PHILADELPHIA -- Tired of the same old political stories dished out by mainstream media from the floors of the political conventions? Then get ready for a wake-up call.

A slew of new and enterprising Web sites are inviting you backstage -- and into the backrooms -- of the 2000 Republican National Convention. It means you can check out virtually everything going on in every nook and cranny.

Television ratings have dropped in recent years, so networks are planning to scale back their coverage of the conventions, whose on-stage, on-camera antics amount to little more than back-slapping PR jamborees designed to anoint already-designated nominees.

Dozens of Web sites are picking up the slack, promising coverage -- you could even call it voyeurism -- with a flair.

Sites from America Online Inc. (aol) to Pseudo.com have elbowed their way into skyboxes that have traditionally been reserved for the old-school networks.

And, for the first time, some Web sites are offering in-depth coverage for people who want their news filtered through the lens of a specific interest group. For example, politicallyblack.com and women.com both have space in Internet Alley, a big stretch of space devoted to Web media at the Philadelphia Convention Center.

It's all about putting people in control of the news they get, both the content and form.

For example, Pseudo.com and the Democratic National Committee will place 3-D stationary Web cams throughout the convention halls. Netizens will be able to manipulate them from their computer keyboards to spy on what's happening far from center stage.

Others are planning even grander experiments: Insightmag.com, a site published by the Washington Times, is teaming with Apple Computer Inc. (aapl) and wearable-PC company Xybernaut to give new meaning to the term roving reporter.

Insightmag.com reporters will strap on digital cameras and computers and wander around the convention to capture what's happening on the floor, behind the main curtain, even in hotel bars. Some of what they find will be Webcast in real time. Visitors to the site can zoom in on any of six different scenarios by clicking on small video-stream boxes.

Senior editor Jamie Dettmer, who's coordinating the coverage, compared the Web's arrival at the convention to that of television, which made its convention debut in 1948, producing grainy pictures that hardly quelled skeptics.

"We expect gremlins. There are going to be glitches," Dettmer said. But that's the price of trying something new. "I think everyone in the business is trying to find a way of blending pictures, sounds and words."

Will the teeming techies revolutionize the political scene? Not likely, say people who've been watching politics for a while.

"I think it's going to have a bigger impact on journalism than it is on politics," said Michael Cornfield, a political science professor at George Washington University and director of the Democracy Online Project. "Everyone is going to be competing for this supposedly enlarged audience for political information." Cornfield said.

That doesn't mean the audience is growing, however.

"If you look for it, there's a lot of information, but you've got to look for it," said University of Cincinnati political science professor Michael Margolis, author of the book "Politics as Usual: The Cyberspace Revolution."

"Why would people be interested in politics just because it's on the Internet?" Margolis asked.

Trey Rust, director of business development at the Net consulting firm PoliticsOnline.com disagreed, saying the Internet has breathed new life into convention coverage. "It's going to get people more involved. I have not heard people this excited about a convention in a while."

Even people who doubt the Web will have much of a short-term impact on politics acknowledge its future potential. The alternative campaigns of Green Party candidate Ralph Nader and Republican presidential contender John McCain are good examples. Many of the people who donated to McCain's campaign online said they'd never before given money to a candidate.

A recent study conducted by Yankelovich Partners for Yahoo! Inc. (yhoo) found that 65 percent of Americans plan to use the Internet for information that will help them to make a decision in the presidential race.

Women.com (womn) editor Judy Coyne said she'd seen the impact of the Web on politics first-hand. She received an e-mail message from a woman who decided to vote after reading statements on Women.com from Vice President Al Gore and Texas Governor George W. Bush.

"I have to be honest and say that I really was not even interested in voting at all this year until I started to read about the candidates on your Web site," wrote Tanya of New Jersey in an e-mail message. "I know who I am going to vote for and why!"