The Rocky Mountain News has some praise for convention bloggers in an editorial today marking the 35th birthday of the Internet.

The Internet is changing politics for the better, with both major U.S. parties for the first time credentialing people who host online journals called web logs, or blogs. Denver attorney Jeralyn Merritt, of www.talkleft.com was at the Republican National Convention offering a perspective quite unlike those found in either newspapers or on television.

And a big thanks to conservative blogger John Cole at Balloon Juice who writes:

BTW- In case you missed a lot of the coverage of the protests, Jeralyn Merritt was there, and despite the fact that I disagree with damn near anything she says, she clearly had the best of the lefty blog coverage.

I think all the liberal convention bloggers at the RNC did a terrific job--we covered the protests, the speeches, the shortcomings of the Bush Administration and more with personalized observations and reactions. A huge thanks is due the Tank for hosting us.

Please read all the Tank bloggers' coverage, accessible here. TalkLeft's complete coverage is here.

Where do we go from here? Maybe the DNCC or the Kerry campaign will grant bloggers press credentials to blog live on election day from campaign headquarters. Maybe the mainstream media will sponsor bloggers to live blog the election along side its political reporters. If you have other ideas how to expand the voice of bloggers for the election, let's hear them.