Virtual front-runners

The internet is changing the way candidates run for president—at least Democratic candidates. Republicans are scrambling to make up online ground | Jamie Dean

CREATING BUZZ: Presidential hopefuls listen to a YouTube question from Shawn Jackson.

CHARLESTON, S.C.—In an open-air quad in the gleaming-white barracks at The Citadel military college in Charleston, S.C., cadet Ivan Rodriguez is demonstrating a proper march. Five freshmen cadets stand at attention, fixing their gaze on Rodriguez, a junior from Texas in a crisp summer uniform and pristine white gloves. Rodriguez makes precise turns around the quad's red-and-white-checkered floor, tracing the same steps that Citadel cadets have learned for nearly 165 years.

As the new cadets strain to follow marching orders, a small plane flies overhead, pulling a banner bearing a different order: "Stop Her Now." The blunt message paid for by a Washington, D.C.-based political group isn't intended for any of the female cadets below, but for Sen. Hillary Clinton, one of eight Democratic presidential candidates here for a CNN-sponsored televised debate.