Internet propels Obama but also creates risks

By Daniel Trotta

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Political analysts marvel at Barack Obama's mastery of the Internet, where he has found many of his 1.5 million donors and created the social networking site my.barackobama.com to mobilize masses of young voters.

But they warn that the new and still evolving medium also poses serious risks for the Democratic presidential candidate, who, by opening his campaign to so many surrogates, is vulnerable to losing control of his message.

The Internet also has provided a forum for whisper campaigns such as one promoting the false assertion he is Muslim. White supremacist groups, too, have intensified their online rhetoric coinciding with the political ascent of a man who if elected in November would be America's first black president. Obama, an Illinois senator, will face Republican Sen. John McCain in the general election.

"A basic fundamental of any campaign is to control the message. And when you open yourself up this much via the Internet, you cannot control your message because the Internet can take a life of its own," said Ravi Singh, CEO of ElectionMall Technologies, a technology consultant to political campaigns.

Some of Obama's own liberal supporters have used the my.barackobama.com Web site to criticize him as moving to the political center, particularly for his changed position on legislation overhauling U.S. spy laws.

While Obama seems to have managed the dangers so far, the Nov. 4 election is still almost four months away.

"They need to be spending almost as much time on the damage control as they are on so brilliantly moving their message out," said Lisa Linden, the CEO of New York public relations firm Linden Alschuler & Kaplan.

The Obama campaign has established a separate Web site called fightthesmears.com dedicated to rebutting what it calls a series of lies being spread about the candidate.