As the U.S. presidential primary season quickly approaches, the question remains just how important the Internet and new media have been in the election race. While political tracking sites such as TechPresident can show how many Facebook friends the candidates have, or how many video views they've had on YouTube, there isn't a direct correlation between online popularity and actual votes. The knock against Howard Dean in 2004 was that he connected with people using online technology but couldn't convert that into votes. But can Ron Paul turn his online success into election success? Will Barack Obama take off at the polls after his social networking prowess? How much of a correlation do you see between what happens online and what happens out in the real world when it comes to presidential politics? Share your thoughts in the comments below and I'll run the best ones in the next Your Take Roundup.
How important is digital media in the 2008 U.S. presidential campaign?
by Mark Glaser, December 10, 2007
Multimedia
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