London's Nottingham University has been vigorously criticized for its

The elections of 2000 were touted as a coming-out party for politics on the internet. Websites with names like Voter, Speakout, Vote, Grassroots, and Votenet promised to revolutionize politics, gushing hype and dreamy, feel-good mission statements about "using the Internet to promote a more active and informed electorate" and "enabling citizens and their representatives to affect positive, democratic change." After the confetti has settled, howeer, it is painfully clear that online politics was as badly oversold as the rest of the internet.

A study by the Center for Media and Public Affairs shows the average sound bite length for the presidential candidates on the network nightly news has dropped to 7.3 seconds, a 26% decline since 1988 (9.8 seconds) and an 83% drop from the 1968 presidential election.