I think your instincts are dead on here. It’s not that Obama ran an internet campaign but rather that internet supercharged all of the elements (youth, passion, word of mouth, on demand viral sampling of his inspiring speeches). I made a movie called CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE? (www.MrSmithMovie.com) that follows the Democratic Primary to succeed Dick Gephardt in congress 3 years ago and features a young, charismatic candidate named Jeff Smith and his band of young staff and volunteers as they challenge a political dynasty and the political establishment.

In this race you see the exact same dynamics play out with some interesting exceptions:

1. Three years ago their was no YouTube, myspace or facebook. The campaign posted video online and let their supporters even pick which television ad to run with their limited but their big viral success was distributing a video about the Jeff and the campaign on VHS because it cost less than DVD and more people had them in their homes! It’s hard to believe how quickly things are changing. Text messaging and other wireless communication was just starting to take off as well.

2. Barack Obama certainly hasn’t had a shortage of MSM attention over the last year. This certainly helps lay a foundation for an internet campaign. Candidates like Jeff have been completely dismissed by the local MSM. If the Obama campaign is a surprise you can only imagine how many more surprises are likely to happen in congressional, state legislative and other local races as campaign workers and candidates begin to apply the same change messaging and grassroots techniques and supercharge them by leveraging the internet.

The MSM and the political establishment would be wise to question past assumptions, take a look at early case studies like you see in CAN MR. SMITH GET TO WASHINGTON ANYMORE? and to get ready for dare I say a lot more “Change”.