The first organized use of political television arrived in 1952 with gavel-to-gavel convention coverage and attempts at political commercials. Indeed, Adlai Stevenson’s commercials backfired. His 20-minute musings drew hate mail because they interfered with “I Love Lucy.”

In 2004, the Internet got organized and played a big political role – a bigger role than most political observers are admitting. The reason: Most political observers are over-weighted investors in television and radio, and the Internet cuts against legacy party structures. The Internet strikes again: Our major parties, like stockbrokers, travel agents and booksellers, are in for a shakeout.

The political world was amazed to discover 4 million new voters on the Christian Right – amazed because conventional analysts and pundits didn’t see them coming.

Four million new voters are hard to hide. A missing link? The Internet.

The Internet enables one-on-one communications to, from and among huge audiences while remaining under the radar of conventional tracking tools. We now know there was heavy Internet traffic on the listservs of evangelical churches. And on non-moral issues, we now know that corporations and associations got out the vote to employees and supporters who were online and also out of site.

Here is a third piece to the puzzle: The Internet dramatically increases the comfort level for political involvement among common folk. Interested and curious citizens – red, blue and purple – engaged in campaigns in the comfort and security of their homes and offices and at times of convenience. They went to candidate Web sites and peered in the window of a virtual campaign. Many liked what they saw, volunteered and brought their households along yielding higher voter turnout.

To date, most political and media consultants really only understand – and have relationships in place to buy – television and radio advertising. In 2004, of the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on media, only about 3 percent was devoted to online. This will change. Look for Internet advertising and communications budgets to increase substantially in the next election cycles, as political and media consultants rush to become Internet savvy. And for those so inclined, here are a lucky seven lessons to ponder:

• Content remains king. Easily the best political media of the year was Jib Jab’s “This Land Is Your Land.” Fifty million Internet viewers, by e-word of mouth, flocked to see it and send it to friends. Meanwhile the most impactful partisan political advertising was from the Swift Boat Veterans and various beneficiaries of George Soros funding. The “527” productions are unencumbered by party talking points and lawyers. Add to that the multi-media and interactive nature of the Internet and you get creative and compelling content that penetrates inside a viewer’s personal space. When clever amateurs command larger audiences than spots produced by the seasoned pros, a new game is afoot.

• New political voices are often louder than the voices of established parties. Today a congressman has as much reason to favor and fear Moveon.org as their respective congressional campaign committee. And in the future, a victory by David over Goliath will no longer be a biblical miracle. Howard Dean started as an asterisk, raised $50 million and showed the Internet can level the playing field and opponents. Another Howard Dean is certain to appear in 2008.

• Small donors can go toe-to-toe with fat cats. A thousand $100 contributions will beat a hundred $1,000 contributions, because small donors – motivated by enthusiasm and not an expectation of a quid pro quo – will also volunteer.

• Online success is not due to better technology. John Kerry and Howard Dean used the exact same organizing software, MeetUp.com; one organized more than 400,000 volunteers online, the other fewer than 40,000.

• E-mail is Job 1. It is more important to build an online army of supporters (read: e-mail lists), than it is to have a slick Web site.

• Parody and humor are deadly fun and effective. Replicating an opponent’s Web site or creating animations that travel fast through friends and family are powerful tools to communicate fresh messages and build e-mail lists. See GWBush.com and AdvocacyAnimation.com.

• A cautionary note: A crummy candidate with a great Web site is still a crummy candidate. A candidate in search of an agenda, with no message, will not succeed because of a state-of-the-art Web campaign. Indeed, if anything, character flaws and content omissions will become more glaring online.

The “527” groups this year raised and spent hundreds of millions of dollars outside of party channels. In rounds 2006 and 2008, look for substantial increases, because givers want to see results and the best return on investment in political communications is through 527s and by going online – not major party funds and television. If our political parties ignore this year’s online lessons, they will surely be bypassed, perhaps even marginalized in 2008.

Larry Purpuro is former deputy chief of staff of the Republican National Committee and founder of Rightclick Strategies. Carol Darr is former general counsel to the Democratic National Committee and director of The Institute for Politics Democracy & the Internet at George Washington University.

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