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The Internet: Now a Presidential Campaign Essential

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By Aaron Ricadela and Auren Hoffman

The Internet: Now a Presidential Campaign Essential

The 2008 election cycle may go down as the period in politics when the Internet went from a nice-to-have novelty to an essential element of a presidential campaign. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) has taken online fundraising to new heights, is using social networking to rally support, and alerted voters to his Vice-President pick via text message. By his own admission, Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) is hardly computer savvy, yet his 2000 Presidential bid was among the first to solicit donations over the Web.

From the beginning, U.S. Presidential aspirants have embraced the new technologies of their day to get out the vote. BusinessWeek.com, with help from two American historians, history professor Brian Balogh at the University of Virginia's Miller Center for Public Affairs, and Robert McElvaine, chairman of Millsaps College's history department, compiled this look at candidates on tech's cutting edge.

Armchair historians are invited to add to the list in our Reader Comment section.