She used an unlikely group as a model of how the Net can be effectively used to influence politics. In Browning's book, she tracked the Christian Coalition's use of the Net, starting in the early 1990's on CompuServe's Town Hall Forum. This collective act caused that legislation to be scuttled. Another example of how the Net can be used for rapid political response was the 1994 move to defeat California State Senator David Roberti, who was subjected to a recall campaign organized primarily through an e-mail list. Roberti still won, but he had depleted his campaign fund which he originally collected to run for the state treasurer's office.
Browning discusses the influence of having a website for political candidates.
Democratic Oregon Senator Ron Wyden's web site probably made the difference in his gaining 17,000 extra votes to win the election by less than 1 percent. We are rapidly closing in on about one million drug war prisoners who would probably like to be home. Their 2 million collective children want mom or dad home from prison, as do the spouses, parents, and friends of the drug-war prisoners. The amendment was a new stiffer penalty for drug laws which had nothing to do with the purpose of the bill. One or two million e-mails and faxes to Congress a day would get someone's serious attention if they want to keep their jobs on Capitol Hill.