Australian broadband has gone from geek speak to barbeque conversation stopper in recent years

Broadband is fast on its way to becoming as important to the Australian economy as rain

Yet in this election, it seems politicians are finally realising the power of technology both as a vote winner and a means of communicating with the increasingly tech-savvy electorate.

both Rudd and Howard are attempting to showcase just how very down with technology they are by using YouTube to broadcast their video pledges.

Labor's broadband strategy has rotated around a fibre-to-the-node plan -- complete with figures borrowed from Telstra.

the plan remaining very light on detail and disappointingly unambitious in terms of speed

Coonan, meanwhile

launched her re-election campaign back in June with the announcement of a AU$1 billion funding boost for the OPEL group,

Maybe one day all the voters they are trying to reach will have the broadband speeds necessary to watch them.