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Reuters: Blogs to Play Big Role in Supreme Court Fight

Reuters has a good article today on the influence blogs will have in the upcoming battles over Supreme Court nominations.

"A key part of our strategy is reaching out to the Internet community," said Jim Manley, spokesman for Senate Democratic leader Harry Reid of Nevada..... Reid and other political leaders now hold conferences with bloggers in the same way they meet with traditional press.

"I think they are instrumental in getting information out and deconstructing spin," said Eric Ueland, chief of staff to Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, a Tennessee Republican. "They are much defter and swifter than the mainstream media," he said, adding that blogs are also "very clear in their philosophical and ideological leanings."

A few more quotes:

....Carol Darr, director of George Washington University's Institute for politics, democracy and the Internet, said those who read and write blogs aren't "the sad, the mad and the lonely." Rather, research shows they tend to be people able to influence others, she said.

....Not all blogs are created equal. Many will become "ideological echo chambers" that people read to reaffirm their beliefs, [politcal blogger Steve]Clemons said. Others will fuel passions on both the right and the left sides of the political spectrum. A few will rise above the pack and become sources of information and not just an advocacy forum.

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