The AlGore2000 site does seem more locally customized than Bush's, however. The page for Minnesota, another swing state, informs visitors right away of Gore's upcoming visit to Minneapolis, lists 13 places to get tickets for the event, and includes an endorsement from the Star Tribune that visitors to the site can e-mail to friends.

But the Gore campaign has not yet fully refined its Web operation: The site duplicates the information about Gore's visit, including the long list of ticket locations, further down the same page.

As the election comes down to the wire and candidates focus more of their efforts on getting out the vote, the customized e-mail messages are probably more valuable than the Web sites in organizing campaign supporters, Cornfield says.

"There's simultaneously a need for fresh information and a need to get information. E-mail is tailor-made for that," he says. And e-mail also can easily target such information, which is more important than ever as the swing states only seem to grow in number. After all, Cornfield notes, "this is not one race, but 51 simultaneous races."