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The 51st state: the state of Online: election 2008--it's a wrap.

Article Excerpt
Election 2008 witnessed many firsts, including the first African-American candidate to win the nomination of a major political party and ultimately the national election and the first serious woman candidate who became the candidate to beat--for a while.

Along the way, we witnessed the largest fundraising numbers ever seen in any presidential campaign--some $600 million in campaign donations. Barack Obama's success depended in great part on the creative and innovative use of the internet and Web 2.0 technologies. He used digital tools to tap into the untapped pool of small donors who participated in the election and contributed amounts less than $100. Chris Anderson's long tail theory seems to apply to politics as well as economics. There are many more $50-$100 donors than $100,000 power brokers. While it might take longer to reach $1 million with small donations, it really did work in this case. Of Barack Obama's $600 million, $500 million came from online donors; the average online donation was $80 [http://voices.washingtonpost.com/the-trail/2008/11/20/ obama_raised_half_a_billion_on.html]. The long tail indeed.

Future candidates regardless of the office they seek--presidential, congressional, state, or local--will utilize the internet and Web 2.0 tools as a fundamental and essential part of their campaign strategy. The 2008 presidential election saw all presidential candidates use the internet--through the use of websites, blogs, fundraising, community building, videos, podcasts, social networking tools, and Twitter [http://www.twitter.com]. Clearly, not all candidates used the web as effectively as others, but it is hard to imagine any future candidates ignoring the important, if not vital, place the internet will play in campaign strategies.

In 2008, some candidates were more successful in implementing a strategy which took advantage of the strengths of the internet and the complete range of tools available to reach far and wide. For example, Ron Paul's campaign used the internet in particularly creative and interesting ways to tap into a passionate and motivated segment of the voting public who embraced his ideas and vision for America. Even so, candidates and campaign managers are still trying to figure out how to use the internet to craft an effective strategy that will lead them to successful victory at the ballot box. Having looked at the overall importance of the internet in the 2008 presidential election throughout this series, this concluding piece will examine the effective internet strategy that led Barack Obama to become the first internet president.

The impressive fundraising numbers, however, represent only one component of the role the internet and web technologies played in the 2008 election. Politics, elections, and, hopefully, the way we govern have changed forever.

How Did They Do It?

Several years ago, TIME magazine awarded its person of the year to "US" ("TIME's Person of the...

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