Obama Rewriting Rules for Raising Campaign Money Online

Obama's online investment has not come cheap. In January, he spent $768,000 on Web ads, while Clinton spent $171,000 and McCain spent $151,000, campaign finance records show. In February, when Obama spent $2.6 million on ads, Clinton spent $198,000 and McCain spent $111,000.

Obama's take via the Internet in January and February has dwarfed those of his rivals. Clinton raised $37 million online; McCain raised $22 million overall but has not said how much of that came in online.

Political consultants who specialize in online fundraising say Obama has, in two months, rewritten the rules for raising campaign cash.

"Anytime you can reach 1 million donors with the click of a mouse, you redefine the way campaign finance is done in American politics," said Philip A. Musser, a Republican political strategist who serves as a consultant to Google.

The Internet allows a candidate's message to be put in front of virtually any audience. Emily's List, the nation's largest political action committee, spent heavily on Clinton during the run-up to the Iowa caucuses and ran ads that appeared when women in Iowa searched Google for such terms as "recipe," "stocking stuffer" and "post-Thanksgiving sales."

"We really were trying to get to women where they live," said Ramona Oliver, a spokeswoman for the group.

But whether the ads, which largely serve as points of entry, translate into support is not clear.

When one of Obama's ads caught Braun's attention, she clicked. But that was just the beginning. She was met by a welcome screen that presented an obstacle: It asked the visitor to supply an e-mail address to proceed.

At first she hesitated. The schoolteacher described herself as "one of those apathetic people who always felt, 'What does my single vote matter?' " But Braun wanted to learn more about Obama's education programs, so she relented.

Then the e-mails started to arrive.

One told her about the candidate's plan to end the war in Iraq. Another sought her help in registering voters. A video of Obama's "major speech on race" was sent. Of the dozens of e-mails she received, only a handful directly asked for money.

The approach paid off. This year she made four $25 contributions, and she also persuaded her father, a lifelong Republican, to register as a Democrat so he could join her in voting for Obama.