| I keep hearing more and more rumors that state parties simply chose the blogs that got credentials for the Democratic National Convention. And the evidence seems to suggest that is the case. I mentioned Michigan as one of the problem cases, so I'll walk you through why the selection seems odd. The blog chosen to be credentialled was Blogging for Michigan, a progressive community blog. It is a good blog. But Michigan Liberal is far older and more established, with 737 RSS subscribers, a large number for a state-based blog. Moreoever, ML has over 2200 technorati links, while Blogging for Michigan has just over 1000.
Why is this a big deal? Financially speaking, conventions see big traffic boosts, and that means advertising revenue that Blogging for Michigan will get that Michigan Liberal will not. Politically, Michigan Liberal won't get access to the floor delegation, and Blogging for Michigan will. Of course, mistakes happen, but in this case, it's disturbing to see that the person granted the credentials, Cathleen Carrigan, is also an author on a sycophantic blog dedicated to praising Governor Jennifer Granholm and her policies, while Michigan Liberal has been quite outspoken about the Michigan Democratic Party's handling of the primary scheduling fiasco and its chair, the savvy and powerful Mark Brewer (who has something of a history with progressive bloggers).
The process for credentialling state bloggers has been problematic, with unclear standards and questionable motives for selecting bloggers. Make no mistake, this is a financial and political decision - Michigan Liberal will lose out because of this choice, as will Blue Jersey. And we have no idea why progressives and those critical of the party were turned down. The Democratic National Convention has had subtle problems with bloggers for a long time now, with the lead spokesperson getting into it with the progressive tech giant blog BoingBoing. The lack of thought going into the selection of progressive blogs is an easily correctable problem, and it's a problem the convention and the Democratic Party doesn't need.
Dissent is a good thing, and it would be a shame if independent progressive activists were penalized because they are willing to speak out about problems with the party. That's how Republicans act.
UPDATE: I'm told Carrigan actually works for the Governor. I'll email her to find out. |
