MONEY, MONEY, MONEY

In days long past, to support a candidate financially, you'd have to be invited to a big party hosted by a rich family. Years later, registered voters would get junk mail from the candidates soliciting mail donations. Now candidates are taking donations directly on their Web sites. Democrats have taken that a step further by starting an online clearinghouse political action committee called ActBlue where donors can contribute to a number of campaigns.

Former governor Howard Dean was the first national candidate who starred as the Internet fundraising darling. According to OpenSecrets.org, Howard Dean's campaign was funded with 97 percent individual contributions. Before his exit in the 2004 primaries, Dean had raised around $50 million dollars. Dean's fundraising success and 50-state strategy led to his current position as Democratic National Committee chairperson. The Democratic nominee in 2004, John Kerry, went on to break Dean's fundraising record for a single-day's Internet fund-raising.

In the 2008 elections, Ron Paul, despite losing the nomination, remains the top Internet fundraiser. Ron Paul's campaign was practically headquartered on the Internet, with supporters launching viral video marketing and responding to straw polls on a large scale. According to OpenSecrets.org, Paul brought in $32 million dollars in individual contributions. His campaign, despite its netroots popularity, did not turn out the numbers to make a large impact on this current election. His pledged delegates are still in double digits.

On the Democratic side, both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama have scouted for support from netroots. In January, Obama surpassed Clinton in fundraising, raising nearly twice her almost $19 million dollars for the month. In a single day in January, Obama raised $1 million dollars almost completely by small online donors. Obama has refined strategies used by Howard Dean's campaign to raise money and awareness.

Tomorrow we'll end our series by taking a look at the notoriety gained by the netroots community in "Netroots Notoriety IRL."