So if you watched last season of Mad Men (and you did), there was that whole subplot of Nixon vs. Kennedy in 1960, and how to market a candidate (Nixon) that was less media-aware than his opponent. The presidential debates coincided neatly with the rise in personal televisions and mass media, meaning for the first time Americans could watch the great debates unfold from home, which some speculate is the reason Kennedy won. Kennedy was way hotter than Nixon.

Similarly, today the race to the White House is being fought on different technological battleground than it's been in previous years. And like JFK, Barack Obama knows how to play the new mediums to his advantage. The MSM may not always like it, but Obama's camp is changing the face of electoral process in a way that Marshall McLuhan would have been proud of. Here's how:

Text the Vote: Obama's choice to bypass the mainstream media and deliver the VP choice directly to the voters via text did not go off without a hitch. Media organizations broke the news late Friday night, before any texts about the Biden nomination could go out. Still, the plan was a success because Obama parlayed America's love of text messaging into 2.9 million phone numbers for his data bank. He will spam them on Election Day Eve (and maybe Election Day, if that doesn't violate campaign laws) and remind them to pull the lever.

Internet Killed the Video Star: Both candidates have gotten their message out through YouTube and Facebook for this election. But Obama's supporters are younger and more web-savvy, which could be as great a boon post-election as it's been currently. As David Carr points out, "A highly wired administration could go direct with both its base and its database in times of crisis or need." Maybe will.i.am. could inform America with another viral video when we get out of Iraq?

Out with the Old, In with the New: Obama's campaign has been notoriously colder to the mainstream media than McCain's, despite the American media's desire to give him a giant blow-jay. The most recent example of the snub? Obama's decision to move his speech on Thursday to Invesco Field, making the press schlep their belongings from the Pepsi Center and spend even more cash to cover the big night. "The symbolism is tough to miss: out of that carefully constructed studio-on-steroids and into the open air, with 70,000 screaming people all getting their own seat at the table."

Compared to how Bill Clinton or Ronald Reagan dealt with media interaction (both had a down-home, aw-shucks fireside sensibility), Obama comes off as the newer, sleeker model of presidential candidate. Once again, technology and politics align during a crucial moment to create a historical figure that's as much a creation of the mediums he's invested himself in, as the causes he's come to represent.