***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****

apropos the discussion re the election, interesting new effort by
Obama campaign to activate the networks of supporters (see e-mail
excerpted below). not sure the database incorporates the type of data
James has brought up, however.

david

--
David Lazer (www.davidlazer.com)
Director, Program on Networked Governance
Associate Professor of Public Policy
Harvard Kennedy School
Harvard University
The netgov blog: http://www.iq.harvard.edu/blog/netgov/

--------------------

E-mail excerpt:

"It's up to each of us to talk to voters across the country and make
sure they know what this election is really about.

We have an exciting new tool called Neighbor to Neighbor that makes it
easy to talk to potential supporters about Barack and the issues that
matter.

Help get the conversation back on track today by making phone calls.

Nothing is more powerful than having undecided voters hear from
ordinary people. And right now, that's needed more than ever.

No prior experience is required. Neighbor to Neighbor gives you a list
of potential supporters, suggested topics to talk about, and an easy
way to report back on who you've contacted.

With less than eight weeks until Election Day, we can't allow voters
to lose focus on the big issues and get swept up by the smears and
lies coming out of the McCain campaign.

Reach out to fellow voters now and grow this movement for change:

http://my.barackobama.com/n2n"

On Mon, Sep 15, 2008 at 9:20 AM, <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> ***** To join INSNA, visit http://www.insna.org *****
>
> Well, I think they both are salient:
>
> the media has investigated Obama for buying his house from indicted
> political fundraiser Tony Rezko and they have investigated McCain for buying
> too many houses (as an academic, I too lose count of how many houses I own
> sometimes).
>
> and the media was also quite interested in who Bill Clinton kissed (now
> *that's* a lot of collaboration) and now who Sarah Palin's daughter kissed
> (Bill swears it wasn't him).
>
> so from their point of view, a past connection could mean a current, hidden
> connection, and thus current influence....
>
> but, yes, that way of viewing the world asymptotes all of us towards having
> a Palin number of 2!
>
> :)
>
> James H. Fowler
> http://jhfowler.ucsd.edu
>
>
>
> On Sep 15, 2008, at 3:02 AM, Blyden Potts wrote:
>
>> The most interesting question here IMO is: Which kinds of compound
>> relations have political salience?
>>
>> I would imagine that buying your house from a person who had a personal
>> relationship with the candidate would have not have any appreciable impact
>> on voting behavior or political ideology. Does the relation "buying a house
>> from" or any compound relation stemming from that direct relation have any
>> impact on one's politics? Does it make your politics more similar to Palin's
>> than they otherwise be? Or do you find yourself more likely to vote for her
>> on account of your closeness? OTOH if you were close friends with someone
>> who had been intimate with her that seems more likely to matter. Also the
>> direction of that impact, of each relation, could be either positive or
>> negative.
>>
>> Timing would seem to be a factor. Your relation to the house seller is in
>> the past, and his relation to Palin is in the past, so you only have a Palin
>> number of 2 if you consider relations in cumulative time. Wouldn't your
>> current Palin number matter more?
>>
>> I used to be 2 steps from Jesse Ventura, and when I was there was some
>> minor active political influence that came across those two links, but now
>> my Ventura number must be at least 3, and I no longer get that active
>> political influence. I'm no longer even sure what the path distance may be.
>> Across all time my Ventura number would still be two, but clearly the impact
>> has changed.
>>
>> Blyden Potts
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Social Networks Discussion Forum [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On
>> Behalf Of James Fowler
>> Sent: Monday, September 15, 2008 1:16 AM
>> To: [log in to unmask]
>> Subject: me, Paul Erdos, and Sara Palin
>>
>> ...
>>
>> I bought my house from a man who kissed Sara Palin.
>>
>>
>> ...
>>
>> All sorts of interesting questions arise.
>>
>> *In high school was Palin as prolific in "collaborating" as Erdos was
>> at publishing?
>>
>> *Could this be a factor behind "the Palin bump?"
>>
>>
>>
>>
>
>
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