Mike Allen of the Politico reports on a new study by the E-Voter Institute which confirms what we've known all along: The Internet is the modern campaign trail, and you need to be working it if you're a political candidate (if you want to connect with folks, that is).

You don’t have to be a blogger to be involved. A study to be released by the E-Voter Institute this afternoon found that heavy consumers of online political information have “high rates of activism” that include e-mailing friends and family about a candidate, contributing online and attending events in response to e-mail.

“We detect a trend here,” the authors report. “In the old days, activists had to go somewhere to show their interest in a candidate or cause — attend a rally or fundraiser, participate in a phone bank at a campaign office, write a check and drop it in the mail.”

Now, though, virtual activists in what the report calls “the new political landscape” are telling their MySpace and Facebook friends about campaign rallies and candidate positions.

“While candidates have focused on collecting e-mail addresses, we see the rise of the online social networks as a way for the peer-to-peer communications that grassroots activists strive for to get their messages out,” adds the study, which is called “Objects in Mirror Are Closer Than They Appear: Change Is Accelerating in the Political Landscape.”

The only thing I'd change about this report is changing every use of the word "new" to "modern." How much longer can folks seriously call this stuff new?