ABSTRACT
Communities and groups usually produce shared senses of identity through their actions, whether those actions are simply socializing or organizing members, fund-raising, or protesting. Some communities, however, also initially form around a shared identity and are primarily sustained by that identity. As a stimulator and coordinator of an Internet community of identity, Kevin McCarthy is the Horatio Alger poster child whom Republicans search for. The story of McCarthy provides a powerful example of how the Internet can complement and enhance previously existing political communities and turn them into something much larger than they had been before, thus aiding the expansion of social capital and further stimulating civic engagement. The story of Joe Bogosian and Young Professionals for Bush (YP4W) is similar in many respects to that of Kevin McCarthy but illustrates some different advantages the Internet offers to political communities.
