What's the lasting story about the Internet and the 2008 Democratic Primary?

As you might expect, many people who make their living practicing persuasion are trying to define the Internet's role in the Democratic primary.  I have been at this since 1992 and I'm always hearing people talk about waiting for the Internet's Kennedy-Nixon moment.  Nixon's inability to understand the impact of television, and Kennedy's ability to play to it, is considered a pivotal moment in that election and in the history of politics.  There are many pundits talking about how video helped sink Senator Clinton's nomination.

Much like Kennedy, Obama is a reformer running in an age when he appears to be exactly the right candidate for the outcry of the electorate, and the newest medium at hand has allowed that advantage to reach much farther than it otherwise would have.  But it didn't cost Senator Clinton the nomination, her campaign did that themselves.

Internet video has played a very important role in both this election and in the last one.  (Remember the macaca video?)  And what it has been is a tool.  But the Internet didn't unseat Sen. George Allen, he beat himself.  The Internet just publicized these mistakes far and wide and allowed his opponent to reach more people who became disaffected the more they heard.

Consider the potential that such an enormous audience for online video has for your cause or issue.  Clearly you can take advantage of it like the Obama campaign has.  But if you fail to use it, perhaps because organizationally you can't get support for it, or because you don't think it's really that important, you may still find yourself affected negatively by it, much as the Clinton and Allen campaign teams discovered.

Recommended Reading:
How New Media Affected Clinton Campaign by Joe Garofoli, San Francisco Chronicle.

These two photos come from the PBS website and the SFGATE website.