We’re here early

There’s bound to be a lot of discussion about the role of bloggers in this election, so permit me to submit my entry. I don’t think that bloggers affected the election, but the election certainly affected bloggers (and not just by giving us big heads, as my daughter says). The ability of bloggers to satisfy the demand for information about the election, plus their ability to break a huge story like Rathergate, has made blogging a force (though not an election-affecting one) at least several years before its estimated-time-of arrival.
HINDROCKET adds: True, Deacon, but let’s not forget that when the Swift Boat Vets were just a ragtag bunch of old guys with a lousy $250,000 in the bank, so that Bob Shrum could plausibly say that Kerry should ignore them–how can they hurt you, they have no money?–the bloggers were among those who alerted voters to the Vets’ message and directed traffic to it online. So that, two weeks after the first Vets’ ad appeared, hardly anyone had seen it on television, which costs money, but 57% of the population knew about it and many of those had seen it. So give pre-eminent credit to the Vets, yes; but we bloggers were in there too, lending a hand.

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