When Howard Dean made waves in his quest for the White House, I must admit I tuned out all the stories about his online presence. It sounded pretty crazy to me, a women who never went beyond searches for information, sending e-mails or having IM chats. I didn’t have a Facebook profile, didn’t understand MySpace and didn’t even read blogs. Back then, I even thought Wikipedia was a static website. Yes, I was horribly naive about the Internet. And I couldn’t understand why a candidate would wage an online campaign.

I thought that Dean was “new age,” part of a fly-by-night operation. How could he be legit, I asked myself? I assumed that if he was online, then he was less of a candidate. How wrong I was…

Fast forward to 2008 and it is evident that Dean was ahead of his time. He truly shepherded in a new era in presidential politics and it is here to stay. In today’s campaign cycle, if you want to know what the different candidates think about issues, just go to their website. Want to find like-minded suppoters? Visit Meetup or start commenting on blogs. Truly everything you need to know is at your fingertips and everyone you would want to know from the campaign is just a click away.

But I think Jenny from the Farm hit the nail on the head with her question: Does online politics get out the vote? It was the exact same question that our classmates asked in relation to the Iraq War - does opposition to the war translate into action? People appear to be so very opposed to the war, yet President George W. Bush handily won a second term in office. Where is the action? Or, is online action a false sense of reality?

Could it be that people get so comfortable speaking out online that they never have the need to head to the polls? Could they believe that their action online (donating money and blogging) will be enough to secure the nomination for their candidate? More importantly, where are those online supporters when the going gets rough? Howard Dean still didn’t get the party’s nomination. Ron Paul hasn’t been able to galvanize his troops at the polls. And John Kerry still lost to George W. Bush.

Maybe online politics just haven’t hit the age of majority and it will take more time for campaigns to learn how to convert online support to voting support. Or it may mean that voters need more time to become online savvy.

I just want something to happen soon to spur our voters to action. Every four years we have the opportunity to elect a president of the United States. It takes just 30 minutes to stand in line and cast your vote. Just 30 minutes to make your voice heard.

What will you do on Election Day? Will you be at home on your computer? Or will you be at the polls, casting your ballot?