Grass roots gets wired

Political supporters say the web continues changing the way candidates are getting out the vote.

"It's not so much that Ron Paul is running an internet campaign, it's that the internet found Ron Paul," Ron Paul campaign coordinator Marianne Stebbins said on Caucus Day.

"It started going viral. Then eventually it got into meet-up groups. The meet-up groups were the conduits between from the virtual world to the physical world. They'd meet up and do the sign wavings. And eventually we got to this point," Stebbins added.

This point, is a day of turning interest into action. Specifically getting people to polls.

"Ron Paul 2008, this is Gilby," one supporter said to a phone caller.

Across town, different party, similar pitch.

"Hi Ross, this is Katie. I'm a volunteer with the Barak Obama campaign," said a woman working the phones.

"I think we're seeing some pretty unprecedented success in turning this online interest and enthusiasm into real votes," Obama spokesman Nick Kimball said.

Today the front page of Barak Obama's website is devoted to caucus clarification.

"When someone goes to the website and enters their information to find their caucus location, that person's contact information is sent to the local organizer. Then we're able to follow up with them immediately," Kimball said.

And it's not just Republicans and Democrats working the web.

"Every time we have the virtual caucus, we have a higher number of people," Independence Party Chair Craig Swaggert said.

Tuesday is just the kickoff of the Independence Party's caucus.

"We wanted to open it up to include people who wanted to participate, but couldn't make it to the physical caucus," Swaggert continued.

The Independents will caucus tonight in person and report results to the Secretary of State. Then on March 4th, they'll report in again with the results of the virtual caucuses.

By Jeff Olsen, KARE OnLIVE

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