Political Blogging Post-LL: Sidekick, Scene Stealer, or Heckler?

After reading some of the issues raised by my devoted classmates, and having had a vague late-night talk with a friend about Republican vs. Democrat campaign organization, I started wondering to what kind of capacity bloggers could be organized to make even more of a contribution to their chosen party.

Many people have talked about the double-edged sword of blogger sidekicks, as in the Lieberman blackface incident. Yes, it certainly put Lamont between a rock and a hard place, and he was criticized for his half-baked response. Yet nonetheless his role as an outsider, as a newbie to the political rhetoric game, made him much more sympathetic despite his answer being fairly unsubstantial. Lieberman's group, coming out guns firing, didn't really make Lamont look bad or himself look any better. The very fact that his team was so quick to harp on the image seemed to work against him. It seemed to reinforce the common notion among his detractors that he was so caught up in the political game that he'd forgotten his foundation as a Democrat. (Whether or not that notion is valid notwithstanding.) This tried-and-true method he'd employed successfully in the traditional political realm is exactly what held him back here. His spin, being far too calculated, comes off as slimy, whereas the spin generated by independent Lamont bloggers is far more effective, in part because of their rawness. It makes it seem more sincere.

However, back to the organization issue. I'm told that a great chunk of Republican campaign coffers are actually rather small donations made by individuals. Interns are employed all over the country expressly to nurture relationships with like-minded voters and encourage them to contribute. Bloggers have already started to operate in a similar way, independent of any official party program. Now that I've been outed as a closet nerd, I can freely admit seeing something similar happen on Penny Arcade. Before hiring a business manager, began doing contract work, started selling merchandise and hosting conventions, there was about a year or so where the two of them lived on the voluntary donations of their readership.

Anyhow, I just wondered if the political blogosphere will continue to be unpredictable and difficult to manage, or if it will evolve over the years. And if it does, will its appeal diminish? Will the blogs who manage to organize be considered insiders, a status contrary to the current essence of blogging? Will that make them more or less trustworthy? Maybe this is why official blogs have a hard time finding a voice, because they haven't identified their own persona, as insiders trying to replicate the behavior of outsiders.