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May
19
Winning Hearts & Minds?
Filed Under blogging, Election 2008, John McCain
Photo credit: Christhedunn
GOP presidential candidate John McCain is reaching out to lefty-bloggers in his effort to win November’s general election.
It is probably also part of a general election strategy to try to attract as many voters as possible — instead of just those within the party.
John McCain’s blogger outreach also underscores the influence that bloggers have in the political world. If there weren’t hearts and minds to be won in the blogosphere, John McCain wouldn’t be spending time and effort to reach out to various bloggers from both the conservative and liberal sides of the political spectrum.
Reports Sarah Lai Stirland in Wired’s “McCain Campaign Pioneers A First: Courting Lefty Bloggers“:
In the annals of online campaigning, senator John McCain has rarely blazed new paths. But a recent initiative to hold conference call briefings with left-wing and issue-based bloggers could be a presidential campaign first.
The McCain campaign has recently started to hold bi-weekly conference calls with left-wing blogs and blogs focusing on single issues, such as the environment and health care. …
The conference calls are an extension of the weekly calls the senator from Arizona holds with conservative bloggers to brief them on his positions. (At one point during his tumultuous presidential campaign, he joked that bloggers were the only people who were interested in talking to him.) …
More importantly, he thinks it’s crucial to engage with people who are opinion leaders, and more active in politics than average Americans.
Comments
3 Responses to “Winning Hearts & Minds?”
It is interesting how much influence the blogosphere carries these days….
P.S. is there any way I can receive email notifications when there are follow-up comments on posts? Or perhaps a RSS comment subscription link at the very least?
Hi Dan,
It is a sign that bloggers are having an impact on the opinions of many. It shows the power of the open-source media and how many creating content can have an effect on the nation.
I don’t think writing letters to Congress — that end up being read and counted by interns and put onto a tally sheet that might get read by a legislative assistant who might get a chance to tell the member of Congress the results of this week’s mail in between fundraisers, campaign stops and earmarking strategy sessions — has as much influence as bloggers reaching out to thousands of other citizens and forming networks designed to activate and motivate people to take action for whatever is desired.
Thanks for pointing out that the comment RSS feed link had gotten misplaced during the theme change.
I’ve put the link for the comments RSS feed on the sidebar — it was in the footer of my last template and I had forgotten about it.