The problem in Denmark is not so much getting on the ballot. That actually happens with some regularity. The problem is mainly with the fact that our press suffers severely from Beltway Disease (the parts of it that aren't out-and-out bought and paid for, that is). Essentially, when an insider does something, it's news - and when an outsider tries to do the same thing, it's a joke.

There are ways to get around this insider advantage, but they mostly involve buying news (usually by paying an a lobbyist to plant the story - since he's an insider, that makes the story important), which is, ultimately, something only another brand of insiders can do.

In this respect it's instructive to compare and contrast New Alliance and the Minority Party. Both were assembled kind of haphazardly, neither had much of a program - nevermind a coherent one - outside their dislike for collaboration with the Popular Party and neither made a terribly competent impression. But New Liberal Alliance had three fairly prominent MPs and were bankrolled by a number of high-profile biznizmen (oligarchs might be a better word).

Guess which one's in parliament at the moment...

Oh, and guess which one had to rely on astroturfing because they didn't (and AFAICT still don't) have anything in the way of feet-on-the-street organisation.

- Jake

Friends come and go. Enemies accumulate.