I think most people who post on blogs and other websites do it pretty spontaneously--they often say things that they might later regret and talk in a more extreme manner than they would face to face with someone. Furthermore, I think a lot of people who will be inclined to run for office at some point in their life probably will also be inclined to visit various blogs and journals on the web and engage in conversation with others.
So what's the chance that in the future we'll start seeing old quote from posts online being dragged out in political campaigns?
All kinds of correspondence is pretty much fair game nowadays, so will this filter into the campaigns once we start getting candidates who have grown up with the internet? Or is the internet simply too fluid and these comments will be lost or so hard to find that it won't be worth the effort? I find this a little hard to believe, though, because I know a Google search can turn up comments I posted online years ago at sites that don't even exist anymore.
If this does become the norm, how do you think voters will respond? I think a lot of extreme quotes could be dragged out and if it became the norm, I wonder if voters wouldn't just start filtering it out.
I'd love to hear any thoughts. Personally, I think there's a great chance we'll see an emergence of this phenomenon sometime in the next decade or two. Or I could just be crazy and paranoid.