Are Blogs the New Iowa?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
The Editor of PolicyByBlog and Emily Metzgar, a political columnist, just published (November 03, 2005) in the Christian Science Monitor an essay that deals with the prospect of the blogosphere becoming a "space" for running for President: COULD BLOGS TRUMP STUMPING IN IOWA? Like all newspaper pieces, we needed to be short and we were edited. To expand the context, for over a generation political scientists have noted that there was a campaign for president before the ostensible running season began with the Iowa Caucuses. The journalist Arthur Hadley called this period the "invisible primary." Would-be presidents underwent a series of "tests." (Think Labors of Hercules!) As articulated by political scientist Rhodes Cook, these trails included: (more…)...
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Daily Kos Tops Iowa and NH?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
According to a recent article in the Christian Science Monitor: "Blogs still rank well behind traditional television, radio, and newspaper outlets as a source of news, but they are gaining ground rapidly. The liberal blog Daily Kos attracted nearly 4.8 million visitors this July, compared with 3.4 million in January, according to Nielsen//NetRatings…" The population of Iowa is 2,926,324. The population of New Hampshire is 1,235,786. Their total population is, thus: 4,162,110. That means Daily Kos had more "residents" in July than the two "first in the nation" states for the presidential nomination race. Of course, it is apples and ipods to compares a state with a website, but the numbers do point out the increasing locii of geopolitical power and attention that are blogs. One big difference: to meet everyone in Iowa, you have to travel all over Iowa. To get seen by everyone in Daily Kos land a single headlining post is enough. Originally posted November 7, 2005 at PolicyByBlog ...
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Bloggers are First-hand Reporters for the Invisible Primary

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Bill Keller, editor of the New York Times, in one of a series of dismissals of bloggers, summed up his opinion of their contribution to the information society by the following: "Bloggers recycle and chew on the news. That's not bad. But it's not enough." I disagree. Many bloggers are creating new content, hunting and gathering news and information, not just digesting it. The presidential race--or pre-race creates many examples. The invisible primary is a time of severely reduced press attention to presidential hopefuls. Even bigfoot frontrunners like, say, Hillary Clinton, do not get much national media attention speaking to the Women's Democratic Caucus in a rural county in Iowa. As Richard di Benedetto of USA Today once commented to me: "When I started in this business, I was taught that the job of a journalist was to go someplace that the public couldn't get to and report what he saw and heard." (more…)...
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Blogs of War: Then and Now

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
A few years ago I wrote a book on the history of the visualization of war.  Today, writing a book on blogging, I see a striking differences between two "blogs of war," that is, first person accounts of a battle in the Middle East. Then: In c. 1300 BCE, the pharaoh Rameses II and his army fought a battle against a Hittite army at Kadesh, in what is now Syria. The battle was a draw; in fact, the Egyptians ended up retreating. But Rameses' memorial temple--an instance of massive communication--shows on its 100-foot walls pictures and hieroglyphics of the great ruler as victorious. As originally painted, Rameses is bronze skinned, broad shouldered, long armed, resolute of face, wearing the twin crowns of upper and lower Egypt, and many times larger than the Hittites and his own men--a superman in the anthropological as well as comic book sense. (Rameses became the "Ozymandias"  who, in Shelley's poem, demanded that all "look upon my works, ye mighty,...
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The Coming Anti-Hillary Blogswarm–from the Left?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Natasha Celine of Pacific Views (and a veteran blogger of the "sleepless summer" of Howard Dean) writes to me: The idea of Hillary Clinton running for president really sounded good to me right after her 2000 campaign, but she killed my enthusiasm with her votes and public statements. She's wandered between Republican apologist, warmonger, 'moral' crusader and ardent supporter of women's rights. Or maybe healthcare. As if the last things should make up for all the rest of it, as if Democratic politicians haven't figured out that supporting women's rights and better health care is literally the least they can do. A floor, if you will, as opposed to a ceiling. It would be putting it mildly to say that I'm disinterested in her candidacy. See her entire letter in DOCUMENTS section in left sidebar. Also: "Sonoma" comments on Bob Kunst's open letter to Hillary Clinton: "No one- and I mean no one- despises the Bushites GOP more than I. But if HC...
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Is Kos the King or the Kingmaker–Oops…

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Mickey Kaus responds to a previous PolicyByBlog post on HC, the grassroots and blogging: Hillary's Secret Challenger; Now he can be revealed. By Mickey Kaus/Updated Monday, Jan. 2, 2006, at 4:57 AM ET Hillary vs. the Blogs, cont.: From David Perlmutter-- Politicians have always needed to balance the base and the middle. Blogs make this tension, if not more difficult, more public. Emphasis not added, but appropriate. Perlmutter writes seriously and smartly about Hillary Clinton's dilemma in this regard, though: a) He takes Kos rather too seriously, calling him "a political kingmaker." (Oh yeah? Name the king); b) He underemphasizes the extent to which Hillary's character--specifically her innate and exaggerated caution, calculation, and need for control--makes her a particularly bad match for the blog age, maybe as bad a match as Nixon or LBJ were for the TV age in 1960. Perlmutter notes that blogs and blog readers reward risk-taking passion and honesty. That he then actually mulls over the question of whether Clinton herself should...
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What Should Hillary Call Her Blog?–“SECURITY MOM DIARIES…”

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Blogging is supposed to be a natural effusion of thought and emotion: modern politics is all about control, staying "on message," getting out your sound and visbytes, and reducing risks of gaffes. Hence the attractions of real blogging are low for frontrunner candidates like Hillary Clinton. And, well, PolicyByblog is a non-partisan blog but I don't think I'm stepping too far out of line to agree with those that characterize Senator Clinton's personal style as not naturally intimate and emotive. Still...one can imagine she could blog in bursts--very controlled bursts! In perspective, the first-person quality of a politician's blog is enhanced when they speak to us from interesting, even exotic, situations. Patrick J. Leahy, the Vermont democrat, blogs in "real time" from the floor of the Senate. "More from the Floor" updates up to several times a day. During Ronald Reagan's funeral, Representative Mike Pence (R-IN) stood inside the national cathedral and typed directly into his Blackberry for the following blog entry: "My wife and I stand...
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Will Hillary “Sister Souljah” the Leftblogs?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
UPDATED: Senator Hillary Clinton is still getting very high poll ratings--especially among minority voters which make up majorities or pluralities of the Democratic vote in many states, like, say South Carolina. In irony, she would be unbeatable if the Democratic primaries were held today in the Southern states; but, whether she would win any Southern red state in a general election is questionable. Hillary Rodham Clinton is the only Democrat who can energize the Republican base--to vote against her. If her main concern is the general election contest, that is winning the middle and swing voters, then she (and her lead live-in political strategist) may be considering a "Sister Souljah" moment, with the symbolic target this time being anti-war left bloggers. An SS moment refers to the time in 1992 when Bill Clinton criticized the black, female rap artist for sounding like "David Duke" for a comment she made about "why not have a week and kill white people?" (Which she said...
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Blogs, Flogs, Hitblogs, Identity Theft and Politicians: A New Tool for the Dirty Tricks Bag?

by David Perlmutter Comment Closed
Anyone can start up a blog claiming to be anyone else: sometimes the "identity theft" is satirical and most readers will catch on. "Harriet Miers" blog lampooned (in the first person) the aborted Supreme Court nominee; some Virginia wags started a political blog titled "Not Larry Sabato" in reference to the massively-quoted University of Virginia political science professor. The "Roger Ailes" of the blog of the same name is not the president and CEO of Fox News and the blogger tells us so, in this manner: "Not affiliated with Fox News Channel or any other houses of ill-repute." Less identity theft than personal assault are blogs dedicated to attacking the person in the title or address. The bloggers at SantorumExposed.com focus their ire on Pennsylvania republican Senator Rick Santorum. Rockford Illinois-based "Ellis Wyatt" (itself a pseudonym) talks about many subjects at Dump Dick Durbin but the democratic senator is a special target of negative criticism. (more…)...
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