Bloggers Blanket Republican Convention

The idea of penning a blog to cover the Republican National Convention isn't so unique after all.

While the party doled out credentials for about 15 bloggers to officially cover the convention this week in New York, it seems every Tom, Dick and Jane is writing a blog from the convention floor, the streets of New York or home computers in basements across America. Meanwhile, media outlets covering the convention – from national networks to hometown papers – have figured out that blogs are a must-have, making the online Weblogs a necessary passenger on the political bandwagon.

There are so many blogs related to the convention (or online pundits making pot-shot posts on their everyday blogs), there are search engines and Web sites to help track them all. A special site called Convention Blogger aggregates links for bloggers covering the convention. Jonathan Dube, publisher of Cyberjournalist.net and MSNBC's managing producer, has a helpful primer on convention blogs on the Poynter Institute's site. He mentions Convention Blogger and notes that other aggregation sites are also good tools for digging up convention-themed posts. Two good spots are politics pages on Feedster and Technorati. Dube also has posted his own page of convention bloggers, including delegates, independent blogs and credentialed scribes.

Mainstream media are also jumping into the blog-watch fray. The Cincinnati Enquirer today posted a blog watch feature, noting one from Ohio and also the quirky blog attempt by the RNC. "Few would describe GOP Chairman Ed Gillespie as 'animated.' But he is this week - literally. On the party's Web site (www.gop.com), Gillespie is posting an 'audio blog' with the entries delivered by an animated Gillespie talking head," the Enquirer round-up said.
• The Cincinnati Enquirer: Convention Blog Watch

The Los Angeles Times' convention blog watch observed yesterday: "For several bloggers, the parties (especially the bash thrown by National Review) and first night of the convention were almost transcendental experiences. Slantpoint was 'awed;' he found the convention floor to be even more exciting than rock concerts or wrestling matches. Tough competition indeed. Blogs for Bush reports that the convention is 'an extraordinary experience,' and it's only the first day! Political Musings thought that the only thing lacking was [Sen. John] McCain's failure to make any 'real criticism' of [Sen. John] Kerry. Perhaps predictably, the Daily Kos was less impressed, wondering if McCain was phoning it in and upset that Rudy Giuliani did not point out his differences with the GOP platform," the paper summarized.
• The Los Angeles Times: Convention Blog Watch (Registration required)

So how does the RNC blog experience compare with July's Democratic lollapalooza in Boston? "Republican Web loggers are getting ready for their shot at posting convention news and commentary, and they say they've learned from their left-leaning counterparts' experience five weeks earlier," the Wall Street Journal, in advance of the convention last week, said in its online "Meet the Bloggers" feature.
• The Wall Street Journal: Meet the Bloggers, Part Two (Subscription required)

But now Democratic convention bloggers appear to be getting a chuckle at the expense of their GOP convention colleagues. In a nutshell, it's not easy to cover a live event and to offer running -- and relevant -- commentary from the floor. "Loud grumbles were emanating from the 15 accredited bloggers Tuesday after a fiber-optic line break threw them offline for more than three hours. The outage followed other delays Monday in getting the network up and running. Some bloggers complained that, despite a series of high-profile visitors to Bloggers Corner, including [retired Army] Gen. Tommy Franks and former White House spokesman Ari Fleischer, they were finding it hard to get interviews with delegates on the floor. 'It's not as easy as I thought it would be,' admitted John Hinderaker of Power Line, a conservative political blog," the Journal reported in a round-up of convention news. Left-leaning counterparts weren't sympathetic. "Sounding like a veteran correspondent who had been there, done that, Ezra Klein of liberal blog Pandagon.net said the Republican bloggers would find out as the week went on that covering such a media-saturated event was harder than it seemed. 'The Republican bloggers were ... a little contemptuous of our coverage, and the Democratic bloggers are kind of just like, "good luck." We've been through all of this.'"
• The Wall Street Journal: Dispatches From New York (Subscription required)

An article on Salon.com concludes blogs are displaying a lot of style and oohing-and-ahhing about the convention and less substance, despite a pledge that bloggers would dig deep. A subscription is required to read the whole article, but an intro blurb reads: "They promised … hard-hitting, inside scoops. So say hello to Bo Derek, Miss America, TV star Angie Harmon, and 'Ari Fleischer's guide to red-hot GOP love.'"
• Salon.com: RNC Bloggers Gone Wild! (Subscription required)

Media Does Blogging Dance

Journalists and news sites aren't just watching blogs, they're publishing their own. As of yesterday Dube's Cyberjournalist site listed 27 blogging media outlets. It's not just journalists, though there are many journos-cum-bloggers. Some delegates and other politicos are writing blogs for their hometown papers. Case in point:

Tony Cobb of Chesapeake, Va., an at-large alternate delegate, is blogging for the Virginian-Pilot. Here is some of what he posted in the wee hours today: "I got the chance to listen to one of my favorite people speaking, Sen. Elizabeth Dole of North Carolina. She was truly remarkable, and she energized the crowd. I think she is a remarkable woman, who has accomplished so much. Next was the outstanding governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. He brought fire to the convention. He made everyone realize that they could accomplish anything in this country that they set their mind too."