IOP Event Features Blogs, Politics

A panel of Washington insiders discussed issues pertaining to the upcoming presidential election, ranging from the weblog phenomenon to the future of a two-party system, at the Institute of Politics (IOP) last night.

Speakers included former Howard Dean campaign manager and IOP fellow Joe Trippi and Assistant Managing Editor of Newsweek Evan Thomas ’73, who is also a visiting professor at the Kennedy School.

Trippi—who has been credited with harnessing the internet to reinvent modern political campaigns—emphasized the importance of blogs in the spread of news and information.

“We’re sitting here talking today and the top four blogs combined have a larger readership than the New York Times,” Trippi said.

Trippi’s emphasis on the increasing role of the internet as a news source resonated with some students.

“I think the discussion of blogs was interesting because it seems like it’s a growing influence in politics and will continue to be an influence,” said John H. Jernigan ’06, an economics concentrator in Dunster House who attended the event and asked the panel a question about swing voters.

The panel also discussed the relevance of yesterday’s vice-presidential debate, which was broadcast after the event on the IOP’s big-screen TV.

On the issue of who will win the upcoming election, the speakers agreed that it is too close to call.

“I think the election is tied. I think it’s been tied since 2000, and I think it’s still tied,” said Kennedy School adjunct lecturer Maxine Isaacs, who worked as press secretary and deputy campaign manager of Walter Mondale’s 1984 presidential campaign.

Trippi suggested that if the Democratic and Republican parties continue their current behavior, third parties will emerge and diminish their importance.

“You can’t have two parties, two established parties, continue to lock the public in these petty, in these negative debates. The American people want something better,” he said last night after the discussion, adding that the internet now provides a vehicle for those frustrated by existing political parties to join together.

The IOP’s Student Advisory Committee came up with the idea for last night’s event, according to IOP Communications Director Esten F. Perez.

“In terms of the panelists, we wanted to have an ideologically diverse group who have a lot of experience and can talk about these issues in an interesting way,” Perez said.

Other panelists included Shelly Cohen, a political columnist for the Boston Herald, and Stephen Goldsmith, a Kennedy School professor and chief domestic policy adviser to Bush’s 2000 campaign. The panel was moderated by Phil Sharp, director of the IOP and a former member of Congress from Indiana.