Weblogs and Politics
There is considerable buzz in the weblog world about Tara Grubb, the Libertarian candidate for the 6th congressional district in North Carolina.
I may have a unique perspective on this. I was the webmaster for a candidate in the San Jose Mayoral elections last March.
I think that weblogs provide a very useful tool for a candidate to communicate with their constituency. I would have loved for my candidate to run a weblog. But, I am not sure if it would have helped him.
I see promise and pitfalls in campaign weblogs.
The promise is increased interaction with your constituents.
The primary pitfalls are:
1) dilution of your efforts, web constituents are a small portion of your base.
2) distraction from voices outside your constituency.
I also have concerns about weblogs becoming a lobbying tool.
When request for campaign contributions is put on a weblog it goes outside the constituency. A candidate could become beholden to the "weblog lobby". If a candidate received enough outside money from weblog solicitations, to win an election, they might listen more to their weblog than their constituents.
As always there are pluses and minuses when you apply a new technology to an old problem. I would hope that the benefits of direct interactions with your constituents outweigh the costs of outside distraction.
I would also hope that candidates would work to ensure that contributions are only coming from within their district. So it is clear that they are not beholden to outside interests.
2:32:40 AM 
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