The Steamie: Welcome to the virtual by-election

The Steamie today brings you a first in Scottish politics and Scottish journalism.

Over the coming week candidates in the Glasgow North-East by-election, in adddition to fighting the contest on the doorsteps and on the hustings, will be taking the fight online.

Candidates for the main Scottish parliamentary parties will be be guest bloggers here on The Steamie for the duration of the by-election.

They'll be announcing their policies and their plans here, and taking on their opponents' arguments as well, making The Steamie a major forum for the by-election debate.

And of course, there will be the chance for readers of The Steamie to comment on their contributions.

The internet, one of the most influential tools in the US presidential election last year, is still an untested forum in Scottish and UK politics. But it is certain to be an important part of the forthcoming general election.

This virtual by-election on The Steamie is a chance for all sides to get a taste of that future.

Kenny Farquharson
Deputy Editor
Scotland on Sunday

Kenny Farquharson: Obama online

One of the crucial factors in Barack Obama's US presidential election victory - apart from his charisma, his intellect, his integrity and his opponent - was his campaign's use of the internet.

It was the way he raised his cash - tens of thousands of small donations, solicited online, gave him the edge on McCain's big cheques from big business. But the real revolution was in the way the internet was used to foster a direct relationship between candidate and voter.

I joined up to his Facebook group and received regular emails from him. Okay, I know they were written by an aide and sent out in their millions, but it never failed to give me a small shiver when an email from "Barack Obama" appeared in my in-box, and the message started with "Hi Kenny..."

The remarkable thing is that now, seven weeks after the election, the emails keep on coming. And their content gives an insight into how how the lessons learned about the internet during the campaign are likely to be carried through into the Obama administration.

One email landed last night, urging supporters to hold house meetings to discuss what the administration's policy priorities should be. There was even a link to a video of one such meeting to help set the tone.

http://my.barackobama.com/meetingvideo

House meetings were one of the most effective tools of the Obama campaign - a good example of the revolution we're seeing in participatory politics in the US.

I wonder which of the UK parties will learn these lessons most effectively. David Cameron was the first party leader to start a blog, and last year the Scottish Labour leadership candidates all had a presence on social networking websites.

But we've yet to see anyone really use the net to bring politics into hearts and homes in the same way as Obama showed was possible.

Will it be the big political battleground of 2009, potentially a general election year?