Originally shared by Isaac Kuo

Originally shared by Isaac Kuo

This is the first evidence I trust showing Jeb's campaign truly is crumbling. I had thought that the continuous flow of "establishment" money would keep his campaign going like the Energizer Bunny until most of the rest simply ran out of steam.

But the inability of that money to shift poll numbers is evidently taking its toll.

What does this mean, in the big picture? What if Trump or Carson continue to ride high into the nomination, despite the fact that the big money donors hate them? Maybe this heralds a new era of democracy, where big money and TV ads don't have the sway they used to.

Who is driving this? I think it's the right wing base of primary voters who are highly engaged in political news. These are not "low information" voters, but rather voters who lap up "information" from right wing media such as WND, Drudge, Blaze etc...people who may often find even Fox News too "liberal" or "lamestream media". Fox News can try to push the establishment candidate onto them, but they now trust alternate political news sources more than FNC...alternate sources which are harder for the establishment elite to control.

I think we're seeing a demonstration of what an "informed" electorate can do. That these voters are basically living in a weird reality denial bubble makes for an interesting experiment (albeit one which we can't just dispassionately observe because the consequences are dire).

I am generally skeptical of the idea that the Internet is capable of radically changing the balance of power when it comes to money in politics. But I'll be delighted to be proven wrong about that...

http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/jeb-bush-orders-across-board-pay-cuts-on-campaign-215106
http://www.politico.com/story/2015/10/jeb-bush-orders-across-board-pay-cuts-on-campaign-215106