Web power is ushering in the 2008 US Presidential election and will amply be demonstrated as the election race gets going. Democratic Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton wants to apply her successful “listening tour” of New York voters to national politics via the Internet, a venture that could prove just how powerful the Web will be in the 2008 race for the White House.

As each election nears, the mass media hark-back at us that elections are both highly charged symbolic rituals of democracy and key procedural components of political institution. Both aspects of elections - representational and procedural - serve critical functions at all levels of political system.

Who wins or loses elections usually make up the instant concern for the voters, contestants, and parties alike. However, voting and campaigning themselves continue to change with the changing role of money, communication technology and political organizations. Texas is a very fine example as the Republican Party’s reappearance and Democratic Party’s decline over the past two decades, has gone on to suggest that the art of political campaigning has finally got polished.

However, the continuing development of the Video websites and blogs has grown as a major force in the US election campaign, providing an unrestrained and widely read counterpoint as compared to the traditional media. The maturation of new media outlets esp. the Internet - have created new opportunities and demands for political campaigns. The web offers an uncensored view of candidates and acts as a powerful tool for influencing public opinion; thereby posing new challenge to the conception of voter control.

No doubt, the Internet is becoming another media actor in the political communications environment as the polls suggests, blogs and video sites are affecting public opinion too. However, it will be interesting to know whether the change in opinion is momentary or whether it really creates a big problem for candidates and we won’t know until Election Day. What’s your say?

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