WP,pg1: Paid Bloggers Stoke Va. Senate Battle: Test Limits of Finance Laws

[DeepModem Mom]

Paid Bloggers Stoke Senate Battle in Va.
Campaigns Test Limits of Finance Laws
By Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A01

RICHMOND -- Virginia's U.S. Senate race has catapulted bloggers into the middle of electioneering and controversy as campaign supporters use their online forums to connect with voters, raise money and spread gossip.

Liberal bloggers -- two of whom are on the payroll of Democratic challenger James Webb -- fanned the flames last month after Sen. George Allen aimed a derogatory remark at a young Webb volunteer. That hype has helped Webb close a double-digit Allen lead in public polls and was a blow to the Republican senator's possible presidential bid in 2008.

The lack of an effective response from conservative bloggers has prompted Allen to hire a Virginia blogger as his "new media coordinator" to goose GOP supporters into action. And four of Virginia's most popular conservative bloggers launched http://www.allens-a-team.com last week to counter what they call liberal attacks.

Together, the Webb and Allen campaigns are transforming the image of the independent blogger, clicking away on his own dime from his basement. And they are pushing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws as blogs that once were personal diaries have come to resemble full-blown campaign operations that don't have to be reported as expenses.

The goal of the paid bloggers, both campaigns say, is to deluge online political journals with positive tidbits about their candidate and draw attention to the most negative news about their opponent. The campaign bloggers sometimes write their own bits. Other times, they spread gossip generated by others....

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600575.html

[tsuki]

1. Paid bloggers have been around a long time. And they will be

around for a lot longer, whether they are paid over or under the table.

[ClassWarrior]

2. What about newspapers that were once vital information sources...

...that "have come to resemble full-blown campaign operations that don't have to be reported as expenses?"

What about that, WAPO?

NGU.

[WCGreen]

4. Cool.....

Great throw back to the Main Stream....

They are just jealous...

[ClassWarrior]

8. True, they are jealous. But they're not "mainstream."

They're the Corporate Media.

:hi:

NGU.

[Kagemusha]

3. I'm sorry, what's the threat to the American Way here?

Anyone can post on the Internet - including opponents of an incumbent Senator. That's not the case on the airwaves, where no onewithout a suitcase full of money is going to get heard.

So what's the problem here?

[uberblonde]

5. I'd rather have a paid blogger...

Than a so-called "journalist" who's secretly on the take from BushCo.

[Pithy Cherub]

6. In the 21st century the press is openly on the take.

The Woodwards, Millers, Gannons, Armstrongs et al, openly feed at the Bush Whore House trough.

[zbdent]

7. Gee, two "paid liberal bloggers"? vs

thousands of financed "Republican" attack websites, bloggers, newspapers, radio stations (who also live off the "liberal" idea of the "public" airwaves"), etc ...

:eyes: