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Blog, Blog, Blog
The Internet can bite.
Ask Kentucky's governor who put web filters on state computer systems to block state employees from viewing blogs critical of his administration.
In Missouri, an aide of the Missouri governor threw out a liberal blogger from a bill-signing ceremony, claiming the man was a physical threat to the governor. Also, a GOP strategist starts a blog that gains notoriety for exposing the indiscretions of the staff of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill.
The Republican Governor of Arkansas drops the alternative newsweekly Arkansas Times from the administration's list of media that receive e-mail notices of news releases and press conferences because the paper's blog alleges favoritism with government contracts. A spokesman issues a statement that says the governor no longer considers the 28-year-old weekly a news organization.
Locally, there are blogs on the Escambia County Sheriff, Santa Rosa Island Authority and Santa Rosa County politics. Each boasts a local following on the very local issues. The flow of ideas is unfettered, often brutal. Most of the posts come anonymous.
NEW REVOLUTION
Internet blogs are emerging as an influential force in politics across the country. Nearly every techno-savvy candidate maintains one blog to tout his agenda and at least one other that's run from arms length by a supporter, who anonymously trashes the opponents. The postings are always politically slanted articles and rough at times.
Most certainly Internet founders never envisioned the Web becoming a political weapon.
But, remember, this country was founded on the concept of freedom of expression.
Pamphleteer and patriot Thomas Paine inspired the American colonists to do the unthinkable with his writings—overthrow military giant Great Britain. His pamphlets gave voice to people's discontent and communicated the ideas of the Revolution in ways all could understand.
Today's Thomas Paines use the web logs—commonly referred to as blogs—to reach out to the masses and influence political thought.
The blogs began in 1994 as online journals, where the authors posted daily entries on fairly mundane activities. Others could read the posting and gradually software was developed to allow readers to add comments.
Now, there are many dedicated blog hosting services, such as Blogger, Wordpress, and LiveJournal, which allow users to create blogs for free. Photos, videos and music can be easily added to blogs to attract readers.
Alternative weeklies have begun using blogs to crossover into daily news by posting news as it happens and sometimes faster than the daily newspaper and local television stations.
"This is a way for weeklies to become dailies," Max Brantley, editor of the Arkansas Times says during a panel discussion on blogs at the recent Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention. "It pushes the boundaries of interactivity. You have to have fresh content constantly."
Larry Jacobs, director of the Center for the Study for Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota's Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs, says he believes political blogs have a profound ability to throw the spotlight on stories that aren't being covered by the mainstream media.
"In some cases, they are really lighting a fire under editors to say, 'Well, let's look into this and see if there's anything to it,'" Jacobs says. "That's a very, very big power."
Travis Peterson, a Pensacola political consultant who works with campaigns and political organizations across the Southeast, notes that they also can be an effective way to motivate a candidate's base.
"To be effective from a campaign standpoint, the blog site should be updated regularly and be consistent with a campaign's message," he says. "Blogs are also helpful at encouraging feedback and interaction with volunteers and supporters of an issue, campaign or cause."
BLUEGRASS BLOGGING BLUES
Southern governors seem particularly sensitive to blogs and their new found political muscle.
Kentucky Gov. Ernie Fletcher, a first-term Republican, instituted the web filters one day after an article in The New York Times that quoted Mark Nickolas, a Democratic blogger, as saying the governor's administration was "peddling ludicrous conspiracy theories."
Nickolas' site, BluegrassReport.org, became one of the first to be blocked, but others frequently critical of Republicans were added soon thereafter.
The watchdog group, Public Citizen, filed an open records request with the administration within 24 hours, seeking documents that would explain why some political sites were filtered out and others were not.
Jill Midkiff, a spokeswoman for the Kentucky agency that oversees Internet technology decisions for state government, denies any intention to limit free speech or to single out Nickolas or other bloggers of similar political leanings.
"But using state computers to view some of these sites on state time is not an efficient use of state tax dollars or state resources," Midkiff argues.
However, Fletcher didn't limit access to Rush Limbaugh, Matt Drudge and other conservative blogs. And state employees can still logon to newspaper and television websites.
In the last year, Fletcher earned indictment in a patronage case, along with 14 others in his administration, and lost a highly publicized effort to oust the chairman of the Kentucky Republican Party. Recently, he also fired his fifth press secretary.
SHOW ME BLOGS
The Missouri political world is being shaken up by two political bloggers, Roy Temple and Jeff Roe.
Temple is a Democrat, who worked for Missouri Gov. Mel Carnahan and U.S. Sen. Jean Carnahan. His blog www.firedupmissouri.com went up in 2003 and focuses on GOP shenanigans in running state government.
He made news headlines in June, when at a bill-signing ceremony by Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt, he was kicked out after a Blunt aide called Temple a physical threat to the governor.
Roe is the Missouri GOP's counter to Temple. He is the former chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Sam Graves of Missouri. In the first three weeks that his blog (www.thesource.typepad.com) was online, Roe slammed U.S. Rep. Emanuel Cleaver of Missouri for presiding over a funeral at his Kansas City church, instead of making a vote on an Iraqi war resolution; attacked Kansas City Mayor Kay Barnes for supporting gay rights; and lambasted Missouri Attorney General Jay Nixon over fundraising ties to a utility company.
He regularly exposes the indiscretions of staffers of Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Claire McCaskill of Missouri. At least one employee resigned after Roe posted some crude comments made by the staffer on a popular social networking website.
"This is a fiercely independent site that tells the truth," Roe asserts. "If you don't like it, you don't like the truth."
BLACKLISTED BLOG
Max Brantley, the Arkansas Times editor, is a 6-foot-5, gray-haired hulk, whose blog is a daily must-read for anyone wanting to know what's happening behind the scenes in Arkansas politics.
He says he checks his blog at least three times a day, morning, afternoon and night.
Brantley posts nearly everything he hears or reads on local and state news and politics. He often breaks news before the daily newspapers publish it. Sometimes, he posts information that the mainstream media is reluctant to print.
"Our blog drew a lot of attention when we posted the suicide note of a popular Little Rock doctor," Brantley says. "The daily paper referred to the letter throughout their article on the suicide, but failed to publish it. We did and saw our website hits go through the roof."
Brantley's blog is a particular thorn in the side of Republican Gov. Mike Huckabee—a potential presidential candidate in 2008.
Brantley and his paper have criticized the governor's efforts to free convicted killer Wayne Dumond; his unaccounted use of the state police airplane; his appointment of political contributors to state positions; and his misuse of the Governor's Mansion expense account.
In April, Gov. Huckabee retaliated by having the Arkansas Times expelled from its list of approved media for the administration's press releases and news conferences.
Huckabee spokeswoman Alice Stewart gave the Times a brief prepared statement on the decision: "We don't consider the Arkansas Times a news organization. By your own definition, you are a journal of politics and culture. As you said, there are hundreds of news outlets in the state and we don't attempt to notify every one of them. The major news organizations are on our e-mail list and that's the way it will continue."
The Arkansas Times is the fourth largest newspaper in the state and has been published for nearly three decades. Other papers, news organizations and journalism associations have written Gov. Huckabee asking him to reconsider his decision. It will probably take a court order to put the Times back on the media list.
But the blacklisting hasn't stopped Brantley's blog from reporting the administrations misdeeds or prevented important questions from being asked. Reporters from television and other newspapers are reading Brantley's blog and asking Gov. Huckabee questions at press conferences based on the blog.
PENSACOLA AREA BLOGOSPHERE
The local political blogosphere is very limited.
Northwest Florida, particularly Escambia County, tends to run behind the rest of the nation, unless the subject is UFOs, indicted commissioners or hurricanes.
But the few political blogs that do exist locally play to partisan crowds and have yet to demonstrate that they can sway others to join their political camps.
The anti-Sheriff Ron McNesby website (ronniemacpowertrip.com) is probably the most well-known local political blog, but there are others on the Internet that have also developed followings.
The Pensacola Beach Blog (pbrla.blogspot.com) is the unofficial blog of the Pensacola Beach Residents and Leaseholders Association. It regularly discusses the Santa Rosa Island Authority hoopla. The blog recently focused on offshore drilling and has published the full testimonies of Enid Siskin and others before the U.S. House Committee on Resources.
Needless to say, the site recently has been highly critical of Congressman Jeff Miller and his support of a drilling compromise bill in the U.S. House.
The Why Now Blog (whynow.dumka.us) is run by an Air Force and law enforcement veteran, who describes himself as a computer consultant who values the rights guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution and lives with cats in a small town on the Florida Panhandle, so he can watch the hurricanes come ashore. His blog tackles world, national, regional and local issues.
Santa Rosa County conservatives look to www.santarosafl.com to vent their frustrations. The site uses an open forum instead of a blog to allow its readers to speak their minds. Most commentators are ranting about Miller, county officials and they are opposed to the county's sales tax referendum for roads.
For state politics with a progressive bent, Florida Politics (flapolitics.blogspot.com) covers politics all across the state. The blog has been a forum for Florida Democrats to debate political strategies. It's particularly critical of Gov. Jeb Bush and relishes his missteps.
Although gaining in popularity, Peterson says the jury is still out on whether blogs can win enough votes to win an election.
"The problem with blogs from a vote-getting standpoint is this: Most political bloggers and blog readers are either political insiders who either work in, or are closely connected to, a political campaign or organization," the Pensacola political consultant says. "Or they are political junkies, who may not actually work in the political business but love the game. They're the ones who Tivo every Sunday morning talk show and sign up for all the campaign e-mail updates, give money or volunteer for campaigns.
"For this reason, I don't think blogs are actually effective at winning votes, because most people that read them have already made up their mind on who they're going to vote for or what issue they're going to support."
INDEPENDENT NEWS BLOGS
After attending the recent annual Association of Alternative Newsweeklies convention, the Independent News staff launched three new blogs to join Publisher Rick Outzen's blog that began last year. The IN blogs cover the latest in politics, news, arts and entertainment, and relationships and dating.
Rick's Rants (http://routzen.wordpress.com/)
IN Publisher Rick Outzen spills the latest on political gossip and rants about local politics and news. Outzen is never politically correct or timid with his views, so you shouldn't be either.
Loaded Gun (http://inewsloadedgun.blogspot.com/ )
Pensacola-based pop culture, music and arts blog. Get the most recent scoop from A&E Editor Sam Baltrusis or talk about events you attended.
BitchIN' (http://inewsbitchin.blogspot.com/)
Miss INformed and Miss Taken dish out relationship and dating advice from where to hang out on the beach to men's hygiene and everything in between.
The Buzz (http://inewsbuzz.blogspot.com/)
What's going on locally that the mainstream media is sugar-coating or failing to report? The Buzz has breaking news and the behind-the-scenes action.
BLOGS OF CANDIDATES FOR FLORIDA GOVERNOR
Democrats
Jim Davis (www.jimdavis2006.com)
• Currently blasting opponent Rod Smith for taking $30,000 in campaign contributions from American Institutional Services, a prison contractor that has been accused of bribing Jim Crosby, the former head of the state correctional system.
Rod Smith (www.rodsmith2006.com)
• The Smith camp is touting its gains in the polls going from 27 percent to 33 percent since May 21.
Republicans
Charlie Crist (www.charliecrist.com/blog.aspx)
• His blog isn't very active. Last entry was May 5. Crist describes joining Gov. Jeb Bush for a National Day of Prayer ceremony.
Tom Gallagher (www.tg2006.com)
• Check it out and see if you can get the site to come up. IN's high-tech gurus could not.
POPULAR NATIONAL POLITICAL BLOGS
DAILY KOS Run by Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, the blog attracts liberal Democrats. Consistently ranks in the Top 5 of all weblogs in link popularity.
THE HUFFINGTON POST Famed national syndicated columnist, former California gubernatorial candidate, and former conservative Arianna Huffington speaks out.
INSTAPUNDIT Run by University of Tenneesee law professor, Glenn Reynolds who focuses how advanced technology puts power into the hands of individuals and small businesses.
POWER LINE A conservative political blog by three lawyers that became famous by helping to prove that the documents used by CBS questioning Bush's military record were fakes. Led to Dan Rather's retirement
TPMMUCKRAKER A news blog dedicated to chronicling, explaining and reporting on public corruption, political scandal and abuses of the public trust of all sorts. Tagline: "They've got muck. We've got racks."
TALK LEFT Self-described 'Online Magazine with Liberal coverage of crime-related political and injustice news.'
WONKETTE At one-time the most popular blog/gossip columns in Washington, D.C. Founding editor Ana Marie Cox handed over the reins in January. Still dishes out the dirt.
Contributed by New York Times News Service
rick@inweekly.net
