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Blog Bits

Matt Lewis of The Ballot Box offered this unsolicited advice to Republican Mitt Romney if he is serious about running for president in 2008: "Hire a blogger now."

"What you need more than anything," Lewis added, "is someone who has a relationship with conservative bloggers -- someone who goes to the meetings and knows the secret handshake. You don't need a journalist, you need an operative/activist."

I offered similar advice to Sen. George Allen in the summer, and he eventually hired blogger Jon Henke of QandO. It was too late to matter in Allen's race, though, and that's why Lewis argues that earlier is better when it comes to hiring someone who knows bloggers and how the blogosphere works.

That's good advice for all candidates, whether Democratic or Republican, presidential, congressional or gubernatorial. I fully expect many more candidates in 2008 to follow the example set by the handful who paid bloggers and other new media advisers in 2006.

-- From a New York Times editorial: "For all the worthy proposals for ethics reform being hashed out by the incoming Congress, a heavy dose of Internet transparency should not be overlooked in the effort to repair lawmakers' tattered credibility. The technology is already there, along with the public's appetite for more disclosure about the byways of power in Congress."

-- According to the Sunlight Foundation, two freshman Democratic lawmakers have taken the message to heart: Rep.-elect Kirsten Gillebrand of New York and Sen.-elect Jon Tester of Montana.

-- Another Sunlight project aims to draft an "open government agenda" into legislative language. The group is using collaborative "wiki" software at MorePerfect.org to get the public involved in that effort.

-- Zephyr Teachout, the foundation's national director, is practicing what she preaches on the transparency front. She penned an "open lobby report" that detailed her online contact with Rep. Jack Kingston, R-Ga.

Teachout also is taking Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., to task for planning a "secret meeting" between Democrats and Republicans in an attempt to overcome gridlock. "As several other papers and blogs have cried out, stop this crazy plan before it starts a new habit of closedness!"

-- Investigative journalism, blogging and liberal activism intersect at an outfit called the Center for Independent Media, which this year trained, funded and supported political bloggers through two projects called Colorado Confidential and Minnesota Monitor. Eric Alterman has more details at The Huffington Post.

The work of the center caused a stir in Minnesota this year when the bloggers who received funding through it failed to disclose that relationship.

-- Wanna know what the business world is blogging about. Follow the company-by-company links at the new Business Blog Roundup at ShopFloor, the blog of the National Association of Manufacturers. Here's what NAM blogger-in-chief Pat Cleary said about the move:

Manufacturers have always led the nation in innovation and technology, so it's not surprising that we are pioneering in Internet communications as well. The traditional news media isn't going away any time soon, but the way people get information is changing, and it is imperative that business communicators be part of the revolution. ...

It's a big blogosphere out there and it's going to get a lot bigger. Corporations and thought-leaders are turning to blogs like never before -- offering an affordable, timely and quick way to receive and distribute news. The NAM is channeling that influence and bringing it together in one place -- Shopfloor.org.

Posted by Danny | 12:41 PM

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