Rick Farmer and Rich Fender, "eParties: Democratic and Republican State Parties in 2000." Party Politics, 11 (January, 2005), 47-58.

First Paragraph:
Both the Republican and Democratic National Committees developed a national strategy for using the web in 2000. This investigation takes an initial step toward determining whether or not state parties followed that lead. It documents the form and content of Democratic and Republican state party websites in 2000. The range of state party websites was broad - from state parties that lacked simple graphics to those with streaming video. Findings indicate that while state party websites attempted to provide essential party functions online, they lacked technical sophistication. State parties receiving large amounts of soft-money transfers produced the strongest websites and demonstrated the most expertise in this emerging medium. The findings suggest patterns which merit further observation.

Figures and Tables:
Table 1. Measured tasks defined
Table 2. Website form and content indicators by state party usage
Table 3. Bivariate and multivariate relationships between Party Web Quotient

First Two paragraphs in the conclusion:
In 2000, party activists and not ordinary voters were likely to go online to get information about party activities and candidates. As a result, state party officials anticipated little electoral benefit from investing heavily in the web. When supporters came to their websites, most state parties offered very little. Some did not even include a telephone number or email address. However, both national parties thought the web to be an important and powerful tool for organizing activists and building for the future.

The Party Web Quotient, described here, is a measure for comparing state party websites across states and over time. It is based on aggregating measures of party functions and technical functions. Scores calculated for all 97 websites operated by the major state parties in the 2000 US election provide benchmarks for future research. These scores illuminate some useful, though preliminary, insights into how parties are adapting.