Is this election the turning point where online buzz translates in to real world results?  Results meaning electoral success.

Barack Obama is far and away the most popular politician on social networking sites i.e. Facebook and Myspace.  Is social networking the key to getting young people to actually vote?  Many new media strategists point to Obama's in depth social networking outreach effort as key to the victory in Iowa.  A key stat coming out of Iowa was that just as many young voters turned out at the caucus as voters over 65. 

On the GOP side, Gov. Huckabee embraced the conservative blogosphere, but more importantly utilized paid media advertisements that made an impact on the electorate but also spread virally across the web.  Who doesn’t love Huck Chuck Facts?  In addition, in the closing weeks of the campaign, the popularity of the Huckabee 4 President website was surging just as Huckabee surged to victory. 

However, online buzz is not a sure fire way to predict electoral success.  Ron Paul is showing the power of the web, but it has not been evident in the results yet.