Candidate's software

In his latest DaveNet, Dave Winer says this about the Dean campaign’s forays into software:

The Dean campaign made a big mistake, imho, by getting into the software business. Now it looks like the Edwards campaign is following them. Software and the candidates should be separate. A blogging tool can just as easily be used to advocate for a Republican or a Democrat.

To clarify a bit, the DeanSpace effort is in fact a volunteer effort, which happens to be loosely coordinated by the campaign (on the theory that the volunteers were going to do it anyway, why not have a little input into the process?).

But Dave would probably have a similar reaction if he knew about the “real” software the campaign has developed. Called DeanLink, it’s social software designed to allow Dean supporters to connect to each other, find common interests, plan events, etc. (Think Ryze, but for politics.)

I wrote more about this at my Dean blog. It’s a very compelling development, and I’ve been playing with it for just a day or so. If you’re already using DeanLink, link to me and I’ll link back. Otherwise join up and let me know you’re out there!