Internet Changes Everything

Follow up to the election hyperbole

The captioned Op/Ed piece from David Brooks in Saturday's NY Times is a brilliantly simple clarification on why Bush won the election. He got more votes - its that simple. Its nothing to do with religion, or any other dark movement within the US.

The Values-Vote Myth

November 8, 2004 at 06:33 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (27) | Top of page | Blog Home

The Bush family

Telegraph | Picture Gallery | THE LONG NIGHT

The Bush family, with Barney the terrier, await the result at the White House, on Nov 2nd, 2004

November 3, 2004 at 10:19 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (0) | Top of page | Blog Home

Bloggers Let Poll Cat Out of the Bag

Yahoo! News - Bloggers Let Poll Cat Out of the Bag

Wed Nov 3, 1:24 PM ET

Add to My Yahoo! Technology - washingtonpost.com

By Cynthia L. Webb, washingtonpost.com Staff Writer

In the thick of a historic and obsessively watched Election Day, bloggers shook up the mainstream media by providing an early look at election exit polls, proving once and for all their influence not only in the coverage of politics but perhaps in the electoral process itself.

The early-afternoon posts of the numbers -- purportedly based on the data that media organizations get from people who have actually voted, which the media then use to predict outcomes and make correlations between votes and issues -- indicated bad news for President Bush (news - web sites), stoking early-afternoon chatter that grew to a roar and sparked a stock market sell-off.

Never mind that the posts were at times thinly sourced or turned out to be flat wrong. As the networks and other media standbys played it safe, people flocked to blogs to get a glimpse at early polling data and early calls. The traffic alone further boosted the street cred of blogs. The National Review's Corner, Daily Kos, Drudge Report and Wonkette.com were among those out of the box early with the data.

"Politically oriented Web logs began posting leaked exit poll data early yesterday afternoon, influencing media coverage of the race and underscoring the new medium's continued emergence as an opinion-shaper," the Wall Street Journal said. "The willingness of the individuals who run the Internet sites, known as blogs, to post the data as soon as they could obtain them -- by whatever means -- gave them a leg up on the nation's mainstream news organizations, which were bound by their own restrictions on disseminating exit-poll information. But the uncertain outcome of the election late into the night underscored how the high-profile new medium could ultimately prove vulnerable to the same gaffes that bedeviled the mainstream media four years ago."

More from the article: "Shortly before noon, several blogs began posting leaked exit-poll data showing that Democratic challenger Sen. John Kerry (news - web sites) was winning in key states such as Florida, Wisconsin, and Ohio. Many popular blogs saw their traffic soar as hundreds of thousands of additional visitors scoured them for clues about the election. Several sites -- Joshua Micah Marshall's left-leaning TalkingPointsMemo.com and Glenn Reynolds's conservative-leaning InstaPundit.com -- crashed repeatedly because of unusually heavy traffic," the Journal said. "The numbers helped shape early media coverage of Election Day and triggered a sell-off in the stock market by investors concerned about the implications of a Kerry victory. As the day wore on, however, the more detailed numbers that began appearing on network and cable television news programs made clear that the picture was far murkier, with Ohio being too close to call and several networks projecting President Bush as the winner in Florida."

But the article noted the importance of the blog race against the mainstream media outlets: "Many polling experts had warned that such shifts were almost inevitable since the bloggers were posting exit poll numbers hours before they could be considered reliable. ... The attention paid to blogs last night highlighted their increasing prominence in the worlds of politics and media."
� The Wall Street Journal: Brash Blogs Grab the Lead Again With Early Reports on Exit Polls (Subscription required)

The Washington Post's Howard Kurtz latched onto the blog exit poll brouhaha in his review of election TV coverage: "The networks and the Associated Press began receiving exit-poll data in the early afternoon, and Slate.com and the Drudge Report touted the figures as showing Kerry with a slight edge in Florida and Ohio and significant leads in Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, Minnesota and Michigan. But the tone of the television coverage began to subtly turn against Kerry as the night wore on and it appeared that the senator was not doing as well in the key battlegrounds as the exit polls had indicated. In an echo of 2000, Lisa Myers reported on MSNBC that the Bush camp saw 'a significant flaw in the exit polls.' Kerry spokesman Mike McCurry sounded less than confident when he told [ABC anchor Peter Jennings] that 'we're not throwing in the towel' on Florida. 'Somebody should reassess exit polling. . . . It's useless,' said CNN's Tucker Carlson." For the record, Florida went to President Bush. Ohio is still officially in limbo land.

The Los Angeles Times gave the match point to blogs, but noted the accuracy of exit poll posts was often suspect: "Overflowing with early, and sometimes wildly misleading, exit poll numbers, Web logs became the Internet's own battleground state on Tuesday, as the bloggers fought even among themselves in reporting the kind of preliminary data television avoids before polls close. Some blogs were stuck between an ideological rock and a news-gathering hard place. Partisan blogs like the conservative National Review Online ... found themselves caught in a spirited debate about whether the early numbers they posted were hurting their preferred candidate, President Bush. The readers of liberal blogs such as Daily Kos ... staged an online pep rally celebrating early numbers showing Sen. John F. Kerry (news, bio, voting record) ahead in many swing states. As they have in the past, television networks and newspaper websites refrained from reporting early exit poll results, but the Internet adheres to little such restraint. Hours after the first polls opened on the East Coast, the Internet bustled with preliminary voter surveys, sparking an angry online debate among the wi-fi wonks over their posting and their significance. The attribution for (and authenticity of) these numbers was murky."
� The Washington Post: TV News Plays It Safe, Up to a Point (Registration required)
� The Los Angeles Times: Exit Polls Bog Down The Blogs (Registration required)

The Wall Street Journal Online weighed in with its own coverage of the exit poll scrapping in cyberspace, noting in a blog roundup: "Bloggers are crowing about yet another way the Internet is scooping TV, this time by the networks' own Web sites. There has apparently been a discrepancy between the caution typifying TV-news projections and the raw exit-poll data available on some of the networks' Web sites, as noted by the blogger NewDonkey.com and a reader on DailyKos.com. Just before the 10 p.m. poll closings, most of the TV networks were projecting a lead in the electoral vote for President Bush over Sen. John Kerry, but they weren't ready to call the crucial states of Ohio, Pennsylvania, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. They were only reporting figures based on precincts that had already turned in voting results. But surfers could find exit-poll data on CNN.com and MSNBC.com for each state where the polls had already closed. The tallies were separated by gender, but it wasn't tough for NewDonkey.com to calculate what the overall numbers showed, based on exit-poll numbers showing the breakdown of all voters by gender."
� The Wall Street Journal Online: Reporters, Pundits File Real-Time Web Updates (Subscription required)

The Baltimore Sun cut to the chase on the potential impact of the bloggers on exit poll reporting. In a nutshell, caution was thrown out the window. "The mainstream electronic media, still bruised from making bad calls in the 2000 election, ceded the dirty work to the new kid yesterday, allowing Internet news sites and Web logs to rule political reporting for much of the day -- for better or worse," the Sun reported. "By early afternoon, online bloggers had started listing early, and sometimes questionable, exit poll information that showed Sen. John Kerry leading President Bush in the three key swing states of Ohio, Pennsylvania and Florida. By early evening, before most polls closed and the TV networks resumed reporting, a few blogs and news Web sites had called the race for Kerry. ... The bloggers were filling a void left by news outlets reluctant to speculate, though much of their information was based on rumors or postings of their peers, causing some others concern. They are 'putting up exit polls and things like that, and they're based on almost nothing,' said Ann Althouse, a blogger and law professor from Madison, Wis. 'They seem to want to affect things in bizarre ways. What the good bloggers, the reasonable bloggers, are trying to do is keep mainstream media honest.'"
� The Baltimore Sun: Bloggers Rule the Day in Earlier Reporting

Criticisms aside, bloggers seemed to win the popularity contest. "The popularity of Internet political sites had built in the months leading up to the election -- political bloggers who had once received a few hundred hits per day reported hundreds of thousands of visitors. The surge of popularity was clear from the strains on the relatively new technology: Some of the one-person-show blogs seemed like they were having technical problems more often than they were running smoothly," wrote Peter Hartlaub of the San Francisco Chronicle. "As the outcome of the election became more clear, it was once again the Internet sources that made the first move, calling individual states and the entire election long before their televised competitors."

Despite traffic surges and server glitches, the blogs got this standing ovation from Mike Wendland of the Detroit Free Press for making a dent in the political reporting process: "Say whatever you want about this presidential campaign setting new highs in low blows. For the Internet, this was a true coming of age as a forceful mass medium. The fact that the Internet was probably responsible for as much of the bias and bitterness in this year's campaigns as the traditional big media that it delights in castigating is another matter. One thing that we can be sure will be remembered about this campaign is that it was the year of the blogs -- Web logs, or online journals and diaries kept by so-called citizen journalists, sometimes dubbed 'pajama people' because so many write from home during off hours."
� The San Francisco Chronicle: Web Sites Provide Alternative to Wary TV Coverage
� The Detroit Free Press: A Swirl of Spins in the Blogosphere

From the Mouths of Blogs

So what exactly did the bloggers say that set off such a firestorm? After posting a list of early poll numbers, under the heading "A Little Birdie Told Us," Ana Marie Cox wrote: "I have been asked to clarify: The little birdie is not Joe Trippi nor anyone he works with. In fact, the little birdie is really skittish and not exactly trustworthy in all cases. Please vote, even if you live in PA. These could be total forgeries, designed to keep you from voting. As a friend put it, 'The Yankees always figure out a way to win.'"

Josh Marshall wrote in a 5:09 p.m. ET post, after linking to Mark Blumenthal's MysteryPollster at 12:46 p.m. to further explain exit poll numbers: "Well, if our servers had to go down, I'm at least glad it could happen today, right? Jeez, what friggin' nightmare. As you may have noticed TPM was offline from about 1:45 PM until just before 5 PM. Right about exactly the time I got hold of the first good exit poll numbers everything started to go haywire. It's still not completely clear what happened. But we seem to have it under control." Oh, to be famous.

Writer Andrew Sullivan on his Daily Dish blog did a little backpedaling at 12:30 p.m. on some earlier posts of exit poll numbers. "Those numbers I posted, as I wrote at the time, may well not hold up throughout the day. A few look way off to me, as I wrote. But few GOP bigwigs are disputing that the early exit numbers are not encouraging for Bush. Oh, and whomever you're voting for, for Pete's sake, don't be put off by exit polls. As I said earlier, they are not accounting for early voting, and some seem to have a heavy female bias. They are a blur of a blur. So stay tuned. And vote."

Early poll poster and Daily Kos blogger Markos Moulitsas hedged his own bets by writing at one point yesterday after a list of exit poll numbers: "In 2000, the early numbers favored Bush. In 2002, exit polling was terribly innacurate. Exit polling also doesn't account for absentee and early ballots. And it's still early in the day. PA and MN will be much closer than these number indicate. So please, please take with a giant grain of sand."

The Houston Chronicle explained of the blog posts that "caution was thrown to the wind on the Internet, where bloggers released results of exit polls throughout the day and night. How or whether the publishing of poll results affected Tuesday's vote was impossible to determine, but sites such as wonkette.com and slate.com were unapologetic in publishing the same raw data available to the networks. Slate.com, for example, noted that the consortium subscribing to the National Election Pool, which conducts the polls, has 'signed a blood oath not to divulge it to unauthorized eyes ... but the numbers always leak out to other journalists, such as the writers at Slate.' 'Slate believes its readers should know as much about the unfolding election as the anchors and other journalists, so given the proviso that the early numbers are no more conclusive than the midpoint score of a baseball game, we're publishing the exit-poll numbers as we receive them,' read a posting."
� The Houston Chronicle: Networks Cautious as Bloggers Risk It

Market Impact

The Wall Street Journal's piece on blogs noted that the markets reacted to the early postings. "The most popular blogs rarely attract more than 100,000 visits a day, a sliver of what broadcast networks draw. Still, they appeared to have an clear impact yesterday. The Dow Jones Industrial Average began falling almost immediately after several sites posted initial data indicating a possible win for Sen. Kerry. The Dow Jones Industrial Average ended down 18.66, or 0.19 percent, to 10,035.73. Perhaps more significantly, the blogs seem likely to have a significant impact on the way the traditional media cover future elections, since their willingness to post the early data could put network and cable television under mounting pressure to follow suit as a way of staying relevant. The blogs' willingness to use exit data angered some network executives."

Reuters said, "U.S. stocks reversed course suddenly on Tuesday and drifted lower as chatter on the Internet speculated that early exit polls had Sen. John Kerry leading the presidential election in key swing states." CBS MarketWatch.com reported on the market sell-off, which was sparked by early poll numbers being leaked. "U.S. stocks staged a late-day sell-off Tuesday, with blue chips snapping a five-session winning streak to end lower and the Nasdaq paring gains amid reports that Sen. John Kerry is putting in a strong early showing at the polls," the news outlet said. "The Nasdaq Composite edged up 4.92 points to 1,984.79, ending at a four-month high but off its best levels for the session when it reached the 2,000 mark for the first time since July 2. The S&P 500 Index ended fractionally higher, up 0.07 points at 1,130.58. Stocks pulled back as online sources leaked unconfirmed raw data from early exit polls."
� Reuters: Blogs Send Stocks Into Reverse
� CBS MarketWatch.com: Stocks Spooked by Early Election Call
� The Los Angeles Times: Sell-Off Blamed on Early Signs of Kerry Lead (Registration required)

Filter is designed for hard-core techies, news junkies and technology professionals alike. Have suggestions, cool links or interesting tales to share? Send your tips and feedback to cindyDOTwebbATwashingtonpost.com.

November 3, 2004 at 09:47 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (24) | Top of page | Blog Home

Count the ways technology has shaped elections

TheStar.com - Count the ways technology has shaped elections

One of the Internet's best uses getting

local results fast

M. COREY GOLDMAN
FORWARD

As with John F. Kennedy's narrow victory over Richard Nixon in 1960, Jimmy Carter's slim triumph over Gerald Ford in 1976 and George W. Bush's Supreme Court-decided win over Al Gore in 2000, the winner of tomorrow's U.S. presidential election likely won't be known until after every single ballot has been counted and accounted for.

Possibly twice, depending on how things go. What will be known instantaneously and constantly from the time the polls close and as each vote is counted is the election results in each region, state, municipality and town, thanks to the media and technology now at people's disposal.

Television is the obvious one, with U.S. networks planning night-long coverage with electronic maps showing who is getting the votes, where.

U.S. local stations will cover the goings-on in their own neck of the woods, as will some radio stations.

But the real place to see what's going on, especially on a local level, will be the Internet � the only medium to date where a person can steer themselves to what they want to see, read, listen to, and where they can parse about the political process at their leisure.

It's worth noting just how much technology has changed the way elections are held and how the results are released to the public.

Before 1920, presidential elections involved putting up posters, passing out flyers and having the respective candidates do whistle stops in every city, town and hamlet to meet the voting public and belt their message out over a megaphone and in print-media reports.

That changed with the invention of radio, where for the first time a politician could reach out to masses of people by simply sitting down and speaking into a microphone.

The first U.S. radio station to broadcast election returns was KDKA in Pittsburgh, whose broadcasters in 1920 read out results that were phoned in to the studio from the Pittsburgh Post newsroom as they came off the wire services.

Live banjo music filled the empty spaces. Listeners were few. But within a few years radio had taken off, with thousands, then millions of receiving sets getting a signal. Not only were elections themselves listened to en masse, party conventions and political speeches drew huge audiences.

Television married images to voices and over the years election night coverage got increasingly sophisticated. Live coverage of election results and networks declaring winners based on still-incomplete vote tallies became a staple of the broadcast age.

But the non-interactiveness of TV � the fact that it still only provides what those behind the camera and in the studio subjectively show � meant people couldn't choose what they wanted to see on election night, check how a particular politician was doing, or see whether an obscure judge got re-elected.

The Internet changed all that. Tomorrow, folks in Vermont will be able to turn on their computers and, at leisure, checkWeb sites to see who's winning in their neck of the woods rather than waiting for a network to cut to the local coverage or briefly flash the local news across the national tube.

And voters in Oregon will be able to surf the Web all day to get a sense of which states three hours ahead out east will be designated Bush or Kerry country, giving them valuable information when they decide to head out to the polls and cast their own votes.

But some of the same questions that plagued radio, and then television, plague the Internet: How do we know the votes are being tallied correctly? How do we know the numbers we're seeing are legit? How do we trust the source that is posting the information?

It is those same questions that have so far prevented the U.S. and other countries, including this one, from taking the voting process itself the next technological step: having people cast their ballots online with some sort of electronic pass code and a click of the mouse.

In the U.S., there is good reason to be suspicious of ways technology could be harnessed in service of fraud. Mary Poppins and Dick Tracy are among a large cast of fictional characters who reportedly tried to register electronically to vote tomorrow.

Many states are already facing legal challenges over possible voting problems arising from registration issues, questions about touch-screen voting machines, and concerns about voters being wrongly validated.

Despite the pains and grumblings and myriad ways votes will be counted in all 50 states tomorrow, one thing is clear: Technology will play a role in both how the process gets done and how it's viewed, reviewed and analyzed by Americans and the world.

If there is a certainty, it's that in four years' time, technology will play an even bigger role in the U.S. elections than it will tomorrow.

And quite likely it will, too, in Canada, where a federal election has come and gone in a fraction of the time it's taken for the U.S. election to reach the finish line � without any legal challenges or fraud-tainted incidents or contentious concerns about technology.

I, for one, will be watching the results of the New York race very closely tomorrow.

From my laptop.

I may even post a comment to that other, interactive Internet phenomenon, a blog.

November 1, 2004 at 07:56 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (2) | Top of page | Blog Home

Attack prompts Bush website block

BBC NEWS | Technology | Attack prompts Bush website block

The official re-election site of President George W Bush is blocking visits from overseas users for "security reasons".

The blocking began early on Monday so those outside the US and trying to view the site got a message saying they are not authorised to view it.

ALTERNATIVE ADDRESSES
https://georgewbush.com/
http://65.172.163.222/
http://origin.georgewbush.com/

But keen net users have shown that the policy is not being very effective.

Many have found that the site can still be viewed by overseas browsers via several alternative net addresses.

Hack attack

The policy of trying to stop overseas visitors viewing the site is thought to have been adopted in response to an attack on the georgewbush.com website.

Scott Stanzel, a spokesman for the Bush-Cheney campaign said: "The measure was taken for security reasons."

He declined to elaborate any further on the blocking policy.

The barring of non-US visitors has led to the campaign being inundated with calls and forced it to make a statement about why the blocking was taking place.

In early October a so-called "denial of service" attack was mounted on the site that bombarded it with data from thousands of PCs. The attack made the site unusable for about five hours.

About the same time the web team of the Bush-Cheney campaign started using the services of a company called Akamai that helps websites deal with the ebbs and flows of visitor traffic.

Akamai uses a web-based tool called EdgeScape that lets its customers work out where visitors are based.

Typically this tool is used to ensure that webpages, video and images load quickly but it can also be used to block traffic.

Geographic blocking works because the numerical addresses that the net uses to organise itself are handed out on a regional basis.

Readers of the Boingboing weblog have found that viewers can still get at the site by using alternative forms of the George W Bush domain name.

Ironically one of the working alternatives is for a supposedly more secure version of the site.

There are now at least three working alternative domains for the Bush-Cheney campaign that let web users outside the US visit the site.

The site can also be seen using anonymous proxy services that are based in the US. Some web users in Canada also report that they can browse the site.

Traffic control

The international exclusion zone around georgewbush.com was spotted by net monitoring firm Netcraft which keeps an eye on traffic patterns across many different sites.

Netcraft said that since the early hours of 25 October attempts to view the site through its monitoring stations in London, Amsterdam and Sydney have failed.

By contrast Netcraft's four monitoring stations in the US managed to view the site with no problems.

Data gathered by Netcraft on the pattern of traffic to the site shows that the blocking is not the result of another denial of service attack.

Mike Prettejohn, Netcraft president, speculated that the blocking decision might have been taken to cut costs, and traffic, in the run-up to the election on 2 November.

He said the site may see no reason to distribute content to people who will not be voting next week.

Managing traffic could also be a good way to ensure that the site stays working in the closing days of the election campaign.

However, simply blocking non-US visitors also means that Americans overseas are barred too.

Most American soldiers stationed overseas will be able to see the site as they use the US military's own portion of the net.

Akamai declined to comment, saying it could not talk about customer websites.

October 28, 2004 at 08:08 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (12) | Top of page | Blog Home

Daily Endorsement Tally: Kerry Picks up 30 Papers, Widens Lead

Daily Endorsement Tally: Kerry Picks up 30 Papers, Widens Lead

By Greg Mitchell

Published: October 17, 2004 11:00 AM EDT

NEW YORK Sen. John Kerry picked up a raft of newspaper endorsements Sunday, widening his lead over President George W. Bush in this area.

Kerry gained the editorial backing of at least 30 papers while Bush won the support of 17 that we know of, giving Kerry the overall lead by 45-30 in E&P's exclusive tally. Kerry has more large papers on his side, maintaining his "circulation edge" at nearly 3-1, with approximately 8.7 million circ to Bush's 3.3 million. (See chart, with complete tally, below.)

Bush did pick up several major papers this weekend, earning the endorsements of the Chicago Tribune, The Arizona Republic, Denver's Rocky Mountain News, the Fort Worth Star-Telegram, the Richmond Times-Dispatch, The Indianapolis Star, and The Dallas Morning News.

Among Kerry's new supporters were five papers that had backed Bush in 2000: the Bradenton Herald in Florida, the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo., the Columbia Daily Tribune in Missouri, the Daily Herald in Arlington Heights, Ill., and The Muskegon (Mich.) Chronicle.

Three other papers that backed Bush in 2000 announced they would not support either candidate this year: The Tampa Tribune, the Wichita Falls Times Record News in Texas, and the Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal.

In addition to the big-city papers already mentioned, Bush also won backing from the Omaha World-Herald, The Grand Rapids (Mich.) Press, The Free Lance-Star in Fredericksburg, Va., the York (Pa.) Daily Record, The Repository in Canton, Ohio, The Times Reporter in New Philadelphia, Ohio, The New York Sun, the El Paso Times, and Las Cruces Sun-News in New Mexico, and The News-Gazette in Champaign-Urbana, Ill.

Among the papers endorsing Kerry today were several in the key swing state of Florida: The Miami Herald, the St. Petersburg Times, South Florida Sun-Sentinel in Ft. Lauderdale, Florida Today in Melbourne, The Palm Beach Post, the Daytona Beach News-Journal, and, as already mentioned, the Bradenton Herald. In other battleground states, he picked up the Star Tribune in Minneapolis and the Duluth (Minn.) News Tribune, the Dayton Daily News and Akron Beacon Journal in Ohio, and, as previously mentioned, the Daily Camera in Boulder, Colo.

Kerry also got the nod from major papers in states already friendly to him: The New York Times, The Boston Globe, San Jose Mercury News, San Francisco Chronicle, The Sacramento Bee, The Fresno Bee, and The Modesto Bee.

Other papers backing the Democrat were The Kansas City Star, The Roanoke (Va.) Times, the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald, The Charlotte (N.C.) Observer, the Lexington (Ky.) Herald-Leader, the Mail Tribune in Medford, Ore., and The Press Democrat in Santa Rosa, Calif. Clearly, many papers in the Knight Ridder and McClatchy chains have rallied to Kerry's side.

Many of the editorials backing Kerry denounced the incumbent in unusually harsh language. The Miami Herald accused Bush of "narrow partisanship." Up the coast, the Daytona paper cited his "embarrassing performance." The Sacramento Bee said, "The nation has paid a steep price for Bush's arrogance -- mounting deficits and debt at home, loss of standing and effectiveness abroad." For The New York Times, his presidency has simply been "disastrous."

In supporting Bush, The Indianapolis Star nevertheless called both candidates "unsatisfying" and the Chicago Tribune also seemed a bit torn: "There is much the current president could have done differently over the last four years. There are lessons he needs to have learned. And there are reasons -- apart from the global perils likely to dominate the next presidency -- to recommend either of these two good candidates."

The Dallas Morning News was more enthusiastic, however, declaring: "Americans want and need a president with a backbone steeled by courage and a heart tendered by compassion." It added, "This is not the time for America to go wobbly. ... This is not the time for Americans to abandon their president."

But The Tampa Tribune, which has long backed Republicans, declared that it found itself in "a position unimaginable four years ago" when it "strongly endorsed" the president. While it has no deep affection for Kerry, the paper noted, it expressed disappointment in Bush and said it would "not be lending our voice to the chorus of conservative-leaning newspapers endorsing the president's re-election. ... But we are unable to endorse President Bush for re- election because of his mishandling of the war in Iraq, his record deficit spending, his assault on open government and his failed promise to be a 'uniter not a divider' within the United States and the world."

Our current tally, with latest daily circulation numbers, follows. "G" and "B" refer to whether the paper endorsed Gore or Bush in 2000. (Chart updated Monday, Oct. 18.)

JOHN KERRY
48 newspapers total
8,935,195 daily circulation

ARIZONA
Arizona Daily Star (Tucson) (G): 109,592

CALIFORNIA
San Francisco Chronicle (G): 501,135
The Sacramento Bee (G): 303,841
San Jose Mercury News (G): 279,539
The Fresno Bee (G): 166,531
The Press Democrat (Santa Rosa) (G): 89,384
The Modesto Bee (G): 87,366

COLORADO
Daily Camera (Boulder) (B): 33,419

CONNECTICUT
The Day (New London) (B): 39,553

FLORIDA
St. Petersburg Times (G): 358,502
The Miami Herald (G): 325,032
South Florida Sun-Sentinel (Ft. Lauderdale) (G): 268,927
The Palm Beach Post (G): 181,727
Daytona Beach News-Journal (G): 112,945
Florida Today (Melbourne) (G): 90,877
Bradenton Herald (B): 52,163

GEORGIA
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution : 418,323

ILLINOIS
Daily Herald (Arlington Heights) (B): 150,794

IOWA
The Hawk Eye (Burlington) (G): 19,000

KENTUCKY
Lexington Herald-Leader (G): 122,748

MAINE
Portland Press Herald (G): 73,211

MASSACHUSETTS
The Boston Globe (G): 452,109

MICHIGAN
Detroit Free Press (G): 354,581
The Muskegon Chronicle (B): 46,505
The Argus-Press (Owosso): 11,438

MINNESOTA
Star Tribune (Minneapolis) (G): 377,058
Duluth News Tribune: 45,688
The Free Press (Mankato): 21,591

MISSOURI
St. Louis Post-Dispatch (G): 281,198
The Kansas City Star (G): 269,188
Columbia Daily Tribune (B): 18,874

NEVADA
Nevada Appeal (Carson City): 15,296

NEW MEXICO
The Albuquerque Tribune (B): 13,536

NEW YORK
The New York Times (G): 1,133,763

NORTH CAROLINA
The Charlotte Observer (G): 231,369
The Daily Reflector (Greenville): 25,777

NORTH DAKOTA
Grand Forks Herald (G): 32,385

OHIO
Dayton Daily News (G): 183,175
Akron Beacon Journal (G): 139,220

OREGON
The Oregonian (Portland) (B): 342,040
Mail Tribune (Medford): 35,524
The Register-Guard (Eugene) (G): 72,411

PENNSYLVANIA
The Philadelphia Inquirer (G): 387,692
The Philadelphia Daily News (G): 139,983

TENNESSEE
The Jackson Sun (G): 35,561

VIRGINIA
The Roanoke Times: 100,447

WASHINGTON
The Seattle Times (B): 237,303
Seattle Post-Intelligencer (G): 150,901

GEORGE W. BUSH
34 newspapers total
4,776,231 daily circulation

ALABAMA
Mobile Register (B): 100,244

ARIZONA
The Arizona Republic (Phoenix) (B): 466,926

CALIFORNIA
The San Diego Union-Tribune (B): 361,317

COLORADO
Rocky Mountain News (Denver) (B): 286,004
The Pueblo Chieftain: 52,208

GEORGIA
Savannah Morning News (B): 57,288

ILLINOIS
Chicago Tribune (B): 578,843
The Pantagraph (Bloomington) (B): 47,931
The News-Gazette (Champaign-Urbana): 39,190

INDIANA
The Indianapolis Star (B): 253,778

IOWA
Globe-Gazette (Mason City): 18,947

MASSACHUSETTS
The Sun (Lowell) (B): 50,369

MICHIGAN
The Grand Rapids Press (B): 139,216
The Oakland Press (Pontiac): 65,484

NEBRASKA
Omaha World-Herald (B): 197,627

NEVADA
Las Vegas Review-Journal (B): 170,061

NEW HAMPSHIRE
The Union Leader (Manchester) (B): 59,605

NEW MEXICO
Carlsbad Current-Argus (B): 8,030
Las Cruces Sun-News (B): 22,168

NEW YORK
The New York Sun: 18,000

OHIO
The Repository (Canton) (B): 66,014
The Times Reporter (New Philadelphia): 23,956
The Courier (Findlay) (B): 22,319

OKLAHOMA
Tulsa World (B): 139,383

PENNSYLVANIA
York Daily Record (G): 46,554

TENNESSEE
The Leaf-Chronicle (Clarksville): 22,057

TEXAS
The Dallas Morning News (B): 546,177
San Antonio Express-News (B): 252,889
Fort Worth Star-Telegram (B): 247,167
El Paso Times: 74,278
Amarillo Globe-News (B): 51,105

VIRGINIA
Richmond Times-Dispatch (B): 191,732
The Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg) (B): 47,866

WASHINGTON
The Columbian (Vancouver) (B): 51,498
Greg Mitchell (gmitchell@editorandpublisher.com) is the editor of E&P.

October 27, 2004 at 11:05 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (9) | Top of page | Blog Home

Torrented Stewart-on-Crossfire audience outstrips cable audience

Poor old Tucker gets a roughing over.

Boing Boing: Torrented Stewart-on-Crossfire audience outstrips cable audience

Best guess is that the Bittorrent downloads of Jon Stewart on Crossfire have outstripped the size of the audience for the cablecast of Crossfire.

October 18, 2004 at 10:13 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

Report damns UK political blogs

Guardian Unlimited | The Guardian | Report damns UK political blogs

Ros Taylor
Monday July 19, 2004

The quality of comment and debate on political blogs is often poor or even non-existent, and the jury is still out on whether they will ever make a significant contribution to parliamentary democracy, according to a Hansard Society report out toda

In the frequently damning report, the society says political blogging is still in its infancy. While it still has great potential to engage the electorate, the authors say, blogging forms a very minor part of public debate.

The survey drew on reports by eight members of the public who were asked to monitor several of the best-known political weblogs for four weeks. None felt that their political awareness and participation had been stimulated by the blogs, and only one said they would bother to revisit any of them when the survey was over.

The eight bloggers chosen for the study included Tom Watson - the first MP to start a blog and the winner of the elected representative category in the New Statesman's recent new media awards - and Lib Dem councillor Lynne Featherstone , North Norfolk Conservative parliamentary candidate Iain Dale, Howard Dean, Harry Hatchet, the thinktank collective VoxPolitics and Greenpeace campaigners.

The jurors were impressed by the "look and feel" of the blogs, and found some of their authors witty and insightful. However, they also complained the postings could be tedious, long-winded and opinionated. Most found that their own contributions were ignored.

The report says content is at the root of the problem. "The jurors could not find enough to empathise, or even to disagree with, in what they read." Bloggers, particularly MPs and other elected politicians, must continue to experiment with the format and find ways to "ask" rather than "tell" their readers.

But Professor Stephen Coleman of the Oxford Internet Institute said MPs' blogging efforts would always be treated cynically by the public. "The problem facing politicians who blog is that they are professionally implicated in the very culture that blogging seeks to transcend," he comments in the report. "The public will never relax in their company and will be ever suspicious that today's 'spontaneous' blog entry was yesterday's faxed 'message' from the party HQ."

He said the future of the medium probably lies among the "millions of public-private bloggers" rather than in politicians touting for votes.

The Hansard Society also expressed concern at the possibility that the next general election would inspire a wave of homogenous, party-approved campaign blogs. "Should we ... expect a launch of off-the-shelf party weblogs in the run-up to the forthcoming UK elections, modelled on their American counterparts and run by blogmasters in party headquarters, as it happened in the States?"

The most successful blogs concentrated on "local and specialised content", the authors added. MPs were "broadcasting", but were not yet using blogs to canvass their constituents' views.

July 19, 2004 at 08:44 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dems Credential Bloggers; GOP Will, Too

Yahoo! News - Dems Credential Bloggers; GOP Will, Too

Fri Jul 9,11:11 PM
By ANICK JESDANUN, AP Internet Writer
NEW YORK - More than 30 independent Web journalists have been accredited to cover the Democratic convention, and the Republicans said Friday they'll also credential so-called bloggers.

It's the first time bloggers will be joining the thousands of newspaper, magazine and broadcast journalists at the quadrennial presidential-nomination events.

The Democrats initially invited an additional 20 bloggers to their July 26-29 party in Boston, but later rescinded those approvals and blamed a computer gaffe. That prompted complaints of unprofessionalism and favoritism.

Convention spokeswoman Peggy Wilhide said the approval letters that went to the disinvited had been generated by mistake.

Anticipating criticisms that decisions were ideologically based, Wilhide said only two of the 20 credentials rescinded were for "right-leaning" blogs. She pointed to the approval of at least one "right-leaning" blog, Oxblog, though the co-founder who applied, Patrick Belton, is a registered Democrat who considers himself centrist.

Meanwhile, Republican convention spokesman Leonardo Alcivar said Friday that the GOP, too, will credential bloggers � likely 10 to 20. He said Republicans still were crafting the procedures and guidelines for their Aug. 30-Sept. 2 gathering in New York City, but won't reject bloggers based on viewpoint alone.

The independent bloggers will be joining scores of others hired by and accredited through traditional news organizations, including The Associated Press and MSNBC.com.

Some 200 independent bloggers had sought credentials for the Democratic convention. They were screened for their originality, readership level and professionalism, convention officials say.

"Some blogs posted like once a month, so obviously those aren't going to qualify," Wilhide said.

But ultimately, Democrats had to make some tough choices.

For traditional media, both big political parties generally rely on rules established by committees of journalists for getting passes to cover Congress. No such procedure exists for blogs, and convention staffers had to review each blog and apply subjective criteria.

Belton, 28, a doctoral candidate in international relations at Oxford University, said he was "tickled pink" when he learned by phone Thursday he had been accepted. (Notifications were sent by postal mail, but Belton said he hasn't checked his mailbox in days.)

"It will be great fun to participate in the symbolic first convention of the blog," said Belton, who said he's now "trying to scrape the pennies together" for a flight from England.

Bill Ardolino, on the other hand, said he's now out nearly $1,000 for hotel and travel booked after he received an approval letter Tuesday, a day before he was disinvited by e-mail.

Ardolino, 28, runs INDC Journal from Washington, D.C., and acknowledges he's an "outspoken critic" of Democratic nominee John Kerry (news - web sites).

"I certainly have the suspicion that it's because of the nature of my site," Ardolino said. "The whole thing is unprofessional. They've really messed up what could have generated a lot of good will in the blogosphere."

Wilhide would not release a full list of the approved bloggers, but said they included the Democratic-leaning Burnt Orange Report, Daily Kos, Pandagon.net and TalkLeft. Jerome Armstrong of MyDD.com also confirmed to The Associated Press that he had been accepted.

Bloggers will have the same access as traditional journalists within the FleetCenter convention hall, Wilhide said. And bloggers will join radio journalists with workspace in the FleetCenter itself, while other media will be in nearby buildings, she said.

Democrats also will host a breakfast for bloggers on opening day.

July 10, 2004 at 03:46 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (12) | Top of page | Blog Home

Kerry Relies on E-Mail for Edwards Announcement

Yahoo! News - Kerry Relies on E-Mail for Edwards Announcement

By Andy Sullivan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The hottest political news of the summer arrived on a tide of spam Tuesday morning as Democratic presidential candidate John Kerry (news - web sites) sent an e-mail announcing Sen. John Edwards (news - web sites) would be his running mate.

Half an hour after Kerry called Edwards to offer him the vice-presidential slot, one million Kerry supporters received an e-mail explaining that the North Carolina senator "understands and defends the values of America."

"You are the heart and soul of this campaign," Kerry's message said. "Because of your incredible grassroots energy and commitment, I wanted to make the first official announcement of my decision to you."

Minutes later, the Republican National Committee (news - web sites) fired off a response: "Who is John Edwards? A disingenuous, unaccomplished liberal and friend to personal injury trial lawyers."

By the time Kerry announced the news in person at a Pittsburgh rally 45 minutes later, Democratic and Republican Web sites were ready with dueling videos, fact sheets and statements.

But they were all 12 hours behind the air-travel Web site USAviation.com, where on Monday night a visitor wrote that John Edwards decals were being fitted to Kerry's campaign plane in a Pittsburgh hangar.

The Internet has sped up the pace of political campaigns and allowed them to stay in close touch with their most energetic supporters, experts said.

By telling those on his e-mail list first about Edwards' selection, Kerry is trying to build a sense of loyalty among people most likely to knock on doors for him, said Michael Cornfield, an adjunct professor at George Washington University's school of political management.

"They're the opinion leaders," Cornfield said. "They're the focus of this online activity, and they tend to be the ones gobbling up this insider information."

Unlike television and other media, Internet use spikes during the day, when most people are at work. Faithful supporters expect to see a response to any big news before the end of the day, not in the next day's newspapers.

Thus President Bush (news - web sites)'s campaign responded quickly with a video spot charging Kerry had been spurned by his top choice, Republican Sen. John McCain.

Meanwhile, the Democratic National Committee (news - web sites) posted a video spot showing McCain criticizing Bush.

"It's gone from being a 24-hour news cycle to a nanosecond news cycle," said Lee Rainie, director of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, a nonprofit organization that studies U.S. Internet use.

July 8, 2004 at 12:28 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (3) | Top of page | Blog Home

European election campaign �blog� is a first

The Malta Independent Daily Website

The European Parliament election campaign’s first on-line diary – a web log or “blog” – will be launched by the Party of European Socialists (PES) this weekend in a move to counter voter apathy. The Malta Labour Party is a full member of PES.

Party president Poul Nyrup Rasmussen has chosen May Day to begin publication of his personal view on the campaign across 25 countries.

The four-language Euroblog will be published on the PES website: www.pes.org and will appear daily until election day in June, giving former Danish premier Mr Rasmussen�s inside story about the ups and downs of the European campaign.

Visitors to the website will be able to take up issues raised by Mr Rasmussen and post their views.

Said Mr Rasmussen, who heads the Danish social democrat list at the elections: �Politicians must embrace modern ways of communicating with the electorate. I believe that my Euroblog will help to raise the level of interest in the elections, particularly among young people.

�It will be open and frank � and it will be interactive. I will say what I think and give some insights into what is going on behind the scenes.

�Apathy is our great enemy at these elections.

�If my Euroblog plays a part in engaging ordinary people in the campaign, and helping them to understand the issues at stake, I will be delighted.�

At an election congress in Brussels last week, the PES published the first-ever pledge card for a European election campaign. The card sets out four key commitments to the electorate in 25 countries.

Said Mr Rasmussen: �Our commitments � on sharing prosperity in a social Europe, creating more and better jobs, managing migration, pursuing social integration and fighting terrorism and its causes � meet the primary concerns of the people in all our countries.�

May 4, 2004 at 10:04 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (22) | Top of page | Blog Home

Belinda Stronach hs an opportunity to learn from Deans mistakes

Stronach can learn from Howard Dean following the launch of her internet site. Internet is not a strategy in and of itself. Its a tool, albeit a powerful one, but it must reflect the overall strategy of the Stronach campaign.

It is all to easy to get carried away in the design of a web site, and the result might look great, and resonate with the audience, but in this case Stronach is an unknown (just like Dean). So the web site will create an impression, and then later when people see her on television, the reality had better match up with the original impression.

This is what did the Dean campaign in; when he started campaigning in Iowa, and people saw him nationally for the first time, even before "the shriek", he came across as awkward, and not the smooth articulate leader which the web site presented.

So when I look at www.belinda.ca I have to admit my impression is somewhere between Martha Stewart, and Niglella Lawson. The Stewart metaphor is unfortunate, but compare the sites for yourself. Secondly, this is a play on her as a woman, and her personality .... so I have never met or even seen her, but that will be the true test when we all see her regualrly on television.

February 22, 2004 at 01:46 PM in @ My Views @, Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (6) | Top of page | Blog Home

Web Belinda whips up new politics

TheStar.com - Web Belinda whips up new politics

Winter doldrums. Pervasive weight of SAD — you know, seasonal affective disorder — descends.

Tried and true resolution: Throw a party!
Think. What is the latest trend in parties? Massive vodka tub chipped out of backyard ice berm? Pass�, pass�. Martinis? Circa last year. Low-carb beer? Well, doesn't that just sound like a whole heck of a lot of fun.

Turn to Belinda for advice.
Yes, Belinda.

Not Belinda herself, in person, you understand. But Belinda the Web site, her other self. There's something about Belinda that suggests the essence of a party girl. Possibly Belinda the Web site provides party tips. Something festive but with a soup�on of political flair.

What's this? Right there on Belinda.ca the Conservative leadership hopeful offers "Planning Tips" for "Hosting a Belinda House Party." Sometimes you just can't believe your own dumb luck. The erstwhile auto parts executive has taken all the angst, all the stress, out of party preparations.

Her organizers have thought of just about every little thing.

Step One: Invite the guests! Sounds obvious, but remember, some of us are forgetful. "Develop a list of people you can invite to attend the House Party. Begin with your neighbors (new and old), family, friends and colleagues. Think broadly!"

Worry not about family feuds, spouse swapping neighbours and long-held political animosities. "You might be surprised at which of your friends will come," advises Web Belinda. "People don't have to be politically active to attend, only concerned about the direction our country is heading. Look for names in your Rolodex file, address book, e-mail lists, and your holiday card list."

Easy enough.

Step Two: remember the date. Wednesday, Feb. 25. It may sound odd to have a party date chosen for you. Think of it as a gift. Picking a party date can be enormously stressful.

True, Wednesday may not seem the edgiest night of the week. But time is of the essence here. The deadline date for signing up new Conservative party members is Feb. 29. The last bit may sound a touch pedestrian, but remember, just because it's a political membership drive doesn't prevent you from enjoying your favourite Coldplay tunes until 4 a.m.

Step Three: Worried about drawing a sell-out crowd in such a short lead time? Web Belinda has advice: "Remember the old `wedding rule' � invite four times as many people as you have set as your target number. Many people may not be able to attend (but they can still join the Conservative party) and others may not show up on the day of your house party."

How about some added insurance. "Ask every person who accepts to bring a guest along with them. You will increase your potential membership sales and they may feel more comfortable being able to bring a friend. Give a prize to the guests that brings (sic) the most friends along."

Web Belinda offers no gift suggestions. Use your imagination.

Step Four: Encourage attendees to bring their non-communicative teenagers. 14-year-olds are invited to join the Conservative Party so long as they pay the same signup fee as everyone else � $10. This sum, by the way, must come from the teenager's own resources which should not be a problem as teenagers, as we know, have vastly deeper resources than their kid-whipped parents.

Step Five: Aim to sign up at least 10 new Conservative party members prior to party day. Why would you want to do that? For the simple reason that 10 advance membership sales may draw Belinda to your party. No, not the real Belinda. "The centerpiece of your Belinda house party on February 25 could be having Belinda on the phone. Each successful House Party host will be given the 1-800 number and password to dial into the National House Party Conference Call that Belinda will be on if you sell at least 10 memberships by February 24th."

Step Six: Not used to conducting conference calls from the comfort of your rumpus room? Again, Web Belinda has the answer. "For the conference call, you will want to test your speakerphone ahead of time to make sure that it works properly. You will also want to make sure that the volume is adjusted so that all of your friends can hear. If you do not have a speakerphone, you can borrow one from a friend."

Step Seven: What to serve? Always vexing. Here Web Belinda offers only the most general guidelines. "When deciding upon refreshments remember it does not have to be elaborate or expensive. Any amount you spend in this regard must be paid with your personal funds and may not be expensed or reimbursed." Pies are always nice. Bake the biggest pie you possibly can.

Step Eight: Be prepared. You will want to set up a table to hold membership forms, a sign-up sheet and campaign literature, as well as stickers, buttons and posters. Extra pens are always a good idea. Try not to make this display appear like something out of a Grand & Toy catalogue.

Step Nine: What to wear? Web Belinda offers a photo of what is meant to be a house party in action. For the men: shirt and tie. Jacket optional. For the women: that impossible to attain post-work sleek designer look. Should all of your friends and family look like Janel Moloney and Eric McCormack, they will be playing to type.

Step Ten: Be assertive. Says Web Belinda: "Don't be shy! Remember you are hosting this party; be upfront about your intentions. Explain to your guests why you support Belinda and the importance of her candidacy in this leadership race. Let them know that this is a numbers game."

Step Eleven, try to maintain a party atmosphere while muscling your guests to sign those membership forms. "Ask your guests for their support more than once," says Web Belinda. "Have someone by the door who can hand out supporter forms as they arrive. Ask again after they have had the opportunity to hear Belinda speak, and remind them why you are supporting her. Do not let your guests leave without one final ask."

Finally, don't forget to have fun.

The future in Canadian politics is just beginning.

February 22, 2004 at 12:50 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (4) | Top of page | Blog Home

Parallel World With Its Own Rules

Internet Ad Attack: In Politics, the Web Is a Parallel World With Its Own Rules

By JIM RUTENBERG
Published: February 22, 2004

It was a sharp video attack, jarring in a political season that has been unusually short on negative advertising. A woman, sitting at a keyboard, seeks information about Senator John Kerry on the Internet. She unearths all sorts of scandalizing tidbits.

�More special interest money than any other senator. How much?�� she says.

The answer flashes on the screen: $640,000. �Ooh, for what?�� she says, typing out ��Paybacks?�� and then reading aloud from the screen, she says, ��Millions from executives at HMO�s, telecoms, drug companies.�� She add, "Ka-Ching!"

She can only come to one damning conclusion: Mr. Kerry, she says, is ��Unprincipled.��

The one-minute spot, introduced a week ago, did not appear on television, but on President Bush�s campaign Web site. And so a new bare-knuckled political use of the World Wide Web showed its head: the Internet attack ad.

When the Web was in its infancy, Internet utopians envisioned a political revolution, predicting that the new medium would engage and empower voters as never before. Much of what they envisioned has come to pass, with the Internet facilitating vigorous debate this year, most dramatically, giving Howard Dean�s campaign the ability to raise millions.

But part of the Web�s appeal has been its unbridled nature, and it is showing that it can act as a back alley � where punches can be thrown and things can be said that might be deemed out of place, even if just at a particular moment, in the full light of the mainstream media.

�The principals themselves feel like they can act out there in a way that they wouldn�t dare to do in the mainstream media,�� said Jonathan Zittrain, a director of the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard Law School.

Mr. Bush�s campaign, for instance, has not been ready to launch a confrontational television ad, let alone a positive one, because it is trying to cling to the transcendent trappings of the Rose Garden for as long as possible.

But it wanted to rob Mr. Kerry of his claim to be a reformer � by pointing out his support from special interests � without wading too deeply into real campaign waters, said Mark McKinnon, Mr. Bush�s chief media strategist.

�Senator Kerry was getting a free ride from a lot of the Democrats, and we felt it was important to point out what he was saying was inconsistent with his record, but we were not prepared to engage that fully yet,�� he said. �The Web offered a modulated way of engaging.��

The Democrat candidates have not aggressively used attack ads on the Web, although they have used Mr. Bush as a target on television instead of confronting each other, which could risk weakening the party�s chances of gaining the White House.

The Bush Web ad offered all of the emotional impact of a television commercial without all of the political impact.

For one, a Web ad, unlike a television commercial, does not fall under new election rules requiring candidates to appear in their own advertisements to voice approval of them. By not having to take direct responsibility for his anti-Kerry spot, Mr. Bush got some distance from it � even though it is on his Web site.

But perhaps most significantly, the Web has evolved as a relatively permissive environment. A negative advertisement that might rub viewers the wrong way in their living rooms is apparently less likely to do so when they are at their computers.

The tension between the different strata of media was evident when The Drudge Report, the news Web site, recently reported that several major news organizations were investigating a rumor that Mr. Kerry may have had an extramarital affair.

Unlike the Monica Lewinsky scandal, news of which The Drudge Report also broke, the Kerry rumor had no accompanying criminal investigation, which could justify coverage by itself, and newsrooms across the country found themselves in a state of paralysis � caught between ignoring a story millions already knew about or validating a charge without independent confirmation.

The pressure mounted as The Drudge Report posted follow-up articles, effectively fanning the flames. Those watching from the sidelines saw the situation as a test of just how far the major newspapers, magazines and television networks would allow themselves to be pushed.

�Clearly the Internet is accelerating the pace at which politics move,�� said Jim Jordan, Mr. Kerry�s former campaign manager. �And, increasingly, it seems to allow the mainstream media to rationalize editorial decisions that wouldn�t have been made in the past.��

Ultimately, most news organizations, however, did not take the bait, with some ignoring the story entirely and others, including The New York Times, reporting denials from Mr. Kerry and the woman in question deep within their news pages.

�There was no proof of anything,�� said Tom Hannon, the CNN political director. He said the network buried the denials in other campaign reports. Mickey Kaus, who had discussed the ethics of reporting the rumor on his Web blog, kausfiles.com, agreed that two different journalism worlds exist and he said that it�s a good thing.

�Clearly we seem to be settling into an equilibrium where standards on the Web are different, and people can live with that as long as the mainstream press behaves the way it behaved during this latest scandal, which is to say they stick to their own standards,�� Mr. Kaus said.

On the Internet, he said, a large number of people can get wind of the sorts of conversations taking place in the proverbial smoke-filled rooms.

�Now everybody can know what the political pros know,�� he said. �So if you�re a voter concerned about electability, you want to know Kerry�s potential problems down the road. Now you have a vague idea, and you can discount them or take them into account depending on what you think.��

February 22, 2004 at 07:45 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (2) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dean Leaves Legacy of Online Campaign

My earlier post on this point.

Yahoo! News - Dean Leaves Legacy of Online Campaign

By Brian Faler, Special to The Washington Post
Howard Dean (news - web sites)'s presidential campaign ended this week much as it began: lagging in the polls and nearly broke. But along the way, the campaign used the Internet in sometimes radically new ways -- a legacy that experts predict will live on as they try to divine the lessons of Dean's innovative if, ultimately, unsuccessful bid.

Was it the political equivalent of Pets.com, the widely mocked Internet start-up from the late 1990s that ran on little more than hype? Was it a glimpse into the future of campaigning -- a blueprint that other candidates will someday adopt as a matter of course? Or was it something else entirely?

Few quibble with Dean's success raising money online. The former Vermont governor entered the race a virtual unknown, with little in the way of a national fundraising network. But he raised $41 million in 2003 -- much of it online -- eclipsing all his Democratic rivals and breaking former president Bill Clinton (news - web sites)'s party record for money raised in a quarter.

His success has been attributed to any number of real-world factors: his straight-talking persona, his opposition to the war in Iraq (news - web sites), the favorable media coverage he enjoyed much of last year. But experts also credit his campaign with developing savvy online fundraisers -- essentially online telethons that posted their goals alongside urgent deadlines and icons counting the donations as they came in.

It was a simple idea, employed by any number of public TV stations. But it was a campaign innovation, allowing Dean to turn otherwise mundane fundraising pitches into a high-tech call to arms. Experts said it was a significant improvement from how candidates had previously asked for money online -- usually, by simply urging supporters to send a check sometime before the next election.

That Dean's money came mostly in small contributions from hundreds of thousands of supporters was particularly impressive, given his party's anemic efforts over the years to harvest such small donations. Republicans have long raised more from small donors, while Democrats have instead relied on "soft money" -- big, unregulated contributions that federal candidates and parties no longer may accept.

Simon Rosenberg, president of the centrist New Democrat Network, said his party is adopting much of Dean's strategy. "We had a different model in the '90s," he said. "The other model was: There are a few thousand people who we needed to fund our politics. Now, regular people and their labor -- and their money -- is a core part of what we do every day."

The Dean campaign is also credited with introducing the political community to blogs, Web pages where thousands of people post their thoughts, musings, rants and commentaries. In 2000, candidates' Web sites were rather staid, designed mainly to introduce themselves to broad segments of the electorate.

But the Dean blog -- like those his rivals later launched -- gave his most fervent supporters a place to hang out (virtually), meet, chat and sometimes suggest ideas for the campaign honchos in Vermont. Campaign officials said they read the thousands of comments that Dean supporters posted and adopted many of their suggestions. But more importantly, the officials said, the blog helped create a sense of community among far-flung supporters, deepening their commitment to the former governor.

The Dean campaign also broke new ground in political organizing, using the Internet to help most anyone, anywhere to campaign on its behalf. It created an array of online tools -- a Web-based directory of supporters, a site that enabled them to find and schedule their own Dean events. But its noted achievement was realizing the potential of Meetup.com, a nonpartisan Web site that helps people interested in politics and other subjects find one another. More than 185,000 people signed up in support of the former governor, while tens of thousands more joined on behalf of one of his rivals.

"The big question with online stuff [in previous elections] was: Okay, great -- they're online. But can you get people to do anything off-line in their communities by using the Net?'" said Joe Trippi, Dean's former campaign manager. "One of the big achievements in Meetup was showing you could."

In the end, the online innovations did not put Dean on top in a single primary or caucus, prompting questions about the strategy's value. Some political activists say the campaign focused too much energy on online supporters at the expense of the general electorate. Others say his campaign did not give enough direction to its army of supporters.

Richard Davis, a Brigham Young University political scientist and co-author of "Campaigning Online," attributed Dean's spectacular collapse to several factors -- his sometimes impolitic remarks, for example -- that had nothing to do with the Internet.

"I don't think we should blame the Internet for his failure," Davis said. "It was not his salvation, and it was not his failure. It was, quite simply, a tool that he actually used pretty effectively."

February 20, 2004 at 04:05 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (36) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dean Aide Leaves, After Saying He Might Shift Support

Buried deep in this article in the NY Times, dated Feb 16th is the following non-comittal piece on Polier.

Internet makes this whole process very transaprent as it evolves and the story slowly moves beyond blogs, and foreign media.

Dean Aide Leaves, After Saying He Might Shift Support

"Also today, the woman at the center of allegations that she had an extramarital affair with Mr. Kerry came forward to deny the rumors, which first appeared on the Web site of the Internet gossip columnist Matt Drudge. Mr. Kerry had also denied the allegations last week.
In a statement to The Associated Press, her former employer, the woman, Alexandra Polier, called the allegations "lies."

"Because these stories were false, I assumed the media would ignore them," she said. "It seems that efforts to peddle these lies continue, so I feel compelled to address them. I have never had a relationship with Senator Kerry, and the rumors in the press are completely false. Whoever is spreading these rumors and allegations does not know me, but should know the pain they have caused me and my family." She said she was in Kenya today with her fianc�e visiting his family. "

February 16, 2004 at 10:42 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (23) | Top of page | Blog Home

About Alex Polier (John Kerry intern case)

The coverage slowly expands, but still no mainstream US Media coverage.

Alex Polier Links

Alex Polier the daughter of Donna and Terry Polier of of Malvern, Pennsylvania is 27 years old. Alex is a graduate from Columbia University in New York. She was a Associated Press correspondent.

February 15, 2004 at 02:16 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (7) | Top of page | Blog Home

Democratic aide was source of affair rumour that dogs Kerry

Times Online - Newspaper Edition

Tony Allen-Mills, Madison, Wisconsin

ONLY a few days ago they were fighting hard for the Democratic presidential nomination, but on Friday Senator John Kerry and General Wesley Clark arrived in Wisconsin to shower each other with praise.
The front-running Massachusetts senator was “the right character to bring America forward”, Clark told cheering students in Madison. “He will stand up to the Republican attack dogs and send them home licking their wounds.”

Kerry was equally generous. Clark had shown �great selflessness and great courage� by ending his campaign and offering his support to a former rival.

It was exactly the display of solidarity that many Democrats had been praying for as Kerry closed on his party�s nomination to challenge President George W Bush. Yet behind the public back-slapping lurked a potential scandal that hinted at splits in the Democratic ranks.

Evidence was emerging that members of Clark�s campaign staff were the source of last week�s internet rumours that Kerry had engaged in an extramarital affair lasting at least two years.

Matt Drudge, the internet gossip, claimed a �world exclusive� when his Drudge Report website announced on Thursday: �Campaign drama rocks Democrats: Kerry fights off media probe of recent alleged infidelity, rivals predict ruin�.

Heading for Wisconsin ahead of this Tuesday�s primary, Kerry initially declared that there was �nothing to report, nothing to talk about�. Later he denied the story �categorically�. He added: �It�s rumour. It�s untrue. Period.�

Many Democrats suspected a ploy by Bush�s �attack dogs�, but The Sunday Times has established that the story first appeared on February 6 on an obscure internet website run by a self-confessed �web junkie� who worked for the Clark campaign. There is no evidence that Clark was aware of it.

Six days before Drudge�s story appeared, a political website named WatchBlog published an item purportedly discussing negative tactics in presidential campaigns.

�Rumour has it that John Kerry is going to be outed by Time magazine next week for having an affair with a 20-year-old woman who remains unknown,� alleged the WatchBlog item, which went almost unnoticed at the time. �The affair took place intermittently right up to Kerry�s autumn 2002 announcement (of his presidential candidacy).�

WatchBlog is the brainchild of Cameron Barrett, 30, a balding, bespectacled computer geek from Brooklyn who was hired by the Clark campaign last year to set up the general�s �blog�, or web-based diary.

Barrett, an amateur writer of short stories, attracted media attention in 1998 when he became one of the first people in America to lose a job over something published on the internet. Some of his colleagues at a Michigan marketing firm complained about sexually explicit fiction that he had posted on his personal website. One story concerned two snowmen having sex before they melted.

Barrett joined the Clark campaign soon after it was launched last September and was widely praised for his innovative use of the internet to rally the general�s supporters.

He could not be reached for comment yesterday and it was not immediately clear how his website had obtained the Kerry item, which ended with a proprietary boast: �I wanted to add that if this shows up in Time next week as my source claims, WatchBlog will have scooped an incredibly big story.�

The item never appeared in Time and instead it was Drudge who claimed the scoop. He added several details which heightened suspicion in the Kerry camp that Clark aides had attempted to derail the senator�s triumphant progress to keep their man in the race.

First, Drudge alleged, Clark himself had told reporters in an off-the-record conversation that �Kerry will implode over an intern issue�. Clark�s aides have strenuously denied that he made any such remark.

Other media sources have claimed that Chris Lehane, Clark�s press secretary, had �shopped around� the intern story, supposedly in the hope that Kerry would be embarrassed. Drudge quoted Craig Crawford, a respected correspondent for the Congressional Quarterly, as saying that Lehane first became aware of the story while working for Al Gore, the 2000 presidential candidate.

Gore was said to have rejected Kerry as a potential vice-presidential running mate largely because Bill Clinton, the then president, was already enmeshed in the Monica Lewinsky affair and nobody in the Democratic party could face even the hint of another intern scandal. Lehane has denied any knowledge of the Kerry allegations.

For a man whose ruin had been widely proclaimed only a few hours earlier, Kerry appeared remarkably chipper as he returned to the campaign trail in Madison on Friday after his latest victories in Tennessee and Virginia.

Not until he stopped for questions at a lunchtime forum in Madison did it become clear that he had taken precautions to shield himself from possible embarrassment. Questions were screened in advance and only supporters on an approved list were called upon to speak. Reporters grimaced as a succession of friendly Wisconsinites lobbed gentle queries about jobs, education and family dairy farmers.

No reference was made to interns; nor did Kerry mention his wife Teresa, the heir to a $500m ketchup fortune. Teresa had once joked to her now late husband, John Heinz, that she would �maim� him if he had an affair.

In one sense, at least, Kerry had nothing to worry about. The latest Wisconsin opinion poll gave him a seemingly invincible 37-point lead over Senator John Edwards, the North Carolina lawyer who appears determined to stay in the race in case Kerry stumbles. Another poll showed him extending his lead over Bush to 52%-43%.

In contrast to the torrent of internet speculation about Kerry, neither newspapers nor national television networks showed much interest in his alleged links to Alex Polier, a former political intern.

The reluctance of American editors to delve into sexual allegations has obscured the story�s potential impact on Kerry�s political prospects. While conservative chat show hosts seized on it, the rest of the American media were collectively agonising over whether Drudge and his internet ilk should be allowed to drag another presidential race into the gutter.

�Is American politics suddenly returning to the bad old days when Washington journalism became frenzied with sheet-sniffing and keyhole peeping?� asked Joe Conason, a columnist for Salon, the online journal.

At The New York Times the story awoke uncomfortable memories. After an earlier sexual scandal involving Senator Gary Hart � a presidential candidate who was photographed with his mistress on a yacht called Monkey Business � senior editors concluded that journalistic investigation had taken a wrong turn.

�They felt here was a guy with good ideas who was qualified to be president but got derailed,� one source at the paper said. �I remember editors saying, �Never again�.�

The Lewinsky scandal, which had involved allegations of perjury and sexual harassment, was too serious to be ignored. But leading American newspapers appear reluctant to pursue any new sexual story without evidence of other foul play. Rush Limbaugh, the right-wing radio host, mischievously suggested that Hillary Clinton was behind the leak, supposedly because success for Kerry would threaten her chances of running for president in 2008. �It�s not us conservatives,� he said.

At Kerry�s meetings there was little sign of concern among supporters at any revelations that might emerge. �I just don�t care what these people do with their private lives,� said Mariana Hewson, a medical consultant. �Who else cares apart from you?� Clark, for one, might care that excessive zeal by his staff appears to have handed the Republicans potentially lethal ammunition for the forthcoming presidential race.

Even before the intern allegations, both Democrats and Republicans were warning that the campaign is shaping up to be the dirtiest, angriest and most personal face-off since the last nominee from Massachusetts plunged to ignominious defeat at the hands of a Republican named Bush.

The 1988 battle between Michael Dukakis, the former Massachusetts governor, and George Bush Sr is remembered in Washington as a low point in the politics of personal destruction. Dukakis was savaged by Republicans as �soft on crime� after Willie Horton, a convicted murderer, was released from a Massachusetts jail and committed a violent rape.

�Every time you think politics has hit a new low, someone on the other side brings it down a notch,� said Charlie Baxter, a former national field director for Dukakis. �Senator Kerry has a full understanding of what he faces.�

Angered by Democratic questioning of Bush�s military performance as a reservist in the 1970s, Republican researchers have been scrutinising every aspect of Kerry�s past, from his Vietnam protest years to his long service in the Senate. A potentially embarrassing photograph of Kerry with Jane Fonda � who was reviled by many Vietnam veterans for visiting Hanoi during the war � popped up last week on a conservative website; 30-year-old quotes have also appeared in which Kerry called for US troops to be deployed abroad only under United Nations directives.

The Republican strategy is to portray Kerry as a liberal hypocrite who will say whatever wins the most votes. Kerry in turn portrays Bush as a president who deceived his country about the need for war in Iraq and cannot be trusted on any other issue.

Both sides are warning that the other is carrying negative attacks too far. �There�s certainly an anger that I think is unprecedented,� said Dominick Ianno, executive director of the Massachusetts Republican party.

Democratic claims that Bush went absent without leave from an Alabama military post in 1972 have infuriated the president�s supporters.

In response to complaints that Bush had not told the truth about performing his reservist duties as a pilot in the National Guard, the White House released hundreds of pages of military records that nonetheless shed little new light on a dispute that has provoked charges that the president was a �deserter�.

The documents reveal that in early evaluations Bush was described as �a top-notch fighter interceptor pilot� and an �exceptionally fine young officer�. They describe a battle with haemorrhoids but offer no fresh evidence that Bush completed all his required duties at a reservist base in Alabama between May 1972 and April 1973.

The White House had previously published dental records purportedly proving that Bush had his teeth checked while on duty in Alabama, and two local witnesses have come forward to say they remember him working at a Montgomery air base. But enough gaps remained for the Democrats to keep the issue alive.

In this context, the planting of a highly charged Kerry intern story � however wide of the truth � was the political equivalent of tossing a grenade into a volcano.

Drudge fanned the flames with his claims of a �world exclusive� but credit � or blame � for any eventual explosion will have to be shared with WatchBlog.

February 15, 2004 at 02:03 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (2) | Top of page | Blog Home

Dirty tricks row hits race for President

This story appeared this morning on the Drudge Report, and it seems to be showing signs of sticking, being picked up here in The Times.

Whats relevant to me, is that the Drudge Report is an internet site, and its the one that lauched the Monica Lewinsky story.

Interestingly the big news media (NY Times, Washington post) are not picking this up, so its an internet only story in the US ... it'll be interesting to see how it plays out, and how it originated.

Times Online

By Roland Watson
in Washington
DEMOCRATS hit out at “dirty tricks” yesterday after a right-wing website proclaimed the impending implosion of John Kerry’s presidential campaign due to a personal scandal.
The Drudge Report, an online gossip and news site, claimed a woman had recently fled the US, prompted by the Massachusetts senator. It alleged that Mr Kerry was fighting off claims of "recent alleged infidelity".

Even though there was no evidence for the claims, and key parts were denied, the report prompted feverish speculation among Washington insiders and highlighted the influence of unconventional internet sites in modern US politics.
The website claimed that it had nine million hits within hours of the report being posted, and it presented the Kerry campaign with the most awkward of dilemmas: should it ignore the claims or issue a denial that itself would make headlines?
Mr Kerry, resting after the rigours of the primary campaign, spent the day inside his elegant Washington home. His campaign staff, anxious to avoid at all costs adding any fuel to the fire, refrained from commenting.
But in the cyberspace age, the claims appeared around the world, leaving millions wondering whether this election, in a country split right down the middle, was going to live up to its billing as one of the dirtiest ever.
Key parts of the allegation were immediately challenged. The Drudge account claimed that Wesley Clark, the retired Nato commander who bowed out of the Democratic presidential race this week, had set the ball rolling by telling reporters that Mr Kerry had an �intern issue� which threatened his campaign.
Interns are young unpaid staffers who work for senior American politicians.
General Clark�s campaign called the report �utter rubbish�, and let it be known that he is expected to endorse Mr Kerry�s campaign today.
Drudge, notorious for running gossip spurned by the mainstream media, has a mixed record. It broke the story of President Clinton�s relationship with Monica Lewinsky, but had to apologise to one of Mr Clinton�s top aides for alleging that he beat his wife.
Drudge claimed that half a dozen news outlets were investigating the allegations against Mr Kerry, but most of them denied doing so last night.
Leonard Downie, executive editor of The Washington Post, mentioned by Drudge, said: �This is the first we�ve heard that we�re working on a story that we�re not working on.�
A reporter with Time magazine, also cited by Drudge, said the weekly magazine was as puzzled by the story as the rest of the world.
Sources within the Clark campaign blamed Republican �dirty tricks�, and gave warning that it was a taste of things to come. �They are just throwing mud,� he said.
Mr Kerry had already planned to take two days off the campaign trail to rest his sore throat and recover from the energies of his twin primary victories in Virginia and Tennessee on Tuesday.
Mr Kerry�s campaign offices in Massachusetts and Wisconsin referred all queries about the allegations to the campaign headquarters in Washington.

February 13, 2004 at 11:35 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (10) | Top of page | Blog Home

Why presidential candidate weblogs aren't working

An excellent piece on why political blogs aren't working despite everyone jumping on the bandwagon. Thats just it .. they are jumping on the bandwagon, instead of developing a strategy for their blog, and Dave sums up nicely how they should do it, until they figure it out. A blog is a window into someones mind, and some minds ... well, we just don't need to go there!

Blogger Con:

February 13, 2004 at 12:29 AM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (4) | Top of page | Blog Home

How Web Support Failed Dean in Crunch: Ex-Manager

Just when I thought Joe Trippi (Deans ex campaing manager, and architect of the online Dean personna which gathered $5MM over the internet in a few weeks) had it, he goes and blows it with excuses based on traditional thinking. Admittedly he has since been fired by Dean, but this is a feeble argument.

The real and only problem, as I said earlier, is that Dean online personna doesn't match the real man .. recipe for disaster.

Yahoo! News - How Web Support Failed Dean in Crunch: Ex-Manager

By Eric Auchard
SAN DIEGO (Reuters) - Internet activism that thrust up the Howard Dean (news - web sites) U.S. election campaign later hobbled the organization's ability to respond to criticism in the weeks before the primaries, Dean's former campaign manager said on Monday.

Joe Trippi, who resigned after defeats in Iowa caucuses and the New Hampshire Democratic presidential primary, said the direct involvement of so many Internet supporters deprived the campaign of the traditional weapon of political surprise.
"We were having a real problem with how to say, 'We could be in real trouble here,"' Trippi told a technology conference of the tactical trouble the Dean campaign had in balancing the need to keep supporters informed.

The transparency of the anti-establishment Dean campaign made it hard to respond to political attacks from his eight other Democratic opponents and media criticism of the candidate's missteps, he said.

"We couldn't figure out how to tell people we had a problem without raising the wrong impression. Part of the problem is that the press are reading our blogs (Internet journals)," he said.

Trippi, a veteran Democratic Party consultant, is credited with tapping the latest grass-roots Internet recruitment and fund-raising techniques to draw 600,000 volunteers and raise a record $45 million in financing for Dean in less than a year.

In his critique of the Internet's role in contemporary politics, Trippi hinted that Dean's candidacy may be coming to an end, even if he was unwilling to write its obituary yet.

"I still believe that Governor Dean has an excellent chance in Wisconsin," he said of next week's primary that Dean recently called a must-win for his candidacy to continue.

"(But) if Kerry wins in Wisconsin, it is over guys," he told an audience of 200 at the annual O'Reilly Emerging Technology conference here.

Trippi said the open online discussions that connected the Dean campaign with its broad base of supporters helped opponents by signaling in advance where Dean planned to spend money on costly local television advertising.

He said the decentralized nature of online involvement made it hard for a campaign manager to marshal a unified response.

The Dean campaign in effect created its own spam, with volunteers receiving e-mail from local Dean groups, state organizations and the national campaign, fragmenting its key messages, he said.

Meanwhile, other candidates took advantage of Dean's online organizational lists.

Early support for Dean evaporated as reporters picked up on policy misstatements by the candidate, leading up to Dean's much publicized scream when rallying supporters after his Iowa loss.

Despite the participation of hundreds of thousands of Internet supporters, that was no match for the mass media's rebroadcasting of Dean's primary night antics, Trippi said.

He criticized the media for emphasizing an event that was a form of entertainment, not news.

"It was the heat-seeking missile hitting its target that they run over and over again," Trippi said of the repeated airing of Dean's famous yell.

Nonetheless, Trippi said Internet activism was the best chance for Democrats to raise money and inspire voter participation in the November election.

The Democratic Party could still dislodge President Bush (news - web sites) if it tapped the Internet to raise $100 each from two million supporters, or $200 million in total, he said.

Bush has raised $131 million for his re-election bid.

February 9, 2004 at 10:14 PM in Politics | Permalink | TrackBack (13) | Top of page | Blog Home

Beltway Bloggers: Personal Politics Turn Communal on a Web of Local Internet Sites

Political lobbying and protesting meet blogging!

Beltway Bloggers (TechNews.com)

By Ellen McCarthy
Washington Post Staff Writer
Saturday, February 7, 2004; Page E01

When the D.C. Council held a public hearing on the proposed smoking ban for District bars and restaurants, more than a hundred people showed up to voice their opinions. Ban the Ban, a group organized by local bloggers, brought 25 people to testify on that December workday.

Zoe Mitchell, who led the online campaign, says the Ban the Ban turnout that day is proof that blogs are more than a wasteland of rhetoric. A veteran protester at 23, Mitchell has stormed congressional offices, marched against the war in Iraq and traveled the country attending anti-globalization rallies. She is trying to change the world; she believes that keeping a blog, a kind of online diary, will help.

Washington's blogsphere is a galaxy of local Web writers who are tied to their computers and to their connections with each other. There are plenty of gossipy teen blogs and "what-I-had-for-lunch" journals, but like the city itself, Washington's blog scene has a strong base of politicos.

Surfing through directories of Washington bloggers (several exist, including DCbloggers.com and the DC Metro Blog Map, a site that lists bloggers according to the nearest Metro stop) it is hard to miss the preponderance of politically charged blogs. Dedicated, like-minded bloggers have even founded circles of sites that link to one another and discuss similar topics. The Beltway Bloggers fall to the right. The Cato Blog Mafia consists of current and former employees of the Cato Institute. There are wonkish policy blogs, environmental blogs and libertarian blogs. Blogs that promoted the DC primary and track happenings in District education.

Web logs allow people with little technical know-how to create elaborate, quickly updated Internet sites at almost no expense. The growing ease of the technology has enticed hundreds (possibly thousands) of local residents to take their passions to the Web.

Blogging is a lifestyle, the most devoted say, and like the telephone or e-mail, can quickly become a second-nature method of communication.

One afternoon last week James Joyner trolled through the headlines on Google News, and learned that the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court ruled in favor of gay marriage. The Ashburn resident, who describes himself as a libertarian-leaning conservative, clicked through to the USA Today story on the ruling and decided to add it to his blog, Outside the Beltway.

A quick right-click of his mouse brings up a box giving Joyner, who uses a software system called Moveable Type, the option to link the story to his blog. He writes a couple of paragraphs of commentary and hits the "publish" button, sending an update to his blog. The whole process is done in about 10 minutes. There are options to change the way the text appears and some blogs are fancier than others, but very little technical prowess is actually required, he said.

Within hours Joyner received more than a dozen e-mails notifying him that readers had commented on that post. The replies go up on the site automatically, but Joyner can read the text in his e-mail and if there is a tawdry remark, he has the power to remove it. His site gets between 1,000 and 1,500 hits a day, mostly from people Joyner has never met.

"You get interaction going, discussions. People can get sort of heated and start calling each other names," said Joyner, 38, a former political science professor.

Joyner will sometimes post to his blog 25 times a day and regularly reads between 30 and 40 other blogs. The activity takes up to an hour or two of his time on weekdays, and while he says most of it is done at home, Joyner admits that he probably blogs more than he should from the office.

Joyner says he'd be reading the news anyway, and reasons that blogging is actually complementary to his job as a nonfiction editor for Brassey's Inc., a Dulles book publisher. "I'm trying to sign authors for books. Part of my job is finding out what the hot topics are," he explained.

Why spend so much time on what Joyner contends is "just a hobby?" It is simply a way to connect, many bloggers say, and can create a sense of community.

"It's definitely a community. You would tend to think that a technology like this would make it easier for people to avoid personal interaction, but it's just actually the opposite," said P.J. Doland, a member of the Cato Blog Mafia and author of a blog called the Frosty Mug Revolution.

A list of links to D.C. bloggers is a near-mainstay on most local blog sites, allowing bloggers to quickly reference each other. There are regular Friday night happy hours at Atomic Billiards, a Cleveland Park bar, where bloggers can put a face to a screen name. And member-only Yahoo user groups and e-mail lists allow Washington bloggers to privately discuss the craft and local blog gossip.

"When you have a theory or a concern, telling people over the phone, it's not that effective, but put it on your blog and you can tell the whole world," said Alexis Rice, a fellow with the Center for American Government at Johns Hopkins University who is stud