More than 120 online writers will be at DNC

By James Paton, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 31, 2008 at 12:05 a.m.
Updated July 31, 2008 at 2:33 a.m.

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Photo by Tim Hussin / The Rocky

John Erhardt, bottom right, talks with friends at Drinking Liberally, an organization that brings groups together to talk politics. Erhardt will blog during the DNC.

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Aaron Silverstein and John Erhardt entered the blogosphere a few years ago, eager to have their voices heard and to motivate fellow Democrats as President Bush settled into a second term.

Silverstein and Erhardt will get a platform beyond their wildest dreams when the Democratic National Convention comes to town.

SquareState.net, their liberal blog, was one of 55 given credentials to sit with delegations from their state.

SquareState.net hardly is overwhelmed with traffic, with about 17,000 unique visitors in June. But that's about to change.

"We want to be both a gateway into the convention for our readers as well as eyes inside to bring stories out," said Silverstein, who left a job at the Denver coffee shop Scooter Joe's and is now a staffer at Democrats Work, which promotes community service.

This is not the first time bloggers have had access to big hitters at political conventions. In Boston four years ago, about 30 blogs were credentialed to cover the Democratic National Convention.

But they are getting a new level of respect as more people seek information online.

More than 120 blogs will be credentialed through the convention, while other blogs will be credentialed by the U.S. Congressional Press Galleries. The broader list of blogs invited by the DNCC includes a number of Colorado sites: TalkLeft, The Colorado Independent, 2008 Democratic Convention Watch, Blogger News Network, Disaboom, Scholars & Rogues and Thought Theater.

"There are so many more blog readers than there were four years ago," said Jeralyn Merritt, the Denver-based defense lawyer who runs TalkLeft. "A lot of people didn't know what a blog was. . . . Since then blogs have had an effect on the political landscape."

Seeking donations

The Democrats have said they wanted the convention to be more inclusive. They also have seen that bloggers can motivate Democrats - and raise money. Many of the blogs have a fundraising element, although the amounts they bring in are sometimes small.

"Blogs have proven very successful in promoting Democratic candidates," said Lowell Feld, who runs the Virginia blog Raising Kaine and used the platform to attract money for Jim Webb during his successful 2006 campaign for a U.S. Senate seat. "We're also active, out there canvassing, going to events, not sitting behind our keyboards in our underwear, eating nachos."

Feld, who was briefly on the Webb payroll in 2006 and has worked for other campaigns, said he was spurred to act after Bush defeated John Kerry in 2004.

"I was very frustrated, depressed and angry," he said. "And I wanted to do something."

Kyle Michaelis, meanwhile, became interested in reporting and writing as a student at the University of Nebraska and introduced the New Nebraska Network a few years ago. Michaelis, 27, said the primary goal is to hold public officials accountable and to add context to discussions about politics, not to attract money.

"I shy away from that because of my journalistic background," he said. Michaelis said his blog does have a fundraising component.

SquareState, originally part of Denver-based Web developer Paul Preston's site SoapBlox.net and now 3 years old, also has started down that path.

Erhardt, an engineer who lives in Denver, said he formed a committee, separate from the blog, for contributions. It has drawn more than $1,000 for state Rep. Morgan Carroll, D-Aurora, as she runs for the state Senate.

The site hopes to begin supporting a second candidate shortly.

"The idea is to help more Democrats get elected then to start working on getting better Democrats in office, to replace those folks with ones who are more accountable to the people and have more progressive ideals," he said.

Proudly partisan

Many blogs do not hide their bias.

"We don't show both sides of an issue," said Erhardt, who declined to name his employer. "We don't have to. We proudly declare we are progressive and that's where we are writing from."

Erhardt, 35, also helps organize the local chapter of Drinking Liberally, a group that meets at bars to discuss politics and includes some SquareState contributors.

One is Rafael Noboa, who fought in Iraq for a year and writes critically about the war. The Puerto Rico native said he started blogging "because I had to get things off my chest."

Noboa said he is especially interested in "national security, something Democrats have not been comfortable discussing."

Silverstein, 41, said blogs such as SquareState have become important alternatives to what he calls "large corporate media." He believes traditional news outlets serve a vital role, he said, but the quality of their work has eroded as the industry has declined.

Barbara Wold, who launched the liberal blog Democracy for New Mexico after volunteering for Howard Dean's presidential run in 2004, said she relies on the "mainstream" media.

"How could we function without them?" she asked. "Personally, I'm sorry to see newspapers struggling. That's our material."

The New Mexico blog is not afraid to blast Democrats and has not been pressured by party officials, Wold said.

The Democratic committee formed the state blogger pool separately to achieve "geographic diversity" and sought to include voices it disagreed with, said DNCC spokesman Damon Jones.

"If you look at the blogs, a few have been somewhat critical of various things about the party in the past," he said.

Many of the bloggers going to the convention drum up little revenue but have minimal expenses. They can aim for objectivity or be openly partisan.

But many of the state bloggers can be counted on to push a "progressive" agenda and to encourage readers to volunteer and support Democratic efforts.

"We are there to rev up the troops, to get ordinary people to believe that they can make a difference," Wold said.

patonj@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-954-2544

Blogging the big show

Here is a sample of the blogs that have been credentialed for the convention:

Blog Site (http://)

AFL-CIO NOW blog.aflcio.org

Change to Win changetowin.org

Future Majority futuremajority.com

HispanicTips hispanictips.com

Left in the West leftinthewest.com

Open Left openleft.com

PoliticsOnline politicsonline.com

Raising Kaine raisingkaine.com

SquareState.net squarestate.net

Think Youth thinkyouth.org

VivirLatino.com vivirlatino.com

Working Life workinglife.org

Clinton will speak

* CNN reported Wednesday that sources have said Hillary Clinton has agreed to speak on the second night of the DNC, headlining on the 88th anniversary of the day women earned the right to vote. Two sources close to Clinton said the former presidential candidate will speak Aug. 26, and plans to have other female U.S. senators on stage, CNN reported.

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