Eight years ago, if someone would have asked me if a front runner candidate running for President could use the Internet as a tool to help him win, I would have said no.  But things are different now thanks to Howard Dean who helped pave the way for Barack Obama.  I don’t think Obama could have won the presidency without the Internet.

In The Revolution Will Not Be Televised, Joe Trippi said, “I believe the 2008 election will be the first national contest waged and won primarily over the Internet. We are, right now, in the midst of sweeping aside shallow, cynical broadcast politics of ideas and issues that will define the Internet age.”  Well, Trippi was right, and I don’t think 2008 will be the last. 

During the 2000 election, George W. Bush raised $125 million.  Almost half of his money came from 59, 279 donors who donated the maximum amount at that time of $1,000.  Obama managed to raise about $640 million–that’s more than five times the amount of Bush.  Obama raised that much money because of the small donors.  The average donation Obama received was under $100–that’s incredible.  He did all of that without the help of public financing.  This could cause more candidates to opt out of public financing in 2012.

The American people found a voice and they used the Internet to get people to listen.  Now Obama has to answer to the people, not lobbyists, because the people are the ones responsible for getting him elected. 

Republicans lag behind Democrats in terms of using technology and the Internet, but a group of young prominent ideologically diverse Republicans are trying to change that.  They started a new website called “rebuild the party”in an effort to try to bring the Republicans together and change the direction of the party.  They have asked RNC chairman candidates to support their platform where they are placing more importance on Internet organizing and technology. 

I think the red team is starting to catch on, but just in case I’ll close on some advice to the Republicans out there who are interested in running for President in 2012:

“Now there are only two paths: Recognize this new technology as the redefining structure of our lives…or continue to believe that it’s only another gadget. Join the ranks…or hunker down behind the gates. And in the end, it doesn’t really matter what you do. The revolution began yesterday.” –Joe Trippi

Even though his campaign didn’t get the application up and running until one month before election day, every little bit helps.  While there aren’t any reports showing how influential the application was to getting Obama elected, it’s still a slick tool that future candidates running for President or Congress will begin to utilize. 

The Obama ’08 application had some really cool features.  For instance, under “Call Friends” it organized your contacts and highlighted those in swing states.  Users then identified who they called and what their response was: not interested, considering Obama, and already voted.  The Obama organizers said that the overall statistics were sent back to the campaign, while the contact information was not.  

One blogger thought the application was fantastic.  On November 4, 2008, under the call stats, more than 41,000 people had made calls nationwide, and there were more than 11,000 active callers.  

Another cool feature was how it used your phone’s GPS or Wi-Fi connection to determine your location in order to tell you what events were going on in your area.  I noticed on election night, there were ads for people looking for a ride to go to Chicago to see Obama give his speech on election night. 

From the beginning, Obama has said this campaign was not about him but it was about the people. By showing the statistics of how many calls people had made nationwide makes someone feel like they were part of something bigger.  It’s an incredible motivation tool, and the best part–it’s free!

My Space, Facebook, and now iPhone, candidates are advertising everywhere.  Obama’s iPhone application is just one example of how technology is changing the way politicians are advertising.

Someone even created an unofficial iPhone application for John McCain so he wouldn’t feel left out. 

However, the moment that will mean the most to me was the night that the media discovered Senator Joe Biden was going to be Barack Obama’s vice president. The night that disappointed many people who had signed up to receive the text message that came too late. The reason that I will always remember that night is because I played a key part in getting ABC News on the air.

It was midnight on Friday night and I went to work like any normal night, and the Producer tells me that we think that Barack Obama is going to pick Joe Biden to be his running mate. We had been preparing for months for this night. Gathering video of all the possible candidates, preparing all the graphics, and writing scripts so that we would be prepared on the night Obama announced his pick. I was in charge of rolling all the video that night. I went through all the clips, making sure I had the best ones cued at the top of my list so I would be ready when the Director said the magic words, “Roll it.”

I remember being so nervous and excited, my adrenaline was pumping, and for once on the overnights, I was wide-awake. While all my friends were out partying or sleeping, I was reporting the news and knew before everyone received their text message that Joe Biden was going to be Obama’s running mate.

Then when we got off air, and I thought phew, I can finally relax. No, no time for relaxing because we had to update the West Coast version on Nightline.

While it might not mean as much to others, it was a moment during the campaign that I will never forget. Okay…I also think I won’t be able to forget Tina Fey’s impersonations of Sarah Palin. Those were priceless.

It’s hard to believe that about sixty years ago in 1947, Harry Truman made the first-ever televised address to the nation from the White House.  He was asking Americans to cut back on the amount of grain they used in order to help European nations.  In 1947, television was a new commodity.  Most people turned to radio for the news, and the number of people who owned television sets was only in the thousands.  Now about 34% of households own a high definition television set.

As the 44th president of the United States, Barack Obama is using a new medium to reach out to the American people–the Internet.  The Saturday radio addresses were initiated by President Reagan, and President-elect Obama is taking it to the next level by posting them on You Tube.  Obama spokesperson, Jen Psaki, told the Washington Post “This is just one of many ways that he will communicate directly with the American people and make the White House and the political process more transparent.”

The weekly radio addresses will be placed on the transition website, Change.gov.  Officials at Obama’s transition office say he will be frequently utilizing the Internet during his administration.  From having question and answer sessions to interviews.  Officials say the goal is to put a face on the government.

The problem with the weekly radio addresses is that people weren’t listening to them anymore.  By putting the radio addresses on You Tube, Obama can attract a larger audience.  With more than 700,000 views at You Tube, that’s a pretty good start.

Obama isn’t the only one who is making videos to be posted on chage. gov.  Co-Chair of the Obama transitions team, Valerie Jarrett has also posted a clip updating viewers on the transition progress.  She also talks about some of the major changes that have already occurred, such as Obama selecting Rahm Emanuel to be his Chief of Staff.  Maybe he’ll be the next one to make a video clip for change.gov.

Since the 2004 presidential election between John Kerry and George W. Bush, the way the media covers politics and the way people watch politics has changed immensely. It was before everyone twittered, before people were addicted to their BlackBerrys and iPhones. I was not into politics during the 2004 presidential election, but I wanted to compare how the 2004 and 2008 presidential elections. My boyfriend, Casey, is a huge political junkie. He worked for Howard Dean’s campaign and then later John Kerry’s campaign. I asked him what it was like on November 2, 2004–Election Day. 

“I was working in Southwest Ohio and the early exit pollings were showing that Kerry was doing well in Ohio and all over the country.  I had feelings of nervousness, excitement, anxiety, and hope. I was confident that John Kerry was going to win and felt proud that I was a part of campaign that I thought would change the direction the country was headed.”

“Where did you go to get your news?”

“All the networks were broadcasting during Election Day. My television was either on NBC or CNN. Some of the websites I visited were Drudge Report, all the major network’s websites, ABC News The Note, and every polling site up, amongst them Zogby Polls.”

“Working on a campaign, how did you reach out to those younger voters?”

“Instead of Facebook, I would rely on my supporter’s email contact list. That’s how we would expand our network. If we would have had social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace, I think it would have provided an extra layer of accountability. One more way to check up on them, one more way to reach out to them, one more way to get them to the polls.”

It was interesting to hear what it was like for Casey during the 2004 presidential election. How he relied more heavily on AOL’s Instant Messenger to keep in contact with other staffers because Blackberry’s weren’t as common as they are now. iPhones and Twitter were nonexistent. In 2004, the main websites he turned to were Drudge Report and CNN, now he regularly visits Huffington Post, Drudge Report, and Real Clear Politics to name a few. There’s a much wider variety of websites to turn to for politics. Everyone and anyone can have a blog. David Carr and Brian Stetler from the New York Times said, “For many viewers, the 2008 election has become a kind of hybrid in which the dividing line between online and off, broadcast and cable, pop culture and civic culture, has been all but obliterated.”

I think social networking sites have had a huge impact on this election, and will forever change how campaigns are run. Facebook market developing director, Randi Zuckerberg, said “Every day we see over 200,000 posts that mention either [Democrat Barack] Obama or [Republican John] McCain.” Today while I was on Facebook, I noticed a lot of my friends had donated their statuses to get out the vote for Barack Obama. Facebook even had their own election, more than 4 million people have voted on Facebook. 

Casey and I are watching the results come in on ABC News. You could say we are a house divided. He was (and still is) a fan of Brian Williams and NBC. I work for ABC News and so I am a big fan of Charlie Gibson. I like to think I have converted him to ABC, but we still continue to change the channel switching between ABC and NBC. Maybe I’ll have him fully converted by 2012. 

For those undecided voters, I have the answer to your problems–online tools that will match you up with your presidential candidate.  Simply answer a few questions on key issues and it will pair you up with your perfect candidate. It’s easy as one, two, three. I wouldn’t suggest this being your only method, but it can be fun. 

Back in the day, politicians didn’t have to watch their every move, and worry that someone was going to videotape them saying something inappropriate or stupid.  During the 1948 campaign Harry Truman could be as candid as he wanted to be while out on the stump. Now things have changed. Everyone has a cell phone that his video capabilities and thus can be a reporter.  Anyone can post videos on You Tube and his can either hurt or help your campaign.

George Allen’s “Macaca” is a good example of a You Tube video hurting someone’s campaign. He was out campaigning for re-election to the Senate when the “Macaca”moment was caught on tape by a tracker from his opponent’s campaign.  The video went viral on the web and caused his chances for re-election.

The beauty of You Tube is that anyone can upload videos to the site.  You Tube has helped turn some average Joes into semi-celebrities.  Take Obama Girl for instance. She was a girl who had a crush on Obama.  Her video has now turned her into an internet sensation.

Maybe his good looks and charm could win over those desperately needed women voters. Katherine Hamill, a 25-year-old actress living in New York isn’t afraid to hide her feelings for Obama. “It’s like finding this guy who cooks and cleans and is nice to your mother, who will also just happen to get us out of Iraq.”

You Tube has played an integral role in the 2008 election. We even had a debate sponsored by You Tube where people submitted questions for the democratic candidates to the video sharing website. Barack Obama has been able to use You Tube more effectively than John McCain. “As of September, his campaign had released more than 1,200 vids, attracting more than 62 million views, compared with McCain’s 259 vids and 14.6 million views.”

As hurtful or helpful You Tube may be, it has provided voters with some entertainment. 

More than 150 million dollars – that’s how much money that the Obama campaign raised during the month of September.  That is by far the largest amount of money Barack Obama has raised in one month, more than doubling his previous record held in August of almost $70 million. 

Obama added 632,000 new donors bringing the grand total to about 3.1 million donors.  In the 2000 presidential election, analysis by the Campaign Finance institute and the Institute for Politics, Democracy & the Internet shows that 625,000 small donors gave money to a presidential candidate.  Obama gained that many donors and then some in just 30 days. 

More incredible is the amount of $86 — that’s the average contribution voters have donated to the campaign.  Ladies will spend more than that on a designer handbag.

Barack Obama has changed the way future candidates will run for president.  No one has been able to utilize the internet so effectively to gain voters since Howard Dean ran for president in 2004 and started Meetup.com.  Joshua Green from the Atlantic calls Obama “gifted politician.” Green adds, “But what distinguishes him from earlier insurgents is his ability to fully harness the excitement that his candidacy has created, in votes and in dollars.” Obama’s fundraising abilities could cause the end of the public financing system because future presidential candidates have seen the advantages of raising private funds. 

John McCain’s campaign manager, Rick Davis, is questioning Obama’s small donor database accusing him of not being transparent by hiding his small donor database.  Small donors are generally defined as someone who donates less than $200, and they are not required to provide their identity.  This raises questions on whether or not small donors have donated more than the $2,300 – the amount an individual is allowed to donate.

Obama has earned some remarkable numbers from donors to fundraising, but it isn’t stopping him from asking more people to donate and more importantly to get out and vote.