Although the groundbreaking use of the web for political ends by presidential candidate Howard Dean in 2004 seemed to have established a precedent for future campaigns, few politicians are embracing the internet as a marketing tool, despite the approach of mid-term elections, writes MediaPost. Instead, ever-focused on money, most politicians and their supporters now tend to see the internet as merely a funnel for campaign contributions, and are again relying on traditional media.

"You either win or you lose, you either get 51 percent or not - campaigns don't have the luxury to gamble with something they don't think is proven to work," said Michael Bassik, VP of online advertising at MSHC Partners, John Kerry's online agency of record during his presidential bid.

Leslie Laredo, president and founder of The Laredo Group, said political planners are far behind the corporate world: "The online strategies that we're teaching - blogging, search marketing, even simple banner advertising - are not on their radar."

Most campaigns allocated about one-tenth of 1 percent of their budgets to the web in 2004, and there are no indications that that trend is going to change in 2006, says Bassik.

Moreover, ever-anal about what candidates say, when they say it, and how it is said, political aids and campaign officials are loath to allow politicians to try something as freewheeling as blogging, for example.