blog, Blue Blogging Soapbox, has dedicated itself over he past week to rating the leadership candidates websites and another, Liberal Leadership Odds, is tracking which blogs support which candidate. The latter led me to Blue Grit, an amazing site owned and written by a 20yo Trent University student. He is a former Progressive Conservative whose party left him, as Scott Brison and I say, and, also, like Scott and me - gay and out. His perspective is refreshing as is witnessing the ease which which he writes as a gay student. I look forward to reading more of his blog and exploring the links that flow from it.
I think its ten contenders who have announced their intention to run for the Liberal leadership (difficult to remember all the candidates and, no doubt, a few will fade quickly) and the blogosphere is beginning to gear up. The candidates' websites vary widely in quality and interactivity. Michael Ignatieff's site leads, at the moment, in terms of community building. It's forum offers an opportunity to debate policy that is perhaps a natural for the leading academic candidate. I expect a lot more of on-line community building as an answer to the severe funding restraints and the mythical-proportion legends of the 2004 US presidential campaign websites and online communities.
The Liberal Party is also getting active on-line and making some badly needed changes. It's now possible for anyone to join the party on-line, bringing to an end the ridiculous limited-access paper application form process that typified the Chretien and Martin eras. On-line donation is now possible and the party will have to drive this aggressively to make up for corporate and union donations and the small personal donation limit. On-line donations to the leadership campaigns is on its way. Most importantly, the party renewal effort is addressing the use of electronic media and resources to define policy and build the party member/supporter base.
One blog, Blue Blogging Soapbox, has dedicated itself over he past week to rating the leadership candidates websites and another, Liberal Leadership Odds, is tracking which blogs support which candidate. The latter led me to Blue Grit, an amazing site owned and written by a 20yo Trent University student. He is a former Progressive Conservative whose party left him, as Scott Brison and I say, and, also, like Scott and me - gay and out. His perspective is refreshing as is witnessing the ease which which he writes as a gay student. I look forward to reading more of his blog and exploring the links that flow from it.
