Internet's impact on elections is growing

ATLANTA — The Internet has made politics more accessible for Jeffrey Miner.

The 37-year-old credit risk consultant says he contributed about $2,000 this year to a variety of Democratic causes, including Sen. John Kerry's presidential campaign.

Donations. E-mails. Blogs. Campaign ads. All were as easy as a mouse click for Miner and millions of other computer-savvy voters nationwide.

"This overcomes one of the most significant misperceptions about American politics — that it takes money to run and win and you can only get enough by courting corporate America," Miner said. "Not true."

He is an example of the power the Internet wielded in this election. It helped create a candidate (Howard Dean), razz a media icon (Dan Rather), raise unprecedented amounts of money and drive the biggest voter turnout in 36 years.

Looking to the 2006 midterm elections and the next presidential race in 2008, there's nothing to suggest the Internet's newfound political clout is going to disappear.

The Internet has long provided basic information, of course. On Election Day, CNN drew 8.9 million unique users, tops among news sites, said Nielsen/Net Ratings.

But in this election, the Web also provided a way for candidates and interest groups to skip traditional media and talk directly with voters.

In February, for instance, President Bush's campaign unveiled an online video and e-mailed the link to 6 million supporters. The ad portrayed Kerry as a hypocrite on the issue of special-interest donations. Kerry responded with his own Web ad and e-mail barrage, and the exchange of online ads continued throughout the campaign.

Independent groups also went digital. Swift Boat Veterans for Truth used the Web to spread its controversial but effective anti-Kerry TV ads to millions of voters outside the small numbers of markets where it was actually televised. Democratic-leaning MoveOn.org used the Internet to distributed ads that, in some cases, TV networks wouldn't run.

The 2004 election also may be recalled as the one where political bloggers — hobbyists who post online diaries and commentary — came into their own. They mused about campaign strategy, fund-raising, debates and exit-poll information. They sometimes prompted TV networks and major newspapers to pursue stories they might otherwise have ignored.