There's no doubt blogs offer politicians a more irect route to potential voters and funders in a more grass-roots style. Rather than reaching voters through television, radio ads and other traditional media, it allows them to taylor their messages more individually while at the same time potentially reaching more people.
Likewise, blogs offer more civic participation on issues important to them and more access to politicians through their blogs. This is a way provides more access and participation than traditional media such as writing a letter to the editor that would have limited distribution through just that one paper, in one particular community. Blogging, conversely, allows for much wider distribution via the Web and you can blog on many, many levels.
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Rachel, several of the other bloggers in class have hit on this same idea of greater civic participation and all of us are wondering to what extent it is real. When we blog on topics are we really blogging "to" the candidates or do these comments go unheard in the ways that letters to the editor are sometimes ignored? It seems maybe there is benefit in at least actively trying to be involved, even when corporate interests still have such sway (like the WalMart incident). Don't get me wrong, I am a huge blog fan, but I wonder how close we actually are to the ideal of real "critical-rational debate."
I agree that blogs can reach more people, but do they only reach certain groups? I wonder how Obama, for example, is trying to make connections with people like my parents.
I have heard that many campaigns managers employ people to monitor the blogosphere. I believe, this would be very beneficial to campaigns. The question of whether or not it is true is hard to answer. I have never met a blog monitor, and I doubt I ever will. It reminds me to some degree of a helper sifting through Santa's mailbag. Is the inundation of messages across the blogosphere to great? Do monitors search for sentiment, rather than individual commentary?
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