HOW many people would watch a 37-minute speech by a politician?

Few of us would guess that five and a half-million people would have tuned in.

But that’s how many people have apparently so far watched Barack Obama’s ‘More Perfect Union’ speech on YouTube.

In its entirety.

The Democratic Presidential contender has other impressive on-line statistics: $235million dollars so far donated by 1.5 million individuals, 8.3 million people watching the ‘Obama Girl’ video on YouTube, record numbers of friends and supporters groups on Facebook.

All of which led to Obama being hailed as the clear leader in digital politics during a fascinating live debate on the impact of the internet on the American Presidential election, sponsored by the Financial Times, the US Embassy in London and YouGovStone.

Phil Noble, founder of Politics Online, forecast that Obama’s web-savvy campaigning would raise £1billion online and would bring 5-6 million supporters helping on the streets of America in the closing days of the Presidential election.

Dr Andrew Chadwick from the University of London, attributed the apparently more engaging on-line nature of US politics to its more pluralistic society. 

And self-confessed Obama fan Joanne Shields, from the social network site Bebo, fired up her audience with an evangelical acclamation of the revolutionary nature of the internet in ‘bringing politics back to the people’.

She added: “If you can, through inspiration and innovation, spark enthusiam in the on-line community about who you are and what you stand for, they will share your message and multiply excitement and support exponentially.” 

Which seems a pretty sound message for anyone considering how to make their presence felt on the web.