In 2008 there was an overwhelming need for change. It was felt around the nation. It tugged at the hearts of the everyday people and inspired politicians. Or at lest changed there strategies. Do to the poor state that the country was in entering these elections I believe that both presidential candidates were running a candidate based campaign. The need for changed seemed to call for something that we had not seen before, a disconnection from what the currents parties were doing. Both candidates, Obama and McCain, realized this early on. Both detached themselves from their parties and began running based more on their own personal ideas.
McCain's campaign deviated from the typical republican party for different reasons then that of Obama's. The party had seen better days. The national approval rates for Bush were continuing to fall and the need to get away from this bad image was growing. McCain also had a history that was not necessarily friendly with his fellow republicans. This gave him the chance to show that he was "different" (if there is really a different type of politician.) He supported the average American. He showed this to be true when he choose Sara Palin as his running mate; the Alaskan governor and mother of a pregnant teen. A woman AND she was not from a perfect suburban home. I meant distance when I said it. So McCain established this image of being different and pulling away from his party. It is still worth noting that he was a military man, and that was not different from what we were seeing at the time.
The Problem I have at this point is that while he said her was different and we didn't see a ton of support from the party he still walked talked and acted like a true republican on may important issues that the electoral wanted to see changed. In the sense of running his campaign he did conform to the new ways that were listed in the Teachat piece. He used net roots to further his campaign and get his word out there. His main function McCain used this for was fund raising, just as the Internet has been used in previous election. He also had problems relinquishing total power ,or just didn't try to set up small, 10 - 20 person hubs. In the end he did not utilize the resources that were available to him as well as his opponent.
Obama was not picked by his party, the Democrats, to be the presidential candidate for them, Hillary Clinton was. This was his first early separation fro the party. I say real because it was something that the American people could see, if they can see it they believe it. As the race went on it was apparent that Obama was the change that America was looking for. He was brought up in a middle class family in a humble part of Chicago. His upbringing was different, his ethnicity was different, his ideas were different. He didn't need to follow party values. This was a man that seemed to really care about the people and wanted change, as his slogan states. Part of this feeling of him being so different was ushered in by the way in which his campaign was run. He used his net roots to help himself and his ideas available to any and everyone. Through grass roots initiatives that were organized by his meeting spots and other net roots and his reach out to those that would not have otherwise been involved through uncommon channels he made one of the most impressive campaigns that the US has ever seen.
The new wave of technology based campaigns is definitely evening out the imbalance of power between Party based and candidate based campaigns. As Obama showed us these new technologies have made it easier to raise funds, if properly networked. Now not just the super rich can run for office. The Internet has proven a great tool to grow a system of support and reach out to new voters. The cost is much less and the time that is consumes is less. The new ideas that are now present in the lack of control from the party's center are helping local people take on leadership rolls and keeping people active which helps the candidate based party to be more successful at no cost to them. While party based campaigns can do these things it has mad the playing field more level.
As far as the new way of doing things, it may affect the Congressional candidates a bit differently. In this situation most of the time once you are elected you will continue to be reelected, an incumbent. This, as King states, is due to the amount of effort that candidates put forth to make sure that they are reelected. Because they are vulnerable they put forth this effort. They may think they are a shoe in, but they don't KNOW that they are. Because technology has made it easier to communicate with such a vast many people the incumbent may be a thing of the past if they to do not use these new outlets.
BONUS I choose to look at the web page for US Representative Ron Kind (Wisconsin Third Congressional District.) It seems that this page has nothing left from 2008. When looking at the page you can see several of the tactics that Teachout talked about that are currently being employed. Congressman Kind has made it easy to contact him and his office for information. Several offices are listed with addressed and numbers. I am assuming that these are the main hubs that will help other new hubs to form. There is a place to sign up for an e-mail list as well as news stories covering what he is doing. There are listening sessions that prove to be personable, and videos and pictures to boot. The page all in all is using almost every tool. The one main thing that I did notice is the lack of a meeting tool. Other then that he is keeping his web page very candidate based without much party representation at all. I found it very interesting that it took me more then 20 seconds to realize that he was a Democrat, and i had to actually look to discover this.
Ron Kinds Web page:
http://www.house.gov/kind/
As the title states the American Public now trust Politicians more then they trust Business leaders. I myself think it is a sad reminder that these are the two choices we have to place our trust as far as the future of the country is concerned. 
