The clock is ticking on the presidential election and most Americans have already grown weary of the relentless campaigning, mud-slinging and media blitzes that are inevitable in an election year. Regardless of who wins the presidential race, the clear winners in this election year are you, your web hosting provider and everybody else who is savvy enough to have a presence on the internet. The internet is gaining steam as a preferred method of getting election news and Americans who use the internet for one activity are more likely to use it for other activities, including shopping for goods and services.

For politicians, the internet is a double edged sword that can significantly increase awareness but also can keep not-so-favorable messages alive and well throughout the world. Anyone with a computer and a keyboard can post content. In the recent Australian election, a video appeared on YouTube showing the prime minister-elect, Kevin Rudd, eating his ear wax. It didn’t prevent him from winning the election, but it dogged him throughout the campaign.

The battle between Democratic presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton extended to cyberspace in late April when a prankster exploited a cross-site scripting (CSS) vulnerability on the website of the Illinois senator to redirect traffic to Hillary’s homepage. According to British internet research firm Netcraft, the hacker embedded specially crafted code in the community blogs section of the Obama site, which automatically sent visitors to his rival’s site.

Experts agree that the Obama site exploit points to an alarming problem. Most websites have vulnerabilities that can easily be manipulated for hackers’ benefit. (Talk to your web hosting provider to make sure your website is safe. You certainly wouldn’t want to inadvertently direct your customers to your competitors’ sites!)

According to a recent survey conducted by PEW Research Center, the internet is living up to its potential as a major source for news about the presidential campaign. Nearly a quarter of Americans (24%) say they regularly learn something about the campaign from the internet, almost double the percentage from a comparable point in the 2004 campaign.  The internet is a leading source of campaign news for young people (ages 18-29), with 42% saying that they go online for election news.

And where do people go for their online information? Most people who rely on the internet for news go to a variety of web sites. The most frequently mentioned outlets in the PEW study included MSNBC (25%), CNN (23%) and Yahoo News (22%).

A substantial number of young people say they have gotten campaign information from social networking sites such as MySpace and FaceBook.  In fact, the trend toward social networking is, in some ways, bringing back the roots of American politics, when communities got together and discussed the issues in town halls and parlors. The politicians are more accessible to us than ever before. Voters can discuss the issues in real time, live blog the debates and exchange ideas on discussion forums.

The bottom line is that there is a lot of opportunity for smart marketers and candidates because internet usage for political information will definitely increase as times go on. One recent survey brought up an interesting point – most internet users don’t go online for the sole purpose of learning about the campaign. Rather, a majority of web users (52%) say they “come across” campaign news and information when they are going online to do something else.

Talk to your web hosting provider to make sure your site is at peak performance so you can take advantage of the increase in internet usage. Your ecommerce site can emerge a true winner, regardless of the outcome of the presidential election.