I'm excited to see him appear to be catching Hillary.  He'd be a better candidate and a much better president.

...aren't upset that John Edwards hired liberal bloggers.

However, Bill Donohue is hoping to hurt John Edwards in the general if Edwards is the nominee.

I think the episode was important because Edwards stood up rather than caving in.  For most people, however, even political junkies, it was a VERY inside baseball story.  I know lots of people who follow politics and occasionally blogs, but thet had no idea what the fuss was about so its no surprising it did not move any polls.  

Blogger-phobic elites: put Cokie Roberts at the top of that list, based on her general attitude and specific peasant-phobic screeds she has written (and undoubtedly said.)

I suspect strongly that half of these blogger-phobic elites will mellow out, though, if the netroots winner comes out and promises to protect the orderly flow of Tanqueray into Georgetown and related neighborhoods west of The Park in DC, with the help of the Secret Service, if necessary.  A little alcoholic pandering goes a long way, people.

It could also be that no one gives a shit.  Its early and by in large the blogosphere is an echo chamber (one I'm a part of), but to most people its just one more place for political discussion rather than THE place for it.  The attacks failed because no one notices much less cares.

I agree--at this point, it's ludicrous for a GOP candidate to think that using the traditional media to attack a Democratic candidate's connections to the blogosphere will really hurt the Democratic candidate in any way, given how few people know who bloggers are or understand what they do.

However, I wouldn't be surprised to learn that attacking bloggers does work in GOP fundraising appeals.  Since GOP fundraising appeals presumably only go out to people who would potentially donate to a right wing campaign, I could see a certain segment of those people getting all riled up over us.  If that's true, then great!!!

It's interesting to note that if Senator Obama is consistently shown to be running even, or better, against HRC in the polls it demolishes the only sound argument in favour of her candidacy, even among her supporters.  It's going to happen.

haha, I loved the gratuitious link to the GWB bio for "miserable failure"

Subtle comedy.

Yeah, this kind of thing will be such a non-factor for any general election voter.  It's ludicrous to think anyone would be inclined to vote Edwards in the general, but decide to vote Republican or 3rd Party because of this.

At best, The Catholic League is hoping to garner some more donations and members out of this.  

Though somewhat tangential to the subject, this post gave me a good frame for political blogs: it empowers the political middle class, strengthens and broadens it.

Think about newspapers and the other conventional media. If there were no newspapers, the elites of each field would still find a way to get their information. Everyone else, though, would have next to zero capacity to get recent news and reliable civic information. Now, even with the existence of newspapers, there are those who can't afford them, can't read, or don't read the paper. But for many others, the newspaper is an affordable means to get lots of information -- information which makes it possible for collective action. The newspaper enables the political middle class.

Blogs, because they go much deeper (if narrower) than newspapers, and because they offer much more opportunity for feedback and organizing, serve to further empower this political middle class.

Comparing it to economics, the analogy that comes to mind is unions. The existence of decent jobs makes an economic middle class possible; the union strengthens this middle class and empowers it.

But blogs are more like a forum than an organization. So maybe the better analogy is the union hall or community center.

Certainly interesting numbers and not at all good for HRC. But Rasmussen regularly shows her a lot lower than other pollsters which may be a more accurate reflection of the state of affairs or a less accurate one.

"Republican attempts to make Democrats look bad though guilt by association with us crazy bloggers were a miserable failure. "

Not sure that's accurate since the headlines were all "Catholics outraged at Edwards Bloggers".

All the public took away from it was that bloggers were insulting Catholics and Edwards was hiring them.

Even moderate Catholic groups objected to the blogger posts.

As for it not hurting Edwards, despite his small gains, he got even further behind the two leading candidates.  Zogby noted last week that Edwards' differential is getting so large that it is turning it into a two person race. And Edwards has been running for four years.

It looks like Edwards attempt to purchase blog appeal may be stunting his growth.

Edwards and Obama will finish 1st and 2nd in the Iowa Caucus.

It's only February and we are already seeing the volatility in the primary polls. It's funny that Rammussen is stil polling Gore and he is still pulling in close to 10%.

However, the majority of Gore's support will go to either Edwards or Obama, with Edwards probably picking up slightly more voters.

Politician name recognition and stand up comedy, and bloggers.

Stand up comedy is a hard gig when it comes to national politics. On the road, you've got to appeal to different audiences from all different locations and cracking a joke about national politician X can often land you flat. Like the OP suggest by illustrating his difficulty explaining the blog sphere to friends over cocktails, try standing in front of 80- 120 people and tell jokes about Harry Reid, or Mike Gravel. Hairy Gravel, what kind of joke is that?

The point is, name recognition. Or in the case of celebrities and politicians, star power! My uncle named a star after his 7' pet boa, Percy. What a waste of money.

OP Bowers counters right wingers hate of liberal bloggers by saying they'll have to spend $200 million dollars in ad campaigns to even have the idea of bloggers enter into coffee table conversations. Well, no they don't need to spend $200 million, all they have to do is spread it word of month. Much like when the Christian action groups in the early 1990s started their attack on gays, it was at the grassroots, and at the state legislative level. "News Flash Oregon Citizens Alliance Lon MABON" Anti-gay local level movements became a national level headline with very little capital.

Somebody might bring up the Daily Show as a counter argument to my stand up comedy example. The difference is an audience elects to tune into a daily broadcast. It's like going to John, the familiar musicians concert and open mic down at Timmy's comedy club: Specialized v generalized crowds.

But don't take me too serious. I'm like a paradox. I'm the bottom tier guy who grew up "low information", but now blogs. I just can't wait for my next big tier jump: gated communities!

I am so excited to see this.

I still bet that less than 10% of the country knows this happened.

My extensive research says even fewer.

From what someone familiar with the Lamont campaign told me though, it wasn't that the Hamsher thing was such a problem in itself - it was that time had to be wasted explaining it.  It seems the same sort of thing happened to Edwards to a degree.  I bet the tiny number of people who can explain the big ol' blogger scandal is rivaled only by the number who can explain his healthcare plan.  

Oops--I think more than 10% know now--now that the story was on Bill O'Reilly.  I can't say that I would have voted for Edwards anyway, but the statements presented on O'Reilly by the two employees of Edwards were very offensive to me.  More importantly, Edwards certainly can't win on this issue.  There is no way I could be convinced that he did not know their views before he hired them--that's why he hired them.

I have mixed feelings about drawing conclusions about blogpower.

We obviously have influence---It would be a big handicap to try to succeed without blog support.  

On the other hand it is just a medium.   I think the right-wingers were ahead of liberals.   I know how they use trolls to infiltrate liberal bulletin blogs but I suspect that liberal are a bit behind in disrupting conservative blogs.    

Am I wrong?

Chris, you can't be naive.  Of course this isn't going to hurt Edwards right now.  The only people paying attention right now are diehards whose minds are made.

But this is going to destroy Edwards if he wins the nomination.  How?  It will be mentioned in every debate and in multi-million dollar ad campaigns.  What Catholic will vote for a man who has no problem hiring people who insult the Virgin Mary in such vile, horrendous language?

Catholics and Christians still vote Democratic in large numbers.  But I will not be at all surprised if those numbers drop for Edwards based entirely in the blog fiasco.

If we don't start preparing for this contingency now, the repugs are going to destroy Edwards.  We can't prepare until we stop denying what happened.

Proof that I was right (and that Marcotte knew she was a big liability):  http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/12 /D8N8H2D00.html,

Fixed link:  http://www.breitbart.com/news/2007/02/12 /D8N8H2D00.html

Willie Horton was an African-American convicted  rapist known only to his family, the courts and the Massachusetts Parole Board before George Bush (the father) turned Willie Horton into "Exhibit A" in a national ad campaign to prove that Mike Dukakis was "soft on crime", releasing convicted rapists to rape again.  The Willie Hortons of the 2008 election cycle might well turn out to be the progressive bloggers hired without sufficient concern for how their previous writings would sound if selectively quoted in the context of a 30-second attack ad.

The other Swift-Boating of Michael Dukakis came when Republicans insisted that Dukakis fire his chief political adviser, John Sasso, because Sasso had engaged in successful political adviser skullduggery that ultimately took a competitor out of the race.  John Sasso was virtually unknown to the public before he became the principal topic of national discussion, with public attention focused on whether Sasso would stay or go.  (He went, and then Dukakis sank like a stone.)

Bloggers and candidates have got to accept that in the Republicans efforts to peg Democrats as wild-eyed extreme leftists, the progressive bloggers will be Republicans' "Exhibit A".  The Edwards blogger flap was just a shot across the bow, a first scene in a long play that has only just begun.

I say this not to discourage bloggers but as a warning to be careful and circumspect.  Just as you would if you were a paid member of a campaign, you must consider yourself your candidate's ambassador and realize that everything you say and do may well be attribued and imputed to your candidate at some time in the future.  I'll bet that Mike Dukakis never imagined that zero name recognition Willie Horton would end Dukakis presidential chances, or that Mike Sasso would end up being the focus of a week or two of negative publicity, ending in Sasso's resignation and the decapitation of the Dukakis campaign.

Nice to see national numbers. Meaningless, but nice.

These are the four instances of actual voting that will happen before Super Duper Tuesday:

Iowa.
Nevada.
New Hampshire.
South Carolina.

I don't see Hillary getting any higher than third in Iowa - and fourth at this point (Edwards, who basically lives there now, Obama and Vilsack beat her).
Obama probably ties Richardson in NV.
Hillary wins NH if she's third in IA - after Bill changes his residency again and campaigns there full time for six months. If she's fourth in IA and therefore doesn't win NH she's done.
Obama also wins SC - at which point Edwards (Mr. I Can Win in the South) is done.

That leaves Hil and Barack heading into the Mother of all Primaries, and the "frontrunner", Mrs. Clinton, has lost three of the first four primaries or caucuses.

When Barack wins the Democratic primaries in Illinois (of course), MO, NC, CA and Florida.

Game. Over.

The the Republicans, too stupid to actually nominate McCain, get to watch as the silver-spoon weirdo Mitt Romney gets the a*s-kicking he so richly deserves.