The Hybrid Campaign

The 2006 presidential election in Ecuador offers an important example of how traditional, modern, and even postmodern modes of electioneering are combined in contemporary campaigns in Latin America. In his successful race against billionaire candidate Alvaro Noboa, Rafael Correa crafted a hybrid campaign in a double sense. First, he blended the country's classic populist discourse with forward-looking appeals for change. Second, Correa's organization deftly combined state-of-the-art publicity and the application of new information technology with traditional grassroots organizing and the spectacle of rallies. Ecuador's presidential election illustrates the extent to which Latin America has advanced along Pippa Norris's historical continuum of campaign practices. It also provides further evidence of the tenacious appeal of populism in Latin America and how modern and postmodern forms of campaigning can be brought to bear in reproducing populist-style politicking and a hybrid political culture.