TALLAHASSEE -- U.S. Senate candidate Marco Rubio is about to go on MSNBC's Morning Joe. Attorney General Bill McCollum, running for governor, updates supporters that he is ``honored'' to get the endorsement of Gov. Charlie Crist. And Sen. Dan Gelber, hoping to be Florida's next attorney general, wants you to know he's thankful for America's veterans.

So goes politicking and campaigning in the era of Facebook and Twitter -- cyber-mediums that allow users to interact constantly and quickly through updates, Web links, videos and photos that can be viewed via computers, BlackBerrys, and iPhones.

Taking a cue from President Barack Obama's successful campaign, and from their children and grandchildren, elected officials and candidates are harnessing the popular social networking tools to drive home campaign platforms and reach voters.

Rubio, the conservative former House speaker running against Crist in the Republican U.S. Senate primary, began using Facebook and Twitter in the summer of 2008 -- mostly for personal use. But what began as a place for him to keep in touch with friends and post family pictures is now a political platform where he communicates with more than 16,000 ``friends,'' supporters and Twitter ``followers.''

``You're not going to win your campaign on Twitter or Facebook,'' Rubio, 38, said. ``But it's part of an overall strategy.''

When a recent YouTube video emerged portraying Crist and his inner circle as the Hitler regime, Rubio quickly pecked out a message via Twitter to condemn it and distance himself from it.

``I didn't have to go through the process of putting out a press release,'' Rubio said. ``I was able to respond to it from the road in a very fast way. You can communicate with large numbers of people very fast, and for free. That's the ideal political communication.''

LOTS OF USERS Lately, it seems like most elected officials in the Sunshine State have a Twitter or Facebook account -- or both. The list is long and keeps growing: Sens. Gelber and Dave Aronberg, U.S. Rep. Kendrick Meek, Lt. Gov. Jeff Kottkamp and Senate President Jeff Atwater, to name a few.

But Rubio has been one of the most effective and prolific users of the mediums. That, coupled with adoring attention from conservative national media, may be helping him rise in recent polls against Crist.

Rubio takes digs at Crist or other moderates and Democrats via his Facebook ``status update'' box, and friends regularly post messages, political cartoons, YouTube videos and news articles that lean in his favor or drive home his conservative message.

It also serves as an electronic venue for gathering donations -- a lesson straight out of the Obama playbook.

``The real potential of Facebook and Twitter is as an organizing, fundraising tool,'' said Steve Schale, Florida director for the Obama campaign. ``When I started on the Obama campaign, I don't think I fully comprehended the myriad of ways you can integrate new media into the campaign.''

Schale said Obama and other politicians also find the sites are effective for creating ``a sense of intimacy'' and a ``conversation'' with voters.

A Rubio or Crist ``friend'' reads their status updates and feels the candidates are speaking directly to them.

Robert Thompson, director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture at Syracuse University, likened social networking tools like Facebook to a ``modern-day, easily updated version of a political pamphlet.''