• The New York Times, Monday, June 4, 2007 11 AM

The trials, tribulations and progress of the 2008 presidential hopefuls are being documented on the Web. As a result, younger voters are becoming more involved in the political process--for which politicians should be commended.

They understand that engaging and empowering them through the Web is the way to go. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Illinois) was the early leader in that regard, but now, Sen. Hillary Clinton (D-New York) seems to have overtaken him, according to Tech President, a blog about candidates' Internet exposure. Still a polarizing figure, Sen. Clinton offered to let fans (and detractors) vote on her campaign song. Her campaign organizers provided a list of upbeat numbers on hillaryclinton.com, like the Monkees' "I'm a Believer" and U2's "Beautiful Day." It also let them suggest other songs; detractors chose Peter Bjorn's "Let's Call the Whole Thing Off" and Foreigner's "Cold as Ice."

Regardless, the move proved to be enormously popular. "The numbers are insane," Peter Daou, the Clinton campaign Internet director, said of the response. Using YouTube as the competition's mouthpiece, Sen. Clinton last week said voters had narrowed the list to five and that five of the user suggestions were also being considered. The videos have been viewed on either YouTube or the campaign site more than 900,000 times, and more than 100,000 votes were cast in the first round. The campaign will announce the winning song this week.

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