Bill Frist: The GOP's Howard Dean?

Yesterday, Chris Cillizza asked the following in his blog "The Fix" on Washingtonpost.com:

Bill Frist: The Howard Dean of the GOP?

My answer: Not just "no" but "hell, no!" (Thanks, Sue Myrick)

Cillizza's column looked at how Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist is turning to the Internet to reinforce his 2008 presidential bid. I would be surprised at a candidate who did not use the Internet as an integral part of his or her campaign nowadays because Howard made it fashionable to do so:

In the early run-up to 2008, however, it's Sen. Bill Frist (R-Tenn.), not McCain, who appears to be the candidate most closely copying the Internet blueprint of Dean circa 2004.

...

On Frist's Volunteer PAC site, he offers visitors several ways to interact semi-directly with him. First, Frist has a blog that is updated regularly through which he seeks to take the temperature of visitors on controversial issues like immigration and judges. To date, the blog has received more than 20,000 posts from readers, and Frist aides insist the senator regularly participates in the online debate.

The foundation of Cillizza's column is shaky though. Here is why he makes the comparison at all:

1. Frist has a blog.

2. Frist has a podcast--called iFrist-- to show he's on the "cutting edge." “It’s consoling to know that if my podcasts put you to sleep, at least I won't have to see you snoozing!” (That is a direct quote.) I wonder if Apple can go after him for infringement? Also, check out the cool photo of Frist with his iPod on the site. Does that look Photoshopped to you?
   

3. He’s adding grassroots functions: taking a survey on national security, signing a petition in support of President Bush or endorsing the reelection campaigns of Jim Talent (Mo.) and Rick Santorum (Pa.) with more to come, apparently.

As usual, georgia10 is dead-on in her assessment:

Yet when politicians like Frist venture online, their actions lack a personal approach, making their netroot endeavors appear motivated more by politics than a genuine desire to interact with engaged citizens. Consequently, sites like Frist's VOLPAC remind me of coarse impersonations of their successful Democratic counterparts. Feingold's iPod silouette on his Progressive Patriots Fund site is sleek; the picture of Frist chillin' with an iPod? Kind of awkward.

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It seem to me that the entire liberal blogosphere phenomenon loses something in its Republican translation. Where Dean, Edwards, Feingold and others use the internet as a means of citizen empowerment, Frist and others use it as a means of retaining power themselves.

Even Cillizza seems to realize the comparison doesn't hold up:

How effective any one of these online approaches will be in recruiting supporters (and donors) to Frist's 2008 cause is an open question. There is a at least one crucial difference between Dean and Frist. Like him or hate him, the former Vermont governor inspired passion and loyalty among those who believed in him. At best, Frist can be described as low-key, at worst boring. Can a man with the Tennessee senator's mien inspire people to activism via the Web?

At least Cillizza recognizes the key to Howard's success--a genuine ability to connect with ordinary Americans and engage them on what they care about the most. People before party. What a concept.