Norwegian politics doesn’t work the same way as in the US – a Norwegian politician using the high drama and emotion of Obama’s wonderful speeches looks foolish in a down-to-earth Norwegian. And because of regulations limiting political advertising, Norwegian elections (thank goodness) aren’t based on donations. We don’t have a two-party system, or primaries in the same way, and election cycles last a few months at most, certainly not two years. I wonder, though, whether Norwegian political parties in next year’s national elections could make use of the internet in organising volunteers as well as Barack Obama’s campaign did, as TechPresident discuss in their argument that the internet won Obama the presidency: “Online volunteer organizing essentially built the campaign a structure in places where it didn’t exist, letting paid staff parachute in and immediately take command of a working political army.” Sounds pretty good.

1 Comment

  1. Norman Hanscombe

    True, Jill, but for me the biggest change from when I first took a closer interest in U,S, politics was the change in the relative size of campaign spending. I can’t recall the Democrats ever outspending the Republicans by such a huge margin. Back here in Australia, as I’m sure you’re aware, our political scene has, in some respects at least, become almost surreal. In common with quite a few longtime activists, at times I’m not sure whether it’s fascination or despair which dominates my emotions.

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