Every spring about this time, some 1,200 housing advocates gather in Washington, D.C., for three days of intense meetings. This conference, by the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB), focuses on the prolific political and regulatory issues that affect development.

First is NAHB’s "Day on The Hill." En masse, the 1,200 building executives ascend Capitol Hill to meet with their respective representatives in the House and Senate. Over the years, the SAHBA contingent has connected with our Arizona folks, including Sen. Jon Kyl and Reps. Gabrielle Giffords and Raúl Grijalva.

The other highlight is more personal: A night out at the National Press Club. A SAHBA board member has belonged to the Press Club for 30 years and takes me as his guest.

Last year’s visit was exceptional. After an invitation-only reception for 100 people, we were treated to a special forum on the 2008 presidential election.

The panel was made up of representatives from various organizations, including the Washington Business Journal, New York Post, and CNN.com. The discussion was chaired by the dean of a D.C.-area university’s journalism department. Only he and one other panelist were over 60 years old. The other five were under 40.

Each of the younger speakers argued that the most "Web-savvy" candidate will be our next president.

They were stoked about alternative "new age" media. Mainstream daily newspapers no longer control the message and continue to bleed readers and advertisers. Today’s voters have dozens of other news options. They have 24-hour cable-TV news channels, websites by national media groups, online clubs, e-newsletters, podcasts, satellite radio and blogs.

The CNN.com reporter exemplified how news is evolving. Her assignment was to cover the plethora of political websites. Daily, she moused through the official "for president" sites of Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama and John McCain. Her beat included RNC.org, DNC.org, MoveOn.org, HuffingtonPost.com, and MediaMatters.org.

Basically, each site has the same template. Readers can donate money, raise money, volunteer, buy products, get "real" facts, and link to MySpace or YouTube.

The CNN.com reporter’s job was to cut through the political rhetoric and dig into the buzz. Take the pulse of the bloggers, who often post vile comments and rumors about candidates and treat it as legitimate news.

The New York Post editor drooled over Obama’s site because of the millions of dollars raised through Web-driven campaigns. He spewed out website "hits" like baseball scores.

By consensus of the panel, Obama’s political machine best understood how to leverage the Internet. Also unanimously, the panelists agreed Republicans had serious Web woes.

As each panelist spoke, the mantra continued: the Internet will decide who wins.

Under pressure from the audience, a few panelists named their personal preferences for president and why. The dean who was moderating the event reacted angrily, scolding them.

Each panelist brushed aside the criticism, saying they were "too professional" to let their personal opinions influence their news judgment.

The panel had rankled the audience. Many challenged their predictions.

I too, was bothered by their theories. I caught the dean’s attention with a simple question: Has anyone done any independent research to determine if these bloggers voted in the last presidential election? And, are they registered to vote in 2008?

"Great question!" said the dean.

This is a true story, drawn from Yohem’s 25-year, award-winning communications career with the Southern Arizona Home Builders Association, Tucson Electric Power, and Southwest Gas. Yohem’s column looking at the lighter side of "challenges" in the business world appears the first and third week of each month in Inside Tucson Business.