The Herald-Journal’s Jason Spencer published a great piece Sunday about the transformation of presidential politics in South Carolina courtesy of the booming Web 2.0 era.

Most presidential candidates and their staffs love to talk about all the wonderful things they’re able to do online. But despite all the hype that the Internet is revolutionizing political campaigns, the biggest contribution 2008 likely will make is that it will act as a testing ground for what tactics will be used in future elections.

Even in South Carolina, which has an extremely fertile political Web presence, a giant question mark looms as to what impact the Internet could have on the upcoming presidential primary and the subsequent statewide races. And part of that question comes from the rise of the blogosphere, the uncontrollable corner of the Web world. …

Millions of people go online looking for political information, or to become political activists.

You might not be Democrat Barack Obama’s friend, but you can be his MySpace friend.

You might not know anyone else on your street who supports Republican Ron Paul, but you can find a legion of like-minded folks online.

You might not be able to ride on Republican John McCain’s “No Surrender” bus, but you can watch video from inside it. [JASON SPENCER - Herald-Journal]

And yes, he even quoted The Editor:

Wesley Donehue, who works for Romney’s South Carolina consultants, posted an attack site called PhoneyFred.org the first day Thompson visited South Carolina, lambasting the former Tennessee senator as “Pimp Fred,” “McCain Fred” and “Playboy Fred.” After a Washington Post reporter traced the site to Donehue, the site was taken down. And the campaign immediately distanced itself from the site, saying it had no knowledge of it and did not condone it. Donehue, who does not work directly for the Romney campaign, could not be reached for comment.

But that’s when the virtual world went physical: Something online, even though it may be a blip on the long-term political radar screen, made headlines and was on television. Adam Fogle, who runs palmettoscoop.com, calls it “the trickle-up effect.”

And that’s one way online campaigning can be most effective, Felkel said.

“Chris Matthews called Warren Tomkins by name on ‘Hardball,’” he said. “It’s not quite the fame and fortune they were looking for, but in some ways they get a win off that thing. They still accomplished what they were trying to do.” [JASON SPENCER - Herald-Journal]

It’s a lengthy article but definitely worth the read.