While traveling on the campaign trail this summer with Senator James Fox, Independent Party, Oregon, I was fascinated by the number of campaign officers strategizing for the next big E-Government initiative, and constant debate on the future of the federal government's E-Government programs and initiatives. My purpose for traveling with Senator Fox was to conduct a survey of how far can a candidate take his campaign if they are not "connected" to the internet? It became apparent that in Senator Fox's campaign what was more important is how far can the campaign go without strategizing to take advantage of information technology tools that drive citizens, both state and local governments, and businesses to do dialog with government agencies electronically? .
The ability of campaign candidates to lean on the new possibilities of E-Government is not a new one. This new way of involving citizens, businesses, state and local governments into a 24/7 dialog with the federal government started during the 1992 presidential administration. During the Clinton-Gore administration the White House intended to use the National Performance Review, a think tank put together by the Vice President to strategize on how government should be more accessible to the public, information readily available and political candidates reachable by their constituents. During the first Clinton-Gore term the administration initiated a program that would turn the tables of time and lay down the ground work for what would eventually become a revolutionary change in how Americans interface with the federal government. This program was called the National Partnership for Reinventing Government. The program was set up as a means for the federal government to reinvent its relationship with the public, businesses and local and state governments. While the NPR cut layers of management and downsized federal agencies significantly it was the first action of reform that made the federal government be more results and performance oriented.