TIME ran a story about the role of weblogs in American politics & campaigns:
The importance of political blogs is not new. Howard Dean’s presidential campaign relied heavily on Internet supporters, and by the summer of 2004 both political parties were inviting bloggers to their nominating conventions. But politicians are now wooing the bloggers harder than ever. Much of the activity has been on the Democratic side, since pols on Capitol Hill see the blogs as a liberal media rival to conservative talk radio and potential 2008 candidates recognize left-wing blogs could prove a powerful force in the Democratic primaries. “It’s only been in the past couple of years that I started to fully appreciate the power of what’s going on in the blogosphere,” says former Virginia Governor Mark Warner, a likely Democratic presidential candidate in 2008. “These changes are coming and we can either fight them or embrace them.”
While they make some good points, I just can’t get rid of the feeling that someone (like, think tanks – maybe politicsonline– ?) are just starting to pitch the topic “weblogs” to the media. That way, when the next US election is coming along, the media wouldn’t have to establish what weblogs are again. Instead, the role of blogs in their campaigns would play a much larger role. Just a guess, is all.
Time.com > Nation > Campaigning on the Blogs
