The political power of the network

Online campaigns and e-petitions are only the beginning of what the net can do to politics, argues Bill Thompson.
Over the last few weeks we have seen many candidates for the US Presidency launch campaigns to seek nomination by their respective parties, and all have used the internet to get the message out.

Hillary Clinton actually launched her campaign on her website, while Barack Obama has been pushing himself to the bloggers.

On the Republican side John McCain seeks to prove his own credentials with a somewhat stilted video outlining his position, and he too will be working hard to ensure that he speaks directly to the wired world.

Sites like Prezvid have been set up to keep a keen eye on what's going on, and commentators are already claiming that the activities of YouTube activists, blogging pundits and citizen journalists will be as significant to the outcome as editorials in the New York Times or commentary on Fox News.