Coase's insight applied to politics   (link)

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A58554-2003Dec12.html
"cost of gathering information determines the size of organizations"
internet lowers the cost of information to basically zero
Dean is essentially a third-party candidate using modern technology to achieve a takeover of the Democratic Party
the Internet doesn't reinforce the parties (like tv did, no high cost of entry for the web) -- instead, it questions their very rationale