Salon writer Geraldine Sealey picks up on the friction caused by Alex Jones' slam of bloggers attending the convention with press credentials. She says it better than we could, so we'll just quote:

The difference between most bloggers and journalists is usually what attracts readers to blogs in the first place. Bloggers, among other things, chronicle, archive, editorialize, provide community for the like-minded and forums for debate, and emphasize key points being lost in the din of the mainstream coverage. Blogs provide a helpful lens, even if a partisan one, for understanding mainstream media coverage. And since blog readers are usually voracious news junkies, blogs provide them a supplement to the daily consumption of mainstream news -- they don't necessarily supplant say, the Washington Post. As with all flavors of media outlets, there are good blogs and bad, prominent ones that have risen on their reputation and track record, and others you can probably do without.

Alex Jones in the LA Times rants about bloggers getting press credentials to cover the Democratic National Convention in Boston. Matt Welch, a journalist and blogger who is attending, responds:

There are two types of reporting that even the most nakedly partisan political bloggers routinely engage in: eyewitness testimony, and press review-style research. Both of which, and particularly the former, will add value to the conventions, which are largely made-for-TV fabrications that can benefit from more you-are-there-behind-the-curtain reportage. Also, it can be very useful to read descriptions by people whose politics are on their sleeve & whose takes on things you trust from intimate personal experience.

Jones writes:

"With the status conferred by convention credentials, blogging has arrived as an engaging, important new player in the information carnival."

Matt responds:

It takes the issuance of credentials by a friggin' political party to confer status on people who have built huge audiences from scratch and invigorated the mediasphere by writing for free? What a warped view of journalism.

Jones equates the blogger's attributes with those of "a blustering know-it-all in a bar." Well, he has that right. We're all meeting for drinks Sunday night in Cambridge. Matt, see you then. [link via Instapundit.]

We don't know enough about the ins and outs of security to know if these photos are cause for concern for not, but Granite Island Group thinks they render the Fleet Center vulnerable during the Democratic Convention. We're pretty optimistic that the authorities will have everything under control by the time we all descend on Boston. (Via Cryptome and Brain-stream.

There will be unprecedented video surveillance in Boston during the Democratic National Convention, including:

...some 30 cameras near the FleetCenter, the Coast Guard using infrared devices and night-vision cameras in the harbor, and dozens of pieces of surveillance equipment mounted on downtown buildings to monitor crowds for terrorists, unruly demonstrators, and ordinary street crime.

For the first time, 75 high-tech video cameras operated by the federal government will be linked into a surveillance network to monitor the Central Artery, City Hall Plaza, the FleetCenter, and other sensitive sites. Their feeds from cameras mounted on various downtown buildings will be piped to monitoring stations in the Boston area and in Washington, D.C., and officials will be able to zoom in from their work stations to gather details of facial descriptions or read license plates.

More than 100 cameras will monitor activity on buses and the subway. To demonstrate a point we make frequently, that once you give new powers to the Government it rarely gives them back, consider this:

While video surveillance has become a common tool for police and private security personnel, Boston police and federal officials concede that the additional cameras and new technology represent another chapter in Boston. And it's here to stay: Boston police say the 30 or so cameras installed for the convention will be used throughout the city once the event is over. ''We own them now," said police Superintendent Robert Dunford. ''We're certainly not going to put them in a closet."

We share the concerns of the ACLU and other civil libertarians:

Civil libertarians warn that the latest technology will be used to scare away protesters and others exercising their rights under the First Amendment. The critics complain that there are few state and federal laws regulating the use of video surveillance in public places. ''What this demonstrates is that '1984' is now technologically possible," said Barry Steinhardt, director of the American Civil Liberties Union's Technology and Liberty Program, referring to George Orwell's vision of an all-seeing totalitarian state. ''This is really a situation where we are really being asked to blindly trust the government. There is no oversight of this. There are no safeguards."

The New York Times has an editorial today devoted to subject of bloggers attending the Democratic Convention. It credits bloggers for raising the awareness that led to the ousting of Trent Lott and their fundraising help to candidates.

People who think the mushrooming world of wannabe polemicists and their Web logs, or blogs, is merely a high-tech amusement should talk to Senator Trent Lott, the Mississippi Republican. In Web lore, bloggers are credited with relentlessly drilling Senator Lott after he expressed segregation-tinged nostalgia for the Strom Thurmond presidential campaign, a story that the major news media initially missed. Mr. Lott was subsequently forced to quit as majority leader.

Beyond its power as a source of news and commentary, the Internet has proved itself to be the ultimate fund-raising tool. Bloggers can be crass and biased, but politicians no longer scoff at their rich online realm. Hence the red carpet at the conventions — at least for some of them.

The Times cites earlier articles reporting that 50 bloggers applied and 30 were accepted. The DNCC says 200 applied, 50 were accepted at first, and that number was later reduced to 50.

We're excited to cover the convention with press credentials. Thanks to all of you who have contributed and taken out ads to send us there. As the Times says:

Will bloggers be tamed into centrism? Or, like Mencken, will they gleefully report that the convention's main speechmakers are "plainly on furlough from some home for extinct volcanoes"? Log on to find out.

The Kerry campaign has announced that Barack Obama, Illinois state senator and the Democratic nominee for U.S. Senate, will deliver the keynote address at the 2004 Democratic National Convention on Tuesday, July 27.

Here's an interesting statistic we received from the campaign by e-mail:

According to statistics compiled by the Democratic National Committee, 39.1 percent of the 4,341 delegates to this month’s Convention in Boston are minorities. More African-Americans, Asian-Americans, Native-Americans, and Hispanics will attend the Convention than ever before.

Update: Some are upset that Hillary wasn't invited to speak.

We doubt John Kerry or John Edwards has time to go online. But Elizabeth Edwards does, and she reads blogs. Here's a comment she left on Ed Cone's blog a few days ago:

Hello, Ed. Not much time for blogging -- or much else in the last days. Even when I get to a computer, it is for just a minute -- usually too short to check mail. (I am going to start using my daughter's old laptop -- I am a diehard old-fogey desktop girl -- when I hit the trail next, so that mught improve.) This week has been incredible. The energy seems like October levels, not early July levels. I feel a change a-comin'. Elizabeth Edwards • 7/10/04; 10:24:13 PM

Here's one she left a while back on Jack O'Toole's blog. O'Toole designed a website for the Edwards campaign:

Thanks, Jack. The beta looks terrific. And I can't tell you how great it is to come across efforts like this on the web. John and I really appreciate your support. Posted by: Elizabeth Edwards on November 18, 2003 10:07 PM

Here's another flattering profile of Elizabeth Edwards--from the Christian Science Monitor--"The Modest, Impassioned 'Anti-Barbie.'

We got our invitation today to the Blogger Welcome Breakfast being sponsored by the DNCC. It's Monday morning at 10 am and there will be a guest speaker. This will be our first chance to meet many of the bloggers who have been granted press credentials to cover the convention. While no official list of these bloggers has been released, it was pretty easy for us to determine who they are since the invitation came by "mass e-mail" with all of our email addresses in it. There are nine bloggers we read regularly. Two of the blogs we check in with more than once a day. We have met and spent time with only one of the bloggers, Markos of Daily Kos, whom we consider a good friend. (Here's a picture from May. We're in the middle, holding the baby)

It's always fun to be able to put a face with a blog. We have attended a few Rocky Mountain blogger bashes and found that meeting the blogger in person adds a whole new dimension to reading the blog afterwards.

We're still on our fundraising drive to help us cover the costs of the trip. We've raised $900.00 so far and expect the trip will cost us about $3,000.00. So, if you can help us out, we'd really appreciate it. Every few bucks helps. Here's how:

• Amazon (anonymous)
• PayPal

We're still hoping one of the campaigns or a media outlet or corporation will spring for one of our premium ads --that would pay for the trip and we could stop asking readers for contributions. Should that happen, we'll let you know.

The major tv networks may not be broadcasting much of the political conventions on television, but a few will provide extensive coverage on the internet, with interactive features. Among them: CBS and ABC. Here's what they have in store for you:

ABC-TV's Peter Jennings will anchor convention sessions on abcnewslive.com, the 24/7 streaming news channel operated by the Walt Disney Co. subsidiary, available through America Online and the RealNetworks content subscription service. CBS plans free coverage of the sessions on CBSNews.com, plus on-demand clips and news reports.

A highlight of the ABC Web channel's coverage of will be a one-hour, live interactive program conducted at 7 p.m. each night of the conventions. Guests will discuss issues, answer e-mailed questions from AOL subscribers, and comment on live online surveys. "During a period of heightened interest in politics and news, we're able to engage voters in the political process like never before," said Bernie Gershon, senior vice president and general manager of ABC News Digital Media Group.

It's not just tv networks either:

AOL's broadband subscribers can get live gavel-to-gavel coverage and express opinions on convention issues via online InstaPolls, the unit of Time Warner said.

Ron Reagan, the son of the late former President Ronald Reagan, will be speaking at the Democratic National Convention in Boston. His purpose: generating support for stem cell research.

Good for him. Ron Reagan delivered one of the best eulogies to his father--getting in a jab at President Bush in the process.

Dad was also a deeply, unabashedly religious man. But he never made the fatal mistake of so many politicians wearing his faith on his sleeve to gain political advantage. True, after he was shot and nearly killed early in his presidency, he came to believe that God had spared him in order that he might do good. But he accepted that as a responsibility, not a mandate. And there is a profound difference.

He also has been critical of Bush and his Administration on the war in Iraq. Check out this interview with him in the New York Times. And his comments on Larry King Live.

Ron says he won't be critical of the Administration in his DNC speech. We bet he delivers at least one more jab--with charm.

14 days to go to the DNC in Boston and we're still excited. Here's an updated list of invited bloggers. We still need your help to get there. A lot of help. If you'd rather get us the tech toys we'd like to enhance our live blogging, that's fine too. All help is appreciated.

• Amazon (anonymous)
• PayPal

We're hoping one of the campaigns or a media outlet or corporation will spring for one of our premium ads --that would pay for the trip and we could stop asking readers for contributions. Should that happen, we'll let you know.

DNCC Honorary Veterans Chair Sen. Max Cleland just sent out this news about the press facilities for the Democratic Convention in Boston:

Recently we raised the roof on a 100,000 square foot outdoor Press Pavilion that will house more than 2,000 print reporters who will be covering the Convention. By July 26, the FleetCenter will have been converted into the perfect venue for our 2004 Democratic National Convention.... The Press Pavilion, being built on the site of the old Boston Garden, will be the largest multi-story, temporary building ever constructed in the United States. Similar structures are being used at the 2004 Olympics in Athens, Greece. For the foundation of the Press Pavilion, 1,000 yards of concrete have been poured, over 2,000 yards of fill placed, and 50,000 square feet of 1 ½"-thick "hot top" paved. The roof, weighing in at 180,000 lbs., took six cranes to lift into place.

Also, sixty tons of structural steel and dozens of rigging stanchions were installed in the roof of the FleetCenter. Additionally, more than 4,000 seats have been removed to make way for the podium and press stands. Forty-four skyboxes are being turned into media suites, and an additional 20 skyboxes behind the stage are being converted into offices. Electricians have already started laying the more than 4,000 miles of cable that will be installed to facilitate communications and electronic voting. Construction on the stage will begin soon, along with the conversion of locker rooms (normally used by the Boston Celtics and the Boston Bruins) into offices for staff and waiting rooms where speakers will prepare before going on stage.

17 days to go, we are very excited. We've raised $600 so far towards our expected expenses of $2,000 - $3,000.00---if you can help us out, our Paypal page is here . If you'd like to donate anonymously, use Amazon. Both are secure. Many, many thanks.