Post-Primary Partying
245 words.
Virginia bloggers are predictably taking credit for getting Jim Webb elected in the primary:
Says Not Larry Sabato: “Last night was the first major election that bloggers have ever won for a candidate.”
Says Raising Kaine: “This was an amazing victory for the “netroots,” one of the best ones in memory.”
Says SLANTblog: “The Netroots phenomenon is a significant development.”
Says The Modern Patriot: “Ironically, the Internet blogosphere proved to be a major weakness for Harris Miller.”
Says The Virginia Progressive: “The Virginia blogs are what gave Jim Webb the nomination.”
Obviously I can’t say one way or another whether bloggers had any effect on the primary — and neither can they. I do know that a lot of the commenters on Virginia blogs are… other Virginia bloggers. I also know — and fear — that because bloggers are so tightly-coupled with the Webb campaign, their words will be exploited as official campaign releases, which could either be a boon or a disaster for Webb.
For example, the Webb blogosphere started the mess with that cartoon flyer… what might have happened if NLS hadn’t published it? It was intended for a small real life audience, after all, and probably would not have become a point of contention if it had stayed off the Internet. Did Webb authorize releasing it on the Internet? Might Webb have lost votes because of it? Let’s hope Virginia Democratic bloggers exercise some caution in the future. The stakes have changed.
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