Look who's podcasting! No, it's not your teenager. It's your senator.

Veteran politicians more familiar with turntables and typewriters are enlisting twentysomething computer whiz kids to brave the digital world of blogs, podcasts and the Web in an effort to help them connect directly with voters.

The 2004 presidential campaign ushered in Internet fundraising and the lightning speed effectiveness of Web logs.

The next campaign promises a significant increase in Web-based activities; politicians are responding to the reality.

Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, R-Tenn., responds on a weekly basis to questions on his blog. He also is among several politicians who have recorded podcasts, self-made audio or video broadcasts that can be downloaded from the Internet to a computer or portable gadget.

The former heart surgeon who is considering a 2008 presidential bid said he saw the power of podcasts when one in which he discussed avian flu was featured on a conservative blog and downloaded a million times.

Frist, 54, said the technology allows him to "break through the gaggle of reporters" and "touch people who are sitting in Smyrna, Tennessee."

John Edwards, the 2004 vice presidential nominee and a White House hopeful in 2008, recently showed off a newly designed Web site that features a reality television show that tracks Edwards, up close and personal, as he goes around the country.

The former North Carolina senator has favored video blogs, in which individuals submit questions to his site via video and he responds in the same format.

"Where in history has that ever happened?" asked Ryan Montoya, 32, technology adviser to Edwards, 52. "He sees the people, and he is able to respond to their questions directly. That's democracy."

Strategists in both parties say the drive to use new media is simple: It's cheap, easy and more and more people are connected.

According to a survey after the last presidential election, reliance on the Internet for political news during the 2004 contest grew sixfold when compared with 1996.

At the same time, the Pew Research Center poll showed that 40 percent of Internet users found the Web important in helping them decide for whom to vote.

Former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, a Democrat who is considering a presidential run, recently added a professional blogger to his staff. Warner likes to use video podcasts.

"Things that you can see and hear, like podcasts, make a much greater impact than just reading," says Ellen Qualls, Warner's communications director. "Video of the governor is a much more powerful tool than simply an e-mail or blog post from him."