A Grandmother's Totally Digital Campaign for Re-election to the California State Assembly

It’s intended to be a start. Other candidates are already coming up with plenty of great ways to use the Internet. On Phil Angelides’ site, you can send a letter to the editor of your local paper, and the site will deliver it for you. Ultimately, most campaigns will link to IMs and text messages. And they’ll operate on that truly democratic model that has made craigslist such a force for change in the classified ad business. The computer generation wants less one-way communication, and more ways to take control.

Personally, I’m all but lost in the world of technology. Any 12 year old knows more about computers than I do. But that’s exactly why this is so important. Tomorrow belongs to people who are comfortable with a constant stream of information, people who live in a world where paper is increasingly rare and burdensome.

When a half-million immigration rights advocates gathered in downtown Los Angeles, they got the message without a lot of paper. They heard the word on the radio, they received messages from their friends, and they were linked by their astonishing network of e-mail and IM addresses. There’s an important lesson in that experience, and it’s not just about immigration. It’s about communication and it’s about politics.

With each passing year, I hope we’ll make wiser and better use of online resources. And as we rely more on digital systems, and less on paper, we’ll give an entirely new meaning to the phrase clean campaign. And, if we do it right, Democrats will be synonymous with the Internet the way conservatives are synonymous with talk radio.

So go to votepattyberg.com and tell me what you think.

For the past four years, Patty Berg has chaired the Assembly Committee on Aging and Long-Term Care. She recently released the first policy agenda to help California prepare for the dramatic changes that will come as the Baby Boom generation moves into old age. Berg was recently named chair of the Assembly committee that oversees health and human services spending. She also serves on the Joint Committee on Fisheries and Aquaculture, Assembly Health Committee, the Assembly Committee on Water, Parks and Wildlife, and the Assembly Appropriations Committee.

The 1st Assembly District, which she represents, includes Del Norte, Humboldt, Mendocino, Lake, and Trinity Counties as well as parts of Sonoma County.