All of the traditional methods still apply today, but recent elections have introduced the Internet to the world of political campaigning and have allowed for the organizing of supporters, raising of dollars and an increased ability to spread the word.,”Before the Internet, political candidates got out their message primarily through television ads, shaking hands with voters and having staffers place campaign signs in front yards.

All of the traditional methods still apply today, but recent elections have introduced the Internet to the world of political campaigning and have allowed for the organizing of supporters, raising of dollars and an increased ability to spread the word.

"What the Internet can do that those others things can't is it can extend a political handshake across the country and across time zones," said Julie Germany, deputy director of the Institute for Politics, Democracy and the Internet, a research group associated with George Washington University in Washington, D.C.

Thanks to Internet sites like YouTube and Facebook, candidates have the ability to stump for votes anytime of day. Sen. Barack Obama has been particularly successful at targeting voters online. His YouTube channel has had nearly 12 million views since it was launched in September 2006. The Illinois senator also has over 548,000 Facebook supporters – the most of any presidential candidate.

A January study by the Pew Research Center for the People and the Press found nearly a quarter of respondents said they regularly learned about the 2008 election through the Internet. In the 18-to-29 age group, 42 percent of those polled said they got their campaign news from the Internet – even more than from television.

That suggests a correlation between online usage and young people, according to marketing professor Gene Laczniak, who has studied political marketing. Obama and Republican presidential candidate Ron Paul have been most successful online because of their appeal with younger voters, he said.

"I think that is reflecting their appeal to a younger, Internet-savy, more-intensive Web user," Laczniak said.

The Internet has also become an important fundraising tool. The Obama campaign announced January 31 it had raised $32 million – $28 million of it online – in the month of January. Paul set a one-day online fundraising record for garnering $4.3 million in individual contributions on November 5, 2007.

"It shows that the Internet has real political potential," said Barrett McCormick, a political science professor who has taught a class on politics and the Internet. "It's not something that maybe you don't have to do the Internet, but you can do the Internet and you can win that way. It can't be only channel of communication but it can be put to very effective use."

But just as Web sites can help a candidate raise the necessary funds needed to fuel campaigns, the Internet can also be a public relations nightmare. In March 2007, a negative campaign ad against Hillary Clinton surfaced on YouTube. The video features Clinton on a large video screen speaking to a gathering of mesmerized viewers in a futuristic, totalitarian existence. Modeled off a 1984 Apple Computers Super Bowl ad, the 1-minute clip encourages viewers to visit Barack Obama's Web site at the end.

The Obama campaign denied making the ad. Instead, the creator was later identified as Phil de Vellis, a Democratic online political consultant who said he wanted to show that an individual citizen can affect the political process.

"I think campaigns right now, if they see something they don't like, can browbeat a reporter or editor," de Vellis said. "But I can tell it like it is. You don't have to worry about being kicked off a show or being on suspension or having an editor be mad at you. YouTube is slanted, but there's some things that need to be said and some things that need to be shown."

The Internet is also being used as a tool to organize supporters for phone banking sessions, door-to-door "canvassing" events and other group meetings. Locally, supporters of the presidential candidates have utilized the candidates' Web sites to mobilize volunteers before today's primary election.

In Waukesha County, Obama supporter Alice Jensen decided to become involved in the campaign by hosting an event at her house. Though she's never hosted a campaign event before, she said she thought about doing something more after making an online contribution.

"I'm enjoying that I feel like I can make a difference," Jensen said. "You don't have to know how to do politics."

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