• by Matthew Dowd , Allie Savarino , September 8, 2006

Late to the game, many political candidates and some change-averse strategists are finally--and fitfully--embracing the Internet to advertise, organize, raise money and surreptitiously smear their rivals.

We say "fitfully'' because much of the political world still lags behind business leaders and even successful preachers in their understanding of 21st-century communications and community.

But at least there's progress.

In dozens of races for control of Congress next month, Democratic and Republican strategists have sharply increased their use of e-mail, interactive Web sites, podcasting, micro-targeting and candidate and party blogs.

Their tactics include viral attack videos, secretly produced by partisans and disseminated via peer-to-peer e-mail chains. Both parties run Web sites under the cloak of anonymity to post unflattering research about opponents--a dark art that no longer needs to be filtered through the mainstream media.

Successful politicians, like the best in business, realize that consumers' communications habits are changing, and adapt. The percentage of Americans who went online for election news jumped from 13 percent in 2002 to 29 percent in 2004, according to a Pew Research Center survey done after the last presidential race. A Pew survey this year found that 50 million Americans go to the Internet every day for news, up from 27 million in 2002.

November's elections are a dress rehearsal for the 2008 presidential campaign, which promises to be the most wide-open contest in decades. Several potential candidates already post their writings on blogs. Former Democratic vice presidential candidate John Edwards sets aside several hours each week to videotape responses to videotaped questions.

Strategists for Sen. John McCain, Governor Mitt Romney, and several other presidential prospects are studying popular Internet social networks for tips on gathering voters around common interests or activities. In 2008, communities of like-minded voters will be posting video from the campaign trail, creating ads, building e-mails lists, disseminating opposition research and holding live exchanges with their candidates.

Democratic Party Chairman Howard Dean nearly rode social networking to the 2004 Democratic nomination after his strategists tapped into MeetUp.com. The site, normally used to connect people with similar interests such as cooking, bowling, parenthood or even witchcraft, helped Dean's supporters find each other and engage with his campaign.

At the same time, President Bush was tapping into offline communities such as churches and PTAs and using new technologies to target potential GOP voters.

Inspired by Madison Avenue, the Bush campaign surveyed its 7 million volunteers and identified 2 million of them as grassroots opinion leaders. Going by many names (Navigators and Opinion Drivers, to name two), these influencers are a growing power at a time when Americans are both flooded by information and losing faith in institutions-- those political, business and religious leaders who once drove public opinion.

Despite the proven success of Internet and other niche marketing, many political consultants still prefer TV and the radio over the Internet. When asked by industry trade group E-voter to name the best three ways to persuade voters, 80 percent of political consultants chose TV and cable. Less than a third chose Web sites.

One day late in August, we punched up the Web site of Republican Senate candidate Katherine Harris of Florida and looked for her blog.

"This section will be updated soon," read a message--dated May 29. Progress, yes, but the fitful kind.