NLS has posted a list of the Alexa rankings of Virginia bloggers, for whatever it’s worth. The Daily Whackjob looks at the fate of the two Edwards bloggers and raises a question:
Is this a generation thing (so in twenty years most people will forgive statements on blogs), or are bloggers too edgy, too irreverent, too eager to upset the apple cart and push the envelope, and therefore too dangerous for politicians to embrace? Are we destined to be the black sheep of the process?
Although I personally believe my blog ranking by Alexa is overstated (#2 among Virginia political blogs), the fact that I am currently sandwiched between #1 NLS and #3 Raising Kaine appears to invalidate the premise of Adam’s question. And, I think, it goes to the core of why people blog.
I think we all came into the blogsphere because we had something to say, something we felt was not being said elsewhere. Along the way, that idea can easily get lost in the ego-driven need for more page views, more comments, and a higher blog ranking, if you will. It is why bloggers are eager to push the envelope, because it increases all of those things. The similarity to politicians losing their way – losing their core beliefs – is not lost on me.
That is one of my pet peeves: consistency. I have a lot of respect for those (few) politicians that are able to stick to their core beliefs, even if they are not ones that I agree with. Any politician who is willing to say whatever is necessary to get elected or re-elected deserves neither my respect nor my support. As a candidate, I offered to all the right to “slap me back to reality” should I become one of them. And it is what drives me in my blogging.
The fact that I am #2 (or #100) in the Virginia blogsphere tells me that it is possible to stay true to my own set of beliefs and that others out there agree. As the readership in the blogsphere grows, I believe you will find that more and more demand intellectual honesty and less partisanship. And that is why I think the answer to Adam’s question is NO. Candidates will be more willing to align themselves with blogs who have chosen to support them because they are the best candidate as opposed to simply supporting them because they are an R or a D.
There will always be a place for partisanship and candidate advocacy. And there will always be blogs that provide that. But if I had to predict what the blogsphere looks like in 20 years, I’d say that those blogs will be in the minority.
Blogs are about changing the face of American politics. If we embrace that tremendous opportunity – regardless of how we get there – we have accomplished our goals.
VIVIAN J. PAIGE | All Politics is Local 
I totally agree with you Vivian. BTW, when I’m upset about something said on a blog, I just go to yours to read one of your unemotional, intelligent, and gracious diaries! I then know that all is well!!
Keep up the wonderful work you do and congrats on your rating!
Are you as surprised as I am that you went past RK?
“As the readership in the blogsphere grows, I believe you will find that more and more demand intellectual honesty and less partisanship.”
VJP
Couldn’t agree more!
What I believe most people forget is that Vivian maintains a day job while still continuing to blog with such a high quality. (Note that this isn’t a jab at people who blog for a living, I just think it is something unique about a blogger who receives as many visitors as Vivian does)
I think Vivian’s blog is popular because she stays true to her mission of “The primary focus of this blog is Norfolk politics. Of course, you can’t talk about Norfolk in a vacuum, so sprinkled in are some regional, state, and national politics.”
Just about every post is about Norfolk 🙂
Yes, I maintain a day job and only blog in between. As far as moving past RK – as I said, I believe my blog is overrated. Further, I also believe RK is under-rated. They were in the 500K range just a few weeks ago.
I don’t blog for ratings.
As one of your regular readers, I’m going to have to disagree with the assertion that blogging will trend away from hyper-partisanship over time. Face it, Vivian, you’re not a stereotypical blogger, and we can’t judge the future direction of blogs by reading yours–matter of fact, we should probably come up with a new name for you to separate you out from the masses (if we could find a nomenclature that we can extend to cover Waldo as well, that would be nice).
The simple fact is that you’ve always been cut out to be a candidate instead of a blogger–and it occurs to me that if I remember correctly, another thing you and Waldo have in common is that you both have run for public office at the municipal level (as near as I can recall). In any case: work on your fundraising chops, congeal these wonderful thoughts and insightful intelligence down into a consistent, concise message that can work on a mail piece, hire yourself a field staff, and run for something. Sooner rather than later, please.
Vivian, thanks for continuing the discussion.
“As the readership in the blogsphere grows, I believe you will find that more and more demand intellectual honesty and less partisanship.”
The problem with that idea, as I see it, is that the “surge” in readership of political blogs usually comes with each election, when partisanship is at its peak. This year, since we know at least the VA Senate is up for grabs, I haven’t seen the partisanship dip in the same way it did in the beginning of 2006. So a larger readership has led to more partisanship, not less.
Other than in primary situations (the Webb/Miller race, for example), I think the endorsement value of bloggers is too low for campaigns to really bother. But it’s probably only a matter of time before blogger endorsments or actions become fodder for attack ads in general elections.
Think about this: if George Allen had run an ad attacking Jim Webb featuring Markos Zúniga and some of his more controversial remarks (like Joe Lieberman did against Ned Lamont), what affect would that have had? Maybe it doesn’t swing any votes, but it might have received some press for a few days, like what happened to the Edwards campaign. If a campaign is close, is it worth it to have the endorsement of bloggers with baggage?
anon – I’ll agree that I’m not stereotypical, if for no other reason than the fact that I’m not a 20-30 year-old white male. That certainly colors my viewpoint. I didn’t mean to imply that my style of blogging would be the future, either, only that I don’t think that the future will be quite what we’ve seen in the past.
I do think that my being a former candidate probably colors my blogging much more than anything else. Waldo is much more of a policy wonk than I am.
As for running again – well, we’ll see.
Adam – good points, even if I don’t necessarily agree. I wonder whether the increase in readership after the 06 Senate race is not simply a result of the Webb win. If Webb had lost, would so many of the folks that are participating in the blogsphere remained? Or would the blogsphere, particularly those on the left, have thinned, much like after the 2004 elections? Blogs are “talking amongst themselves” right now, not necessarily reaching the mainstream. So it’s only natural that partisanship in this environment has increased. But as it continues to grow, the bloggers won’t just be talking to each other, we’ll be talking to the public at large.
I do agree that the endorsement value right now is low for bloggers. But I see that changing in the future, again, because the audience will be changing.
Vivian, do you realize that every time you link to us, our ranking improves by 30k?
Three cheers for partisan hacks!