Comment Rescue: The Political Place of Statewide Blogs?
Steve Newton writes in the Beating Castle Someday thread:
First, what is the proper use of the blogosphere in statewide politics. Dean, Ron Paul, Obama, and even Hillary made successful use of the blogs, primarily to sign up supporters and raise funds on a nationwide scale. But when you shrink the scale to DE I don’t think there are actually enough people on the blogosphere for them to operate that way.
Example: there were about seventy or eighty people involved in the Ron Paul meet-ups. Once that fad passed, so did they. They weren’t converts to the blogs, they were people sucked in by a particular candidate/cause, who gave money and stuck around while it was novel. Within the state I don’t think–even on the liberal Democrat side, where the blogs arguably have the most effect anywhere in the spectrum–we’ve reached the point where bloggers can be effective fundraisers.
The thing is that while the money race gets a lot of attention and publicity, looking at on-line political activism as just blogging (or commenting) or fundraising fails to recognize there are other (sometimes more) valuable aspects of the successful political sites and that is their social networking aspects. Bringing together a large and disparate group of people, giving them a basic mission, letting them make decisions on goals and how to get there and providing tools for them to execute was what made DFA a lot of fun to be a part of and is what Obama’s campaign has made work at almost every level. (DFA was hugely inspirational too — lots of activists and candidates got really launched here.) In fact, I think that Obama has been so good at this that you do see folks discussing his campaign as a bottom-up run organization, when that is awfully far from the truth.
Some of the best work that local blogs (including some in Delaware) do is to help leverage internet tools for candidates, keep up a narrative of action and state of play in local races (think Lieberman vs Lamont on a large scale), and help open up local political committees. Some of the best blogging I’ve ever seen has been helping aspirants understand committee rules and how to change them (or beat them) so that these committees get opened up to grassroots participants. More great blogging comes from folks who do the work to become experts in a local issue and keep documenting progress on that issue, and – more importantly – how the powers that be are trying to bamboozle the rest of us and how to push back on that.
Places like Dkos and Firedoglake and Americablog can raise funds for candidates because they’ve established communities where taking some action to support a larger goal is now the norm. Even those funds are realistically leverage funds – raise $150K from the netroots for a Congressional race and suddenly the traditional funders have a reason to take a second look. These sites are as good at, if not better, at getting folks to participate in more targeted Crashing the Gates-type behavior — calling legislators, signing petitions, reading progressive books, critiquing the media, exchanging ideas on strategies to change something. And this other work is, I think, just as potent as raising fistfuls of cash. The Bluewater Wind example locally is, I think an example of Crashing the Gates — pushing through the Delaware Way and the entrenched interests of Delmarva Power is a real victory for Tommywonk, this site, all of the other local blogs who kept the subject foremost in our minds and, especially, for every single reader here who called and wrote their legislators about this issue. My rep and Senator certainly heard from folks and know exactly where the impetus came from. I’ve heard a city councilman misrepresent the intent of the petition on city sidewalk maintenance and blame the fact that they were dealing with this issue on the “blogs”. That tells me that we should be doing way more of this.
Delaware is a small and politically insular place, so it seems to me that the greatest impact a blog like this one could have is in working out and executing more Crashing the Gates strategies. Work that helps more grassroots candidates open up and join the committees and groups that govern some of the political process would be remarkable and noticed. More issue-oriented blogging and calls to action, especially allied with other groups and blogs would continue to shake up the rules — like kavips call to influence the gubernatorial debate rules. Helping progressive candidates get out messages and to work specific issues is another. Those candidates, though, need to interact with the community they are looking for help from. Understanding the issues that are important to that candidate and overall campaign strategies – and doing that here – helps to establish the kinds of connections that help readers and bloggers feel invested. Straying away from progressive Dem issues, Steve’s own blog is an excellent exercise in libertarian ideas and candidate visibility.
Most crashing the gates exercises are successes of organizing, and let’s face it, fundraising is largely an organizing activity too. But a candidate who wants that kind of help from us will pretty definitively let us know that. In the meantime, we keep working on piercing alot of that insularity that may make it easier for a grassroots candidate to take a place at the table.
Make no mistake though, I do think that what we do here and in other blogs in the state what others is pretty excellent and this post is in no way a critique of the current level of effort. In any event, I’m just using Steve’s comment to think through our place in the world.
Between Steve’s comment and listening to some of the events at Netroots Nation, I’ve been in a meta mood today…can’t wait to hear what you all think!
Tags: Blogosphere, Delaware
Until recently I was schizophrenic on the topic of blog impact.
I wondered if we were not some new sort of barflies – living lives of illusory activity.
However, when I think of the way Tom Noyes leveraged his blog as a focal point for wind power advocacy my mood brightens. He got to the point to where he was considered an authority on the topic on and off line. I turned to him to see what we should be doing next. Who to call, what points to stress.
I dunno. I guess there is something here.
Its not quantity, its quality.
Plus, if blog impact is minimal, why are so many hard-copy news sources shutting down or shrinking? Perhaps you could say that’s because of national blogs, but I don’t see that. I think its the local blogs because they supply local interest which is pretty much all most people pay attention to. And, just because there are few of us who respond/post (compared to the total population of Delaware), doesn’t mean a whole shit-load aren’t paying attention. As proof of this, look at some of the ‘scoop’ blogs: Lofink, Gene gReed, BWW, etc. Seems that the traditional news organs AND the scoopees (those exposed) stand up and salute when they are rightfully lambasted on a blog.
Local blogs might not be the ‘John Holmes’ of modern media, but we’re a pretty close ‘Harry Reams’.
Local blogs might not be the ‘John Holmes’ of modern media, but we’re a pretty close ‘Harry Reams’.
They could be ‘self sufficient’ in the style of Ron Jeremy.
Ron is alive and well and was featured in the porn-parody ‘Orgasmo’ in which a devout LDS missionary becomes a port star.
The film is not X-rated but the self-styled guardians of our morals cannot fathom the nature of satire.
(For those who have not noticed, I am an asymptotic (small-l) libertarian at heart.
Ran into Harry in Vale Colorado about ten years ago. He’s a real estate agent and elected town official. Good on ya’, Harry.
I’m not arguing that blog impact is minimal — but am thinking about ways that blogs (especially locally) can increase political influence without succumbing to being an ATM for candidates.
Reporting and letting some sun shine on the activities of politicians, parties and government is important — since the WNJ is less than adequate to the task and many people can’t listen to the local radio stations (if they are doing any local news) during the day. But blogs are not replacing (yet) traditional news outlets — news outlets are going online and many blogs do an excellent job of critiquing and commenting on the traditional media.
I’m interested in how the many eyeballs who may be reading here can become a bunch of phone calls to law makers to put them on notice for a particular issue.
Cassandra, you say there is not coverage on activities of politicians, but blogs are not replacing traditional news outlets.
If the blogs are the ONLY source of detailed behavior on politician behavior, then we are not replacing anything; we’re an original source of political awareness that has not been reported on by anyone either before the blogs started, or now.
I’ve seen dramtic change in the behavior of politicians as a result of (local) blogs. This did not occur before the blogs because the limits on publication of embarassing facts (other than cocktail party gossip, which severly limits the scope of publication).
In conclusion, it seems to me that local political blogs (defining ‘local’ as anything within a state or even smaller area), are becoming a formidible source of FOIA, supplementing any statutory FOIA (or lack thereof) by a huge margin getting more hugerer every day.
It seems that almost everyone is severly underestimating the power of the local blog, except for politicians who’ve gotten caught with their private parts in places they weren’t supposed to be.
It all revolves around money. I do what I do because I love it. I go to these stupid meetings for the personalities and to see politicians act like fools. The issues are secondary, though I must say I’ve gotten more interested in them in the past few months.
I would love to do even more, but the lack of compensation is what keeps me from doing so. I have to put food on the table and I have to pay off the damn student loans. My guess is that’s why we don’t see more of the type of blogging Cassandra would like to see.
I think we do a pretty good job in Delaware. Dana Garrett and I have done this go-to-a-meeting-and-bug-a-politician act for over two years. Jason & Co. really got into it good this year with the BWW and SEU stuff. I think the more willing we, as bloggers, are willing to “share the load” and get out there and report, then we’ll ultimately get a fuller picture of the political landscape out there.
Blogging about how George Bush is evil and we’re all going to hell is soooo 2004. I no longer have any fun in doing that. I want to get out there more. But unlike the traditional media, which still has millions of dollars to work with, it looks like I’ll have to keep flipping burgers and teaching the little ones to sustain my carnal lust for political havoc.
Another great point. If the blogs become financially sound (from the owner’s point of view), will the source of money make a difference in the reporting? Hell yeah. But more information is better than less information. And if someone makes the brilliant point (not) of false information, it seems that false information in the past enables the posters to tear the liar a new asshole.
Mike made a good point, which reinforces mine, that “Bush being evil is so 2004.” This reiterates my belief that the local blogs will become more successful than larger blogs because people are by nature more interested in what’s happening in their own backyard, or, more to the point, people are more interested in what local politicians are screwing up in their nearby backyards.
Traditional news outlets are more than their political or investigative reporting and it is those entities in their entirety that are failing — with pretty deep cuts in political and investigative journalism leading the way. Relatively recent polling shows that about 1% of Americans think of blogs as a news source. (And that is from an online survey, which has its methodology issues, but you’d think might have a built-in bias to blogs.)
But while shining a brighter light on the work or shenanigans of a pol or government agency is excellent work — is that it for us then? Carve out a reporting niche, figure out how to monetize it and officially join the 4th estate?
I’ve been spending some time at some local events and talking not just to candidates but to their managers and strategists. They all know I write here. And what is interesting to me is that while managers and strategists often read some of these blogs, the one thing that they all mention is BWW. Not just the amazing reporting and analysis provided largely by Tom Noyes, but in how all of that info translated into real pressure on politicians to do something. What I get from these political types is that blogs as reporting entities is a thing they can figure out how to live with (finding the limits of a blog’s abilities OR in crafting narratives that try to neutralize them because they still are relying in the Delaware Way rules). Blogs that get constituencies on the phone, in offices, writing in, calling the radio possibly change the rules of the road.
So replacing traditional media doesn’t interest me nearly as much as how you get the politically interested who read here and elsewhere to do something after you’ve reported on some new bamboozlement.
So your point is, how do you get more involvement from passive readers?
In my experience, passivity is not a problem specific to blogs. More than one ‘newbie’ candidate has said, a couple of months into their first race, that “If you want something done, there is almost no one who will actually work on it independent of you.”
They’re right. And its not just politics. Try one of the community gardens DV wrote about a while back. I guarantee within the first two days it will be evident that no one is going to weed, water, or harvest except you, but all will be expecting a ‘fair share’ which translates into “give me everything I want without hassling me about how little involvement I’ve shown.”
Basically, if you want involvement, do it yourself. No one else is going to do it. And if they do, its a nice surprise. Its like being criticized for being a pessimist. The response from the pessimist is, “But I’m almost always right, and when I’m not its a pleasant surprise.”
Also, to tone down the rather cynical (but accurate) prior post:
I think the political blogs are making an incredible difference, especially in Delaware, and especially this blog.
The blogs would be able to be even more effective if the State News still posted their stories in a way that was accessible to everyone.
Here’s a gem from today’s DSN:
“Gov. Minner was surprised she was not mentioned on Lt. Gov. Carney’s Web site as an endorser, but she said she is not offended by the apparent snub.”
As daily papers, television news outlets and radio stations cut back on their reporters, blogs here and elsewhere are becoming the most effective way for reporters to discover stories.
Reporters don’t always have time to get out to a meeting themselves but they know that if something truly egregious happened, one of the blogs here would probably report on it.
“If you want something done, there is almost no one who will actually work on it independent of you.”
I’m President of my neighborhood association so I certainly know this already. But if you make a case that some action is in that person’s interests (safety, property values, etc) you can get some cooperation.
So that’s it then — we report and you go about your business? Or maybe you are trying to say something about the Delaware political climate?
Steve’s question was about the political influence of blogs if you couldn’t raise funds or supply volunteers for a campaign. I wanted to expand the definition of political influence to not just highlighting issues, problems and behavior to mobilizing folks to exert pressure on the people who could respond. If you are already here and reading daily, you’ve already taken one action – if anything to feed your political junkie habit. It seems to me that long-term or at least deep-impact political influence is less about shining a light (it is easy to find the limits of that light) than it is about constituents raising a ruckus. Other blogs – both national and state – have crossed this threshold and if I read you correctly, Dis, you are thinking that this is not possible here?
blogs here and elsewhere are becoming the most effective way for reporters to discover stories.
This is interesting — I also know that there is an increasing frequency of “reported blogs” at traditional media sites.
But I don’t think that reporting necessarily = political influence (usually) and it is the later I am interested to discover if we could do more effectively here.
Cassandra, honestly putting up signs, attending meetings, raising money, working polls is just too much for me. I’d rather just be a spectator.
I think DE is unique (or nearly so) because State and Local politics are synonymous 90% of the time, and because the population of active political blogs is actually pretty damn low, which gives about a half a dozen blogs considerable influence–or at least the potential for influence.
Example: in NC looking at ways I can help support Mike Munger’s campaign, I’ve been trying to compile a list of the major political blogs and at least, by sloppy analysis, to see which ones have the most influence. So far I am well over 150 active political blogs, and within my limited ability to do the stats, not a single one has the sort of “hub” potential as DE Liberal does here in Delaware.
The nearest equivalent in a Dem/Progressive sense would be BlueNC, but looking at the community and the stats it has nowhere near the centrality to the NC blogosphere than DL has here. For example: for the most part conservatives and libertarians (even “moderate” Dems) ignore BlueNC completely, which leaves it an insular community talking to itself.
Here in DE, DeLIB serves as a major “hub” for a community that actually does cross political lines; pretty much everybody comes here to see what’s going on, and only then do they go to Tommywonk, or kavips, or elsewhere.
But that’s good news and bad news in a political influence sense. Wind, eminent domain, and open government have emerged as general consensus topics in the DE blogosphere, cutting across the party lines. Those issues–as with the eminent domain veto story–energize us to the point of major cyber and physical efforts.
But when it comes to electing specific party-nominated candidates we’re not a unified group. I read the stories about KHN with probably the same semi-academic interest that you guys skim my stories on Libertarian candidates nationwide because it’s not your fight.
I do agree with multiple posters that blogs are having a political influence in DE, but I don’t yet think we’ve reached the point of having a partisan (as in party-oriented) influence, and I’m not sure that the “Crashing the Gates” strategies will work here because the scale appears to be pretty far under the threshold.
However, if we want to get into that business (individually or as a group), then one of the first things I suggest has to be done is to begin quantifying our impact in terms of readers, memes generated that get into the general parlance, and stories broken here before the MSM.
Once we have that sort of data organized it becomes something that candidates and campaign managers pay attention to….
That’s OK, Dis. I did not mean the question to be answered by you personally, but more on behalf of community. Frankly, I think we’ve a unique resource and just wanted to engage people in thinking about how to maximize that…..
Steve, It is interesting that you have been looking at the NC blogs. Ironically, NC (specifically Greenboro) blogs got me into Delaware blogs. A good friend of mine was blogging in NC and I started to get into their little scene down there.
At some point I realized that I was learning more about their political issues way more than I knew about my own state. I searched around and finally happened upon DelawareLiberal and the rest of the blogosphere here (love that blogroll). I have been a barfly here ever since…
I loved the phrase “illusory activity”. Major pause for self-reflection.
Blogs are the new frontier. Round and round they go, where they stop nobody knows.
Oh yeah, blogs are growing. Sometimes it seems we’re at a crossroads. To me a balanced blog (local, state, federal politics, humor, and the personal daily life posts) is the most fun and informative. Sometimes I learn about something I didn’t even know I was interested in… like BWW. Blogs are the art of discovery. Suddenly issues the MSM buries on page 16 are front and center… and open to debate. And, let’s face it, debate is the heart of a blog. You can write all the posts you want, but a blog will die without comments. (Might explain why some of our Headlines are so, well, sensational!)
I’m not sure what we’re “evolving” into, and I hesitate to settle on one direction (in case we pick wrong!). I like the wild west feel that is, in essence, a blog.
My own political blog experience started at the Daily Kos (pre-scoop!), so I think that my experience in mapping blog influence is connected to how well that blog maps to progressive movement politics either nationally, statewide or local.
I absolutely agree with you, Steve, that this blog is relatively unique in that it has readership and participation across party lines. While we’ve certainly come together on some issues, it never occurred to me that an ambition for this place might largely function as a multi-partisan (is that a word?) political action. I always thought of this site as a partisan progressive Democratic site, with local political interests that sometimes intersected with the like-minded in other parties. I’d like to hear people weigh in on what they think about this.
But that’s good news and bad news in a political influence sense. Wind, eminent domain, and open government have emerged as general consensus topics in the DE blogosphere, cutting across the party lines. Those issues–as with the eminent domain veto story–energize us to the point of major cyber and physical efforts.
Yes, and there’s more that we can join forces on certainly. And this is one of the places where I’m thinking about political influence. This is the political influence of sweat equity (cyber or physical). But another thing that is critical to the influence of state blogs (and a thing that I think is often a kavips project) is the business of ideas for governing. Great ideas are their own capital, and leaving the ideas business to politicians is something we already know is not the smartest strategy.
As for Crashing the Gates — that effort does not need to be world changing, it just has to upset the status quo. And there is plenty of status quo here — just the effort to push back on the Fusion Candidate prohibition is a crashing the gates activity. Specifically to Dem politics, getting more progressive Dems on party committees would qualify as crashing the gates — especially in Wilmington, where access to those seats is incredibly controlled. And I think that breaking up the status quo is a thing that unites many of us.
I’m not sure what we’re “evolving” into, and I hesitate to settle on one direction (in case we pick wrong!).
Setting a path for this blog (or any other blog, for that matter) in concrete is really not what I’m after here. Maybe the question is given the skill sets here, the audience, our interests — what can we change?
The nice thing about evolution (or else, the truly scary thing) is that it doesn’t bother to tell you where you’re going until well after you got there.
What scares the politicians (especially the old school of both parties) is that they don’t understand what the hell is happening with the blogs, and how the blogs are interfering with business as usual and their control of information.
My curiosity is this: are we riding the roller coaster we’re designing, or are we pushing the pols into the cars and locking them in? Or both?
I understand, Cass. I was just thinking (writing) out loud about what a blog is. I’d never really thought about it before. The one point I keep coming back to is the comments. Isn’t that where we all started?