Barry Zellen has written a lengthy piece, "The Digital Insurgency", about campaign 2004, calling it a 'digital showdown' and explores what the new digital tools might mean for politics and looks at what the Dean campaign is doing with them. These tools include Meetup, weblogs, Dean wireless, Dean TV, MoveOn, and online fundraising. There's some thoughtful stuff here, although that it will be surprising to any long-time netizens.

As the countdown to 2004 continues, we will find out who masters the tools of America’s emerging digital democracy, and if bits, bytes and clicks can translate into votes. Until that day comes, and virtual realities translate into political ones, our digital democracy will remain a forum for dissent and a powerful tool for activism. But one day, it will dominate the electoral process, so that the candidate that controls the bandwidth, dominates the virtual realm, will be victorious at the ballot box.

The Dean campaign hopes that day is today, and that the current campaign becomes the first truly digital presidential campaign. As we saw in 2000, the Web gave insurgent John McCain a boost – but in the end, old fashioned politics prevented him from winning his party’s nomination from George Bush. Soon we will know if everything has changed – or if politics as usual remains the same