When Bob Dole was running for president 11 years ago, his aides begged him to mention his fancy newfangled Web site -- except he couldn't remember how many "w's" were in the address.

How times have changed.

On Saturday, Hillary Clinton's announcement that she was running for president came on her own Web site via a lushly produced 1-minute, 45-second "vlog cast" video followed by three online Web chats.

The junior Democratic senator from New York and former first lady was by no means the first, nor the last, to use the Web as her entry point into 2008 presidential politics, rather than through a traditional, live pep rally complete with confetti, balloons and "old" media.

More than a week ago, Sen. Barack Obama, D-Illinois, made his own Web announcement, and on Sunday, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson threw his hat in the ring with a video posted on his Web site.

Ahead of all of them, though, was former Sen. John Edwards, who unveiled his own bid last month, posting a 2-minute video on YouTube.com and Rocketboom.com the night before he made his own announcement -- the old-fashioned way -- before a gaggle of television cameras in New Orleans. The video was promoted with advertising on political blogs and at a subsequent town hall meeting in Iowa, a meeting that was streamed live on Sen. Edwards' Web site, segments of which were then edited and posted on YouTube.com.

This doesn't mean 2008 presidential candidates will campaign mostly in cyberspace. But in the beginning, when candidates need to reach out to their core constituencies -- donors, activists and the like -- the Web will be crucial.

"A speech to a group of people doesn't invite them into the campaign," said Leonard Steinhorn, a political science professor at American University. "It doesn't say, 'Click here to donate money' or 'click here to volunteer.' With the Web, you're getting a personal invitation to participate."

Plus, the Web provides an unfiltered medium to get the candidate's message across, said Anna Greenberg, vice president of Greenberg, Quinlan Rosner Research, a political consulting firm in Washington, D.C. There is a downside, however, "in that a very limited number of people actually see it on the Web, but there has been a lot of media coverage anyway, so people got to read about it in the newspaper and see it on television."

Still, this latest crop of Web-savvy candidates will certainly resort to more traditional techniques -- from direct mail to television advertising -- as the general election, which is still 22 months away, draws closer.

The Web "is a great tool, but it's not the only tool," added Andrew Kohut, a Washington, D.C., pollster and president of the Pew Research Center. "In the primary season, you're going after the faithful. The Internet is great for its ability to tap into emotion, and you can get energy out of your constituencies."

That energy is derived from the Web's intimacy, which can help a presidential candidate who is either not well-known or who wishes to reshape the voters' perceptions.

"The Internet," said Mr. Steinhorn, "is a very personal type of interaction," similar to radio but for different reasons. The Web is an interactive medium, whereas the intimacy of Franklin Roosevelt's fireside chats was achieved by other means.

"In radio there's a lot left up to the imagination," he added. "You are having a personal relationship with what you're hearing, and you're not necessarily sharing that with other people in the same room. Television, on the other hand, is pretty much all there. There's not much left to the imagination at all, so there's not much intimacy."

If the candidates have developed a Web site style, Sen. Clinton's is perhaps the most conservative. While it has all the interactive bells and whistles, her site actually resembles a television screen, or, at least, a traditional campaign commercial -- all flag-waving red white and blue, with the pronouncement, "Bold Leadership for a Stronger America."

Sen. Obama's site, on the other hand, "is very YouTube," said John Palfrey, executive director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School. "There's a more spontaneous, home-video quality, more in the style of Web video and probably more likely to be shared around the Web -- grab the YouTube generation and bring them into the race."

Indeed, Web video presents a cheaper way to package candidates than buying time on traditional media outlets, as well as allowing more control over how the candidate comes across. Sen. Clinton looked relaxed and cozy during her "conversation" with voters while seated on a comfortable sofa, noted Dr. Sara Grove, the Elsie Hillman Chair in Politics at Chatham College.

But Sen. Clinton probably couldn't get away with the glamorous, black-and-white photo of Sen. Edwards and his family on his Web site that might have been taken by Richard Avedon, she noted.

"He has pictures of a family that will play really well for him," said Dr. Grove, whereas "black and white pictures of Hillary would not play so well," given that warmth -- or the perception of it -- is not one of the qualities she's known for.

"She has to approach the Web from the fact that she is going to be viewed very differently."

And don't expect much of Bill Clinton on his wife's Web site, either. His public speaking skills and ability to connect with a live audience will be better put to use on the campaign trail, experts say.

"You have the problem, what does she do with Bill?" said Dr. Grove. "But because she controls the message, you don't have Bill standing there. It's all about her, which is how it should be."

Will all this Web-centricity have a trickle-down effect locally?

It could, but so far Pittsburgh mayoral candidates are still relying heavily on grip-and-grin school of politicking. City Council member William Peduto, who prides himself on his Web savvy, announced his own mayoral bid Monday at a community center, but nonetheless says he has plans to launch an elaborate Web site for his campaign in the near future. Not only was he the first candidate in Pennsylvania to offer podcasting during a previous run for mayor two years ago, he says he also will be the first to have video podcasting.

Damon Andrews, incumbent Mayor Luke Ravenstahl's campaign manager, says his candidate's Web site -- www.lukeformayor.com -- was up months ago.

"Still, more than half of the voters in our elections are 55 or over, and are pre-computer in their whole lifestyle," Mr. Andrews said. "For us to reach the majority of voters, we have to continue to use the old methods.

"Campaigns will be operating at their own peril if they think that somehow Web sites are the sole means of reaching the voters. The Web adds an extra channel of communications, but the old ways can't be abandoned or ignored."