US voters plug into power of the Internet

US Democratic presidential candidate Illinois Senator Barack Obama talks with children as he walks around his neighbourhood with his daughter Sasha, 7, dressed up for Halloween, in Chicago, Illinois on Friday.Photo: AFP

Barack Obama and John McCain have relied heavily on the Internet for their US presidential campaigns but it's not just the candidates who have tapped into the power of the web this election.
The voters have too -- whether it's finding how much money a neighbour or a celebrity has donated, watching a video on YouTube, reading a political blog or news site or consulting an online "Truth-O-Meter" for politicians.
Leaving aside the candidates' websites, Facebook pages, YouTube videos, Twitter feeds and emails, the average US voter this time around has an unprecedented trove of information available at his or her fingertips.
"There are a lot of great non-partisan sites that have all kinds of information, not just about the presidential candidates," said Micah Sifry, co-founder of techpresident.com, a blog which covers politics and the web.