Presidential campaign practices are changing as blogging gains in popularity, writes Jim Colgan.

Howard Dean's internet story was epitomised earlier this month. In a controversial move, the US presidential candidate from Vermont pulled out of the public campaign finance system here.

The system is taxpayersupported and is supposed to help candidates avoid relying on corporate interests.

Since Mr Dean is amassing millions more than he is allowed spend under the system, he wanted out. So in a shrewd political move, he transformed a potentially unpopular move by letting his online base decide for him.

Thanks to some shrewd pitching, they voted yes in a Web ballot and he got his wish while deflecting some of the blame.

This is just one of the many campaign coups the candidate has pulled off thanks to his use of the internet and the unprecedented popularity of his weblog. Just a few years ago, blogs, or online journals, were still unfamiliar to a greater part of the general population - never mind ambitious politicians. Now experts credit Dean's blog for much of his rapid rise from underdog to top dog among the nine Democrats vying to take on George Bush next year.

The attention given to his blog has caused many rival candidates, including the President, to follow suit.

So how has the 55-year-old doctor used a blog to make such a dint in the presidential campaign process? And what's the legacy for future campaigns, regardless of Mr Dean's eventual success?

A major indicator of a candidate's viability here is the money raised for a campaign. If anything, Howard Dean's website will be remembered for one milestone: He raised the guts of his $25 million (€21 million) war chest on individual small contributions - online.

But what did Dean's interactive weblog have to do with this? Michael Cornfield, a professor of political management at George Washington University, says Mr Dean's blog, and its emphasis on user input, encourages user involvement, especially the monetary kind.

"People give money to Howard Dean because they think they are listened to," he says. "They feel they have a stake in the process."

The Dean campaign first adopted the weblog strategy in March of this year at the suggestion of some tech-savvy staff members. The blog, combined with an internet service called meetup.com, quickly attracted an enthusiastic grassroots base.

And, thanks to strategic linking to other weblogs, the internet, along with a fervent anti-war message, became a signature part of the Dean campaign. Dean climbed the polls in the important primary campaign, surprising everyone watching this early in the race.

Proof the idea is having an impact on campaign practices as a whole is reflected in other candidates' responses. In the past few months, three other candidates launched official blogs in the wake of Mr Dean's success, but not before mocking his initial efforts. The other candidate blogs have been criticised for their lack of authenticity.

A Dean rival, Senator John Edwards of North Carolina, re-launched his site after pointed criticism that his staff severely restricted postings. Indeed, some people insist Mr Dean's effort is not much of a blog itself. Prof Dave Winer, a fellow at the Berkman Internet Centre at Harvard Law School and a popular blogger himself, says Mr Dean's blog is not much more than a standard campaign website. "All I get are sound bites," he says. "Dean has not set foot on these blogs himself."

One thing that is different is the campaign's focus on user input from the blog, with many of their ideas actively taken on board. But opening up to the public like this is a risk many politicians are unwilling to take. President Bush's new blog does not even allow feedback, for instance, reflecting the usual instinct to control the message.

Mr Chris Suellentrop, a political writer for the online magazine, Slate, says Mr Dean's tactic on the campaign finance system is an example of him taking this risk. "How many candidates would even open up themselves to the chance that they would say no?" he says.

Not unlike other internet trends, the intense media interest in blogs has some critics writing them off as hot air. And some commentators say the political implications are way overblown. "I'm not overly impressed with this at all," says Prof Winer. "It's kind of like the dotcom thing over again," he adds. "In truth, some people made money, but was there anything real about it? No."

A good barometer of a campaign blog's success is in the dollar figure. "$25 million is not hot air," says George Washington University's Prof Cornfield. And the fact that Mr Dean has abandoned campaign financing shows his confidence in its continued success in fundraising at least.

Although weblogs are among a multitude of political internet strategies, the internet is by no means the dominant medium. TV advertising is still the primary means for a candidate's message and the irony of online fundraising is that the money is usually spent on television.

Eventually, blogs might be a more popular way for voters to find out more about candidates and, says Prof Cornfield, this would serve their message better. "You might spend five to 10 minutes looking at a candidate's message instead of the 30 seconds on TV," he says.

In many ways, concluding the legacy of blogs from this election may be premature. The day of actual voting for president is not until next November and the winner of the Democratic primary won't be decided until the summer. However, the surprise impact of blogging on the campaign so far should secure its inclusion in future elections.

Along with the usual television adverts, and the conventional mailings, blogging will feature prominently in the campaign package, experts say. But it might be too soon for claims of revolution. "For it to be a revolution, the people in power have to be out and the people out of power have to be in. This hasn't happened, but it's certainly a transformation, a change of eras," says Prof Cornfield.

Harvard's Prof Winer predicts a more significant role for bloggers. "The real change will come when a blogger runs for office," he says. Though there may not be a blogger in the White House anytime soon, Prof Winer predicts a change in local elections will be the next arena. In fact, Prof Cornfield cites a local race in Illinois where four out of five candidates are using a weblog in their campaigns. Perhaps the blogger president is not as far away then.