Via Kevin at LexBlog: Presidential hopeful John Edwards spoke to the crowd at Gnomedex in Seattle. He got a standing ovation when he left the stage.

One Gnomedex attendee pointed out that the human voice so fundamental to blogs contrasts with the practiced messages delivered by many politicians. Edwards agreed, and acknowledged his own shortcomings in that regard, saying that he can often sense when he is slipping into that mode.

"The problem is that we're so trained and so conditioned over a long period of time that being normal and real and authentic requires you to shed that conditioning," Edwards said of politicians. "It is not an easy thing to do."

I think that's right. I'm sure there are exceptions, but the polticians whose blogs I've read sound like they are reciting their campaign speeches. There's no persona, no sense of human being inside. They are all too predictable, as if three handlers vetted their blogposts to make sure no potential voter would be offended before posting them.