The Internet played a significant role in the 2008 US Presidential election, and introduced a strong element of authenticity:

… by using interactive Web 2.0 tools, Mr. Obama's campaign changed the way politicians organize supporters, advertise to voters, defend against attacks and communicate with constituents.

Mr. Obama used the Internet to organize his supporters in a way that would have in the past required an army of volunteers and paid organizers on the ground, Mr. Trippi said. …

Mr. Obama's campaign took advantage of YouTube for free advertising. Mr. Trippi argued that those videos were more effective than television ads because viewers chose to watch them or received them from a friend instead of having their television shows interrupted. …

There has also been a sea change in fact-checking, with citizens using the Internet to find past speeches that prove a politician wrong and then using the Web to alert their fellow citizens. …

The Internet also let people repeatedly listen to the candidates' own words in the face of attacks, Mr. Huffington said. As Reverend Jeremiah Wright's incendiary words kept surfacing, people could re-watch Mr. Obama's speech on race. To date, 6.7 million people have watched the 37-minute speech on YouTube.

… "This medium demands authenticity, and television for the most part demanded fake. Authenticity is something politicians haven't been used to."

[Via : How Obama's Internet Campaign Changed Politics - Bits Blog - NYTimes.com.]

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