Generation Dropout
YouTube
Critics deride the White House's fondness for platforms like Google Plus and web petitions, but they're proving effective at surfacing issues the media would otherwise ignore.
Reuters
The retired representative is at odds with fans over a site bearing his name. As permanent political campaigns come to the web, expect more fights like this.
OFA
With the election over, Democrats hope to keep the campaign infrastructure churning -- but a volunteer conference this weekend shows they have their work cut out for them.
Larry Downing/Reuters
Congress is like a college student who packs to go back to school at the last minute using a plastic garbage bag as luggage -- and that's bad for everyone.
Nancy Scola
In a new, numbers-based world, progressive conferees at RootsCamp see lucrative work for wise men drying up. How fast will conservatives catch up?
Reuters
How peer-to-peer networking tool Amicus helped activists in Minnesota and Washington win same-sex-marriage campaigns
Darren Hauck/Reuters
Democrats' history of community organizing has made their current data-driven approach a seamless advance.
The White House/Flickr
The country has a strong safety interest in subsidizing communications for low-income people.
Reuters
The idea of transactionalism helps explain why the candidate is having trouble selling his world view.
Obama for America
In 2008, the Obama team dazzled with design. This year, not so much.
BarackObama.com / YouTube
In his new book, former Obama staffer Arun Chaudhary dishes about his experiences as the first official White House videographer.
Reuters
While campaigns trumpet their VP picks, voters get little insight into who might staff a president-to-be's cabinet -- and help set administration policy. Should that change?
Reuters
Why is regulating soda size okay -- but mandating sick days taboo? It's more complicated than you think.
Nancy Scola
Obama doesn't just denounce outsourcing on the stump. His campaign HQ is a living test of the theory that everything can be done best in-house.
Daniel D. Snyder/Daiei Film
Online policies adopted in the 20th century give the public only partisan takes on what their representatives are up to.
![The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]](http://cdn.theatlantic.com/static/mt/assets/nancy_scola/amercia.thumb.screenshot.jpg "The Fraught Mobile Politics of the United States of Amercia [Sic]")
Screenshot
Will voters care about a sloppy spelling? Of course not. But the incident shows the dangers of politics in Apple's environment, where the company has total control.
Juan Camilo Bernal / Shutterstock
The tool has more horsepower under the hood than might be obvious, but it still depends on volunteers willing to spend lots of their own time.
U.S. State Department / Blue State Digital
The president's digital campaign team is the main attraction at recent fundraisers, enticing tech-focused donors with an inside peek into the reelection operation.
Divisadero Pictures, Knife Fight
The independent movie plots the tangles of money, sex, and politics, but it seems geared toward an audience unfamiliar with the genre.
Fibonacci Blue/Flickr
The American Legislative Exchange Council announced it will shut down the council that fostered state "Stand Your Ground" laws. But that might be only a superficial change.
Reuters
How a shadowy organization uses corporate contributions to sell prepackaged conservative bills -- such as Florida's Stand Your Ground statute -- to legislatures across the country.
Revolutionmessaging/YouTube
Can a free lunch buy a vote? A filmmaker and former Obama videographer decries, via talking hoagie, the GOP candidate's "sandwiches for votes" program.
YouTube
A Davis Guggenheim-directed Obama ad is full of boldface names and sweeping images, but its rollout shows that the medium really is the message.
AMI
Aaron Perlut, founder of the American Mustache Institute, explains how through comedy, the internet, and some actual lobbying, a "joke" can influence the national dialog.
Maria Teresa Kumar of Voto Latino talks about the 2012 election, social media and why both parties are failing Hispanics.
Getty Images
Dogs Against Romney protests against the occasional Republican front-runner outside the Westminster Kennel Club Dog Show.
Steve Jurvetson
The outgoing chief technology officer of the United States talks about MacGyvering an innovations policy for the country.
Whitehouse.gov
In an online "hangout" with Americans, Obama found a tough questioner in a 29-year-old mother from Texas.
Dim Dimich / Shutterstock
When it comes to campaign spending, we know only a fraction of the information we have the ability to know.
Reuters
More than a stunt, the president's upcoming Google+ Hangout might be a real and rare chance for him to interact with citizens.
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James Fallows on Jerry Brown's second chance. Plus: the mystery of the second skeleton, how gay couples are getting marriage right, the end of the retail salesperson, and more.
