USA Today’s Andrea Stone has this thumbsucker today about the rise of blogging among Members of Congress and Senators. It’s noteworthy for several reasons.
First, as might be expected, politicians like blogs — they’re cheap (although not in terms of staff time) and easy ways to keep constituents informed, even if most Congressional offices have turned off commenting capabilities. So in this respect, they’re not really “blogs,” but still a step in the right direction.
Most congressional “blogs” aren’t really blogs with unfiltered comment and frequent updates. Members of Congress are limited in what they can put on taxpayer-funded websites, while government rules forbid instant comments on them. Instead, readers can e-mail the lawmaker, whose staff either replies privately or, after reviewing the comment, posts it on the website.
Another noteworthy point: because maintaining blogs and answering questions does chew up staff time, many politicians try to use other blogs to get their viewpoints across. Senate Majority Leader and presidential hopeful Bill Frist (R-TN) blogs from his PAC’s web site.
Although the article offers no statistics, Democrats tend to lead the way when it comes to blogging (I’ve noticed this too — why would blogging be a big-D Democratic thing to do?).
Many “off-site” bloggers are Democrats. Michigan Rep. John Conyers, attracts 650 people a day to the no holds-barred blog at his campaign website, recently criticizing President Bush’s domestic surveillance program. When Massachusetts Rep. Ed Markey wanted to let loose against a bill he says would put limits on the Internet, he linked his blog to entries on the liberal Huffington Post and Agonist websites.
Cynthia Brumfield at 5:46 PM|Comments(0)
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