What would voters be surprised to learn about John McCain as a person? Probably not a whole lot. There’s less distance between the private John McCain and the public John McCain than you find with most political leaders. What you see is largely what you get. One topic that doesn’t get as much attention in the post-9/11 world is his interest in fixing the systems of politics and government. It’s something he talked about a great deal in 1999 and 2000, but subsequent world events have taken this year’s conversation in a different direction. While most voters wouldn’t be surprised of his interest in that area, many would certainly benefit from a reminder.
On campaigning in the age of blogs and 24-hour news: One of the reasons you see such interest and enthusiasm among young voters in this campaign is that they have the ability to participate in the discussion, rather than just be on the receiving end. Technology empowers the voters — but it can also isolate them. If you listen to Rush Limbaugh and I listen to NPR, if you go to your favorite blogs and I go to my favorite Web sites, we’re experiencing two different versions of reality.
How have your experiences in Washington shaped your work at Cal? My experience in politics gave me the ability to put together a political-campaigning course that was much more based in practical approach than most political science classes are. I like to say it’s the only vocational-ed class offered at UC Berkeley.
