Online war key as presidential rivals do battle

The 2012 US presidential election campaign is being fought with tweets, hashtags, Facebook updates, and emails in a battle for digital supremacy.

President Barack Obama and Republican rival Mitt Romney are counting on the traditional strategies of speeches, rallies, and paid television ads to win the White House, but the online war is becoming a major factor.

“Shaking hands and all the traditional campaign stuff has not gone away,” said Alan Rosenblatt, a longtime political consultant who now heads social media for the Center for American Progress and CAP Action Fund. “You still must do it to win, but if you don’t have a complementary online strategy you can’t win either.”