When John McCain, 71, wanted Barack Obama, 46, to join him at a series of town hall meetings, he dispatched a messenger to hand-deliver the invitation. "You know, you could have just e-mailed this," Obama press secretary Bill Burton told the messenger.

"It's the difference between a horse and buggy and a NASA space ship," said Phil Noble, a veteran of Democratic campaigns and the founder of the nonpartisan political news site PoliticsOnline, comparing the campaigns’ respective approaches to technology. "Obama has given people the tools to create and run their own campaigns," Noble continued. "McCain is still a command-and-control, top-down candidate. Part of it is the difference in age."

"Every time Obama had seven seconds when we spent the day together in South Carolina, he whipped out his Blackberry," recalled Noble. Contrast that to McCain's response when Politico's Mike Allen asked him whether he used a Mac or a PC: "Neither. I'm an illiterate that has to rely on my wife for all of the assistance I can get."

"There is a gap between people who are digital natives and people who are digital immigrants. Obama clearly has an advantage over McCain in that he is a more comfortable user of these tools," said Micah Sifry, founder of TechPresident.com, a blog that covers how the 2008 presidential candidates use the Web. And in the ways they use the Web, "campaigns are a reflection of the candidate," he added.

Much of the difference between the candidates is philosophical. "In terms of the usage of new media, there's definitely a dramatic difference between how McCain and Obama are operating," said Ian Rowe, vice president for strategic partnerships and public affairs at MTV, who worked in the Bush White House. "Within barackobama.com he has the same set of tools you use in Facebook or MySpace or YouTube. The age gap inherently creates more of an affinity with the younger generation [for Obama]. But Obama's general approach is in tune with reaching young people where they are."

Obama has also significantly outspent McCain in online advertising, according to an analysis of Federal Election Commission numbers by Politico's Ken Vogel. While Obama has reported spending $6.8 million on Web ads (including ads on Politico.com) since beginning his campaign, McCain has reported spending $1.9 million on "Web service" — a category that likely includes advertising, among other things.