The Internet's use in the 2004 presidential race highlights its growing role in politics.
Web sites and e-mail have become increasingly valuable to campaigns, parties and interest groups to raise money, organize volunteers, accumulate information about supporters and communicate policy positions.
"I don't think they've reached the full potential yet,'' said political consultant Max Fose, who helped John McCain's 2000 presidential campaign raise $1 million over the Internet in 48 hours. "I think there is a need out there to raise money, to raise it quickly, and that need is pushing campaigns to the Internet.''
Thanks to credit cards, donations over the Internet mean instant money for campaigns. They cost far less to solicit than contributions gathered at dinners and other fund-raising events.
McCain's e-fund-raising blitz after he won the New Hampshire primary in 2000 gave political strategists a glimpse of the Internet's political possibilities. For those able to raise vast sums without the Internet, like Bush, the Web is more important as a grass-roots organizing tool, Fose said.
This year, Democratic presidential hopeful Howard Dean stunned his rivals by raising more than $800,000 over his Web site in one day in June. Nearly half of the $10.5 million the former Vermont governor raised from January through June came in over the Internet.
Dean has also used the Internet to help his supporters plan get-togethers around the country and organize their activities, a strategy some of the other eight Democratic hopefuls are now using as well.
The Bush campaign was launching a new Web site Tuesday.
Visitors can enter their ZIP codes for information on how to get involved in the campaign locally, such as writing letters to local newspapers, phoning in to radio shows, volunteering at Bush events and helping to get out the Republican vote. They can also print voter registration forms and buy "W Stuff.''
The site will also be an important fund-raising tool. In 2000, the Bush campaign raised $3.6 million online before the election and $2.4 million more during the Florida recount.
Bush has raised at least $1.3 million over the Internet since a temporary Web site went up in mid-May. That's a small amount compared with the more than $35 million Bush and his running mate, Vice President Dick Cheney, have raised by headlining fund-raisers. But it's also money that costs far less to raise than donations taken in through glitzy luncheons and dinners.
"I think smart campaigns use the Web to reach the 58 percent of Americans online,'' campaign manager Ken Mehlman said Monday.
Mehlman said the Bush site will include several "cutting-edge'' features. Among them, it will have a constant campaign news feed and list Bush fund-raising volunteers and donors.
All nine Democratic candidates have Web sites where supporters can donate and communicate with the campaigns.
Lieberman, for example, started an Internet fund-raising drive built around the number 18, a lucky number in Judaism. He expected to meet his goal of attracting 1,800 new donors in 18 days, asking each to give at least $18 by midnight on Monday, Aug. 18.
Gephardt's Web site invites visitors to tell him their personal stories and asks if they are willing to let him post them on the site. Web surfers can go to Dennis Kucinich's Web site and buy tickets to fund-raising concerts that country music star Willie Nelson is headlining for him.
The national party committees are also making greater use of the Internet.
The Republican National Committee is using its Web site to organize volunteer activists, also known as team leaders. Last week, RNC Chairman Ed Gillespie e-mailed the 320,000 team leaders and challenged each to sign up five new team members by the end of the year.
The Web is a key tool for the Democratic National Committee as it tries to compensate for the loss of big corporate and union donations banned by the nation's new campaign finance law.
"The main benefits are it costs you almost nothing to do it, versus the 20 to 30 cents it would cost you for a piece of mail to solicit that same donation, and you're reaching people you might never have reached before,'' said Democratic spokeswoman Debra DeShong.
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