JFK, Dean, Obama, Paul Wielded Campaign Technology Successfully

As Arianna Huffington has said, "Were it not for the Internet, Barack Obama would not be president." Harnessing a new electronic toolkit, Obama and his campaign used Web 2.0 to connect with supporters (and donors), gain free advertising, and counter inaccurate and misleading statements from opponents. But Obama is hardly the first politician to make strategic use of electronic technology. Here's a list of four politicians whose use of electronic technology propelled campaigns into new territory.

John F. Kennedy

With Vice President Richard Nixon leading the 1960 presidential election polls with a convincing message that he was the experienced leader to maintain America's safety and prestige, John F. Kennedy challenged Nixon to a series of televised debates. Roughly 70 million Americans watched the first Nixon-Kennedy debate. What viewers saw was a young, handsome and telegenic Kennedy -- and they were captivated. Kennedy's debate performances gained him the national recognition he needed, and he won the 1960 election.

Howard Dean

Waging a campaign to "take back the country for ordinary human beings," Howard Dean sought the 2004 Democratic presidential nomination. Dean quickly recognized (even if his campaign stumbled upon the phenomenon by accident), that the Internet provided opportunities to harness grassroots support in previously impossible ways. Dean's campaign relied heavily on Meetup, an early web tool for forming social groups. Though Meetup pales now in comparison to social media powerhouses such as Facebook and Twitter, Meetup allowed the Dean campaign to connect with massive numbers of small donors. Though their financial contributions helped buoy the campaign, Dean supporters used Meetup to spread Dean's message and encourage participation via grassroots-style meet-ups. Though Dean's campaign antics eventually derailed his nomination bid, Dean's use of web tools and social media laid the foundation for other candidates to capitalize on electronic media.

Ron Paul

Ron Paul has been able to keep his Constitution-focused message in the forefront of Republican political debates. How has Paul, a current Republican primary contender, been able to finance his campaigns despite relatively low poll numbers? Paul has long used the Internet and social media to build grassroots support. Paul supporters spread his ideology, but they also contribute ideas and technological innovations, such as the so-called "moneyball." The moneyball is a focused fundraising effort that capitalizes on social-media communication to attract large numbers of small donations. Paul often uses funds from moneyballs for ad buys and other campaign projects. Paul's zealous devotion to technology has yet to win him mainstream approval, but it has kept his message in the mass media and expanded his following.

Barack Obama

President Obama may be the king of all candidates when it comes to using social media as a fundraiser. Although other candidates have perhaps been more innovative, Obama has been the most successful in reaping political benefits from his campaign's strong social networking presence. Obama, at one point in the campaign, raked in $55 million in campaign donations in a single month. That was not only a record in American politics, but the fact that those donations came largely from small donors who connected with the campaign through social media meant Obama had a long list of e-mails he could tap for further fundraising and political action. Obama's social media success should be no surprise -- he did hire Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg's former roommate to coordinate the campaign's social media operations.