Political jihads and the blogosphere (FR mentioned)

CNet News ^ | 10/29/2004 | Charles Cooper

[TChris]

Here's a thought: A blogger might be the first to announce the winner of Tuesday's election.

Pure speculation on my part, of course, but is it so crazy a guess? News organizations now abide by an agreement not to project a winner until after the polls close on the West Coast. The folks who conduct exit polling usually have a pretty good idea which candidate is going to come out on top.

That information is closely held. Four years ago, blogging had yet to burst upon the mainstream. Even if an insider wanted to spill the goods, the blogosphere did not figure on the Official Leaker's short list.

Nowadays, every political news magazine worth its salt runs mandatory articles about Web logging and politics. They couldn't well ignore the bloggers after they wound up beside them with credentials to cover this summer's national political conventions.

[TChris]

Charles, you're a bit late to the party, but glad you can see the light. :-)

[Bahbah]

"...if you're screaming about "Hanoi Kerry and the Dims," it may be Free Republic."

I can't argue with that. LOL.

[GoLightly]

Both sides will get called on the net early & often, many coming from people claiming to be insiders. One side will be right.

Pay attention to the "insiders" who come gnashing & clawing, pulling out their hair trying to figure out how the unimaginable happened. Meanwhile, beware all newby fear mongers.

[84rules]

Yes, this election will go down in history as the first time that the Internet, and those who use it, had a major impact, not just on the election itself, but also on those who report on the election.

[weegee]

Refer all panicked newbies to post their vanities here:

The Official FR "I Am Panicking and I Want You To Panic, Too" Thread (Vanity)

[M Kehoe]

Charles, you're a bit late to the party, but glad you can see the light. :-)

Four years too late. Better now than never I guess.

5.56mm

[weegee]

A greater effort is going to need to be made to prohibit the hassling of people entering AND exiting polling centers. I say triple the prohibited distances for campaign activists/journalists.

I am disgusted that the media is revealing the exit polls on "early voting". That is the same thing as releasing such data on the day of the election before a poll closes.

There is no public good served by giving "unofficial" projections on the day of the election (based on 1% of polls reporting no less).

[weegee]

DirtyUnderwear (aka The Rats' Nest) can't even get a squeak. I suspect that they are too much of an embarassment to the Dims. The Wall Street Journal has exposed several of their more vile threads in the past year.

[GoLightly]

Those aren't the ones I was talking about. I'm talking about the newby "insiders" who are gonna show up to try to talk people into the mopes. The Viking kitties are going to need to stay frosty, cuz they're gonna have series bizness to take care of.

[GoLightly]

BTW, I realize the post I wrote that you responded to didn't come out right. My brain had me wandering over to watch the other side, but I forgot to include it in my post. LOL