Angry Voters, Not Blogger Buzz, Lifted Lamont, Activists Say

[kurth]

Angry Voters, Not Blogger Buzz, Lifted Lamont, Activists Say

Aug. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Democrat Ned Lamont's victory in the Senate primary in Connecticut over incumbent Joseph Lieberman is the first major triumph for Internet political bloggers, who championed the challenger's antiwar candidacy. Now, some bloggers are being low key about their role in yesterday's outcome.

``This is not a group to shy away from taking credit for things, but playing in a world of real politics that has true national implications has made them suddenly modest,'' said Ana Marie Cox, who ran the ``Wonkette'' site and was one of the first celebrity bloggers. ``Lamont would not have gotten where he got without the left-wing blogosphere,'' she said. Yet ``there are just not enough bloggers'' for that to be the only reason he won. Bloggers say that while they helped influence the results, the primary election mostly turned on voter dissatisfaction with Lieberman. In addition, Lamont contributed about $4 million to his own campaign...

Lamont's victory will make it difficult for politicians to ignore the blogosphere's power, said Jim Dean, head of Democracy for America, a grassroots-organizing group that backed the newcomer. ``Candidates are going to be much more savvy about trying to use it for their own purposes,'' said Dean, brother of Howard Dean, chairman of the Democratic National Committee. It really does a good job of getting people fired up and engaged.'' Eli Pariser, 25, executive director of MoveOn.org, which supported Lamont, said his victory ``sends a message that voters are sick and tired of being sick and tired.''... ``Most campaigns use paid canvassers and paid callers to do this,'' Pariser said. ``Those people really could care less about who they are calling for. We have people who care passionately doing the calling.''

The blogosphere also acted as both a megaphone and an echo chamber for Lamont: It boosted the volume of his campaign and got him the attention of mainstream news organizations. The so-called mainstream media is the true target audience of the bloggers, said Jenny Backus, a Democratic political consultant. ``The bloggers' No. 1 audience is not voters, it is pundits, it is reporters,'' Backus said. ``But Democrats must welcome the energy and intelligence and enthusiasm of the bloggers. They are a good counter to talk radio on the Republican side.''... Stuart Rothenberg, editor of the non-partisan Rothenberg Political Report, said: ``Did the bloggers help get the ball rolling for Lamont? I suppose so. They talked up this race and they deserve credit for that. But if Ned Lamont wasn't personally wealthy and if Lieberman hadn't ignored grassroots in his state for many years,'' then Lamont wouldn't have won.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601070&sid=aFXzi_6Qc_ck&refer=home

[fasttense]

1. The corporate media thinks they control the political dialog

They don't.

[HereSince1628]

2. Sounds right to me.

All the noise about bloggers is more about whining that the money given to control out-of-date centers of special interest didn't do the trick.