The political power of weblogs

Phantastic! What started out as a way to have a cyber-rant or just share a personal thought, has become cutting edge media with a role to play even in the US presidential election race. For the first time, weblogs will be accredited media at the major party conventions when John Kerry and President George W. Bush will be officially named the Democratic and Republican candidates. The Democratic Party has decided some of the 15,000 press passes will be assigned to bloggers at its July 26-28 convention. Meanwhile the Democratics have launched their own Weblog to cover the event. The Republican National Committee has not yet chosen the accredited blogger for its convention starting August 30, but will announce them soon. "This is a real landmark for the legitimacy of the blogger and a testament to their growing influence", said Jonathan Dube, who blogs about online journalism. Plus: Cyber Journalist lists the bloggers covering the Democratic convention. Among them are some of my favorite online news sources Political Wire (receives 105000 visits a day), Daily Kos and Talk Left.