Internet critical tool for political cash

INTERNET CRITICAL TOOL FOR POLITICAL CASH
[SOURCE: USAToday, AUTHOR: Fredreka Schouten]
This year's midterm elections offered fresh examples of the ways the Internet is changing how candidates in both parties raise money as they scramble to collect the $20, $30 and $50 donations needed in the aftermath of changes to campaign-finance laws in 2002 that banned large donations. Online fundraising has proved a cost-effective and lightning-fast method to raise cash, rally the faithful and promote or smear office seekers. It also could transform fundraising in presidential races. "It's inevitable that the Internet will become the principal means of fundraising from now on," said Anthony Corrado, a campaign-finance expert at Colby College in Waterville, Maine. "It's the only way you get a million people to each give you $10 on the same day." ActBlue, an online clearinghouse that has raised more than $17 million since 2004, plans to use that power. It recently won approval from federal regulators to stockpile cash for yet-undeclared presidential candidates.
http://www.usatoday.com/printedition/news/20061218/a_internetcash18.art.htm