It's not politics as usual

Since you're reading this online, chances are you don't remember the time when we routinely waited until the next morning's paper to see who won an election and — as "President Dewey" found out — occasionally, it still wasn't right the next morning.

These days, instantaneous information on election night is just a few clicks away. The Internet has transformed not only the way we get the news, but also our expectations about how fast we get it.

The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently studied the online political landscape. Among its findings:

• 2004: 75 million used the Internet in connection with a political campaign
• 2006: 26 million used the Internet for news about politics (up 140% from 2002)
• 2006: 25 million used the Internet to fact check candidates

One presidential candidate who's already exploring new ways to reach voters online is Barack Obama. His campaign is working to capitalize on the social network aspects of the Internet with the help of one of Facebook's founders.

In fact, all of the presidential campaigns found success by taking their candidates online. From Hillary's Sopranos' spoof to the video where John Edwards' folks beg for donations after burning a pecan pie (the video brought in about $300,000).

The good news for the candidates is that these videos, like their Web sites, are within their control. The bad news is that the Internet is an anything-goes operation where candidates can't control what people upload or watch. For example, the mashup of Edwards primping his hair or Hillary in an Orwellian video can't make those camps happy. But with millions online looking for political information every day, politicians who don't take advantage of this resource to reach voters really have their heads in the sand.

So, politicians take heart and remember the old saying: "Any publicity is good publicity."