Question: How much is the Internet REALLY changing politics?

I've been a little AWOL, busy with work of late, but I think this might be a place with some similarity. So I'm in Chicago for the Word of Mouth Marketing Association conference. As a blogger in the political space (as well as an advertising executive), what we do here on AMERICAblog is in essence Word of Mouth Politics. The first speaker presented two visions of how marketing can mature away from disruptive, one way ads to a more two way conversation like we do here discussing politics. We went through the last election to a disappointing defeat. I think that we can all agree that the Left was far more organized than the Right when it came to blogging and word of mouth politics.

But we didn't win.

Despite how much we hate it, paid advertising works. Direct mail works. Telemarketing works. If you buy enough ads, you can move the polling meter. If you call enough people, you can increase turnout. So I pose a question to you all - will this always be so? Will we come to a day when paid advertising in politics diminishes in favor of Internet enabled two-way politicking (like Dean), or are we always going to be stuck watching the same ad over and over again and hanging up on telemarketers each political season? (Though I still get a kick out of the new AARP ad with the house being torn down around the owner!)