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June 25, 2006BELTWAY BLOGROLL
The Beginnings Of The 'GOProots'?
When it comes to organized activism in the blogosphere, Democrats have a clear edge over Republicans.
"Elite blogs" like Daily Kos, Eschaton and MyDD coined the term "netroots." They have worked in unison to promote and raise money for underdog candidates like Howard Dean in the 2004 presidential election, Paul Hackett in an Ohio special election last summer, and Senate candidates like Ned Lamont of Connecticut, Jon Tester of Montana and James Webb of Virginia this year. They even created and continue to financially support an outfit called BlogPac that does polling and pursues pet policy causes like "network neutrality."
By contrast, while Republicans have attempted to court the blogosphere -- and while conservative bloggers have been accused by their Democratic counterparts of taking marching orders from the party powers-that-be -- the GOP approach has been much more ad hoc, to say the least. There is no "GOProots."
All of that may be about to change, however. The latest issue of Newsweek has a story about the ongoing resurrection and rehabilitation of Townhall.com, a conservative Internet site that had its start at the Heritage Foundation. And one goal of the site -- merging conservative media and activism online -- sounds a lot like the mission of Daily Kos, the blog powerhouse of the left.
Radio talk-show host and blogger Hugh Hewitt, author of the 2005 book "Blog," is behind the venture, so the blogosphere is sure to be a key component of whatever emerges in coming weeks. ""We will overwhelm them," Hewitt told Newsweek in a reference to Daily Kos.
Ed Morrissey of Captain's Quarters said the new Townhall probably will skew to the center-right rather than the conservative extreme because of Hewitt and the rest of the line-up at Salem Radio, which purchased Townhall.
As that new effort gets under way, the GOP interest in the blogosphere is evident in other ways, too. Friday's blog workshop for House Republican aides -- a follow-up to the session where I spoke in March -- is the latest example. The Washington Times covered the event.
The White House also apparently hosted a bloggers' conference call about the avian flu late last week. A blog called FluFactor was among the participants.
That bit of news prompted David All, the "spokesblogger" for Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga., to dream of bigger things. "I hope that President George W. Bush will take advantage of the opportunity to be the first 'blogging' president," All wrote. "It would not only add some spice and flare to the legacy, but it would also drive the Democrats crazy."
Posted by Danny | 04:20 PM
