Sunday, February 17, 2008

Obama and the long tail

I'm somewhat skeptical about the "long tail" in general and its application to Obama campaign in particular. What do you think?
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2 comments:

Jenna said...

I think Ron Paul may be more worthy of the designation of "long tail candidate" than Obama(although, since Paul is such a long shot, his campaign doesn't fulfill the promise of the long tail theory). I found the link to an article called "Ron Paul Is the First 'Long Tail' Candidate. He Won't Be the Last." in the Obama article. I agree more with the ideas presented in the Ron Paul article. It acknowledges both the postives and negatives of long tail theory in relation to politics. The author also recognizes that even if Ron Paul's campaign represents the emergence of the long tail theory in politics, it will be a long time before the "head" is truly eliminated. I agree that if long tail theory ever plays a big role in politics, it will not happen any time soon. While both articles highlighted the role of technology in campaigns, neither of them really convinced me that the long tail is really influencing this election.

Ron Paul Article: http://www.blog.newsweek.com/blogs/stumper/archive/2007/12/23/ron-paul-is-the-first-long-tail-candidate-why-he-won-t-be-the-last.aspx

February 17, 2008 at 5:01 PM
Sanjana Nafday said...

At first, when I read the article I didn't see the relation between the 'Long Tail Theory' as applied to the internet, and the 'Long Tail Politics' which describes voters. Basically, the Long Tail is represented by the increasing number of moderate voters.
In any case, if Obama does beat Hillary out in the Long Tail rat race (haha, tail...rat..get it?), then he will be the underdog against McCain, who promises to be the GOP delegate. McCain can easily defeat Obama in generating votes from the Long Tail. Though both are moderates, McCain has the experience and delivery that Obama does not.

February 17, 2008 at 7:48 PM

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