US Politics: Grassroots Activism, American Style (Haddigan)

On Thursday afternoon, on a national radio talk show, Sarah Palin finally endorsed Catherine O’Donnell’s campaign to be the next Senator from Delaware. Within hours, after Palin repeated her backing for O’Donnell via Twitter and Facebook, the Internet was swamped with the news. Nothing too surprising about that: this is the way politics is conducted in the US. To people in Britain, "activist" conjures a picture of a small group trudging through streets posting leaflets every election year. Some folks might occasionally remember a canvaser knocking on their door to solicit their vote. But the grassroots activism of America is an alien concept.

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