Developing campaign skills for the Net

There's an intense competition for the talents of the most creative geeks in politics.
WASHINGTON (AP) -- Al Gore claimed he invented it. John McCain predicted it would revolutionize political campaigning. Howard Dean made it pay -- and then some.
Ah, the Internet.
As candidates prepare for the 2008 presidential campaign, the Internet is the new Main Street. An estimated 70 percent of adults in the United States travel the digital highway, still a cheap and largely unregulated medium.
Reaching those potential voters and donors has become an important part of modern politicking. Candidates aggressively compete for the talents of the most creative geeks in politics and develop new ways to exploit the Net.
Republicans have mastered e-mail as the new form of direct-mail campaigns, raising money and pushing a GOP message. Democrats have excelled at raising cash through small-scale donations and making the Net their version of talk radio.
"You have an inexpensive way to have a conversation with people with the propensity to turn out and vote," said Rick Davis, a McCain adviser who managed the Arizona Republican's 2000 presidential campaign.
In that race, McCain predicted that "in the next few years the Internet will completely turn political campaigns upside down."
Tech-savvy
McCain, the potential front-runner for the 2008 GOP nomination, is among the most tech-savvy could-be White House candidates today. He has retained many hands from his 2000 bid and has recruited some of the top names in online campaigning.
The model for many presidential wannabes is former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean. True, Dean was soundly defeated in his race for the 2004 Democratic nomination. But his campaign relied on the Internet to raise an enviable 53 million; more than 60 percent of donors gave less than 200 each.
Lesson learned, potential 2008 campaigns say.
Former Democratic Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina, the first major candidate to do podcasts when he was running for president in 2004, has recruited Dean's Internet communications director.
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, who leads the Democratic pack of prospective candidates, hired a pair of online writers for her successful Senate re-election campaign this year and has amassed an e-mailing list.
Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., is quickly building his own mailing list and using others' lists to raise campaign cash. He raised 800,000 for Sen. Robert Byrd, D-W.Va., this year using a MoveOn.org list.
But the recognized Democratic leader when it comes to the Internet is Sen. John Kerry, his party's 2004 nominee. He has a 3 million-plus e-mail list of supporters, donors and activists.
"This represents the community of activists," said David Thorne, who organized Kerry's 2004 Web strategy and remains an adviser.
Polarizing
Without a major polarizing figure among Republicans in 2008, Thorne doubts Democrats could recreate their Web success.
"I am dubious anyone can build the same kind of list in '08," Thorne said. "There won't be anyone that will create the passion and the intensity that George Bush did in '04."
Among Republicans, the enemy is Sen. Clinton. Anti-Clinton Web sites are popping up on the Internet even though Clinton has not announced she is running.
One site, StopHerNow.com, is devoted to "rescuing America from the radical ideas of Hillary Clinton."
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