This Dog Is In The Hunt

Is there anything more over-rated than the political impact of blogs? Even the much-touted role of blogs in Ned Lamont's victory appears to have been greatly exaggerated, especially when you take a close look at the fundraising number as Byron York did at National Review Online:

According to PoliticalMoneyLine , Lamont had raised $4,116,131 through July 19. (The figures are undoubtedly much higher now.) But $2,501,500 of that came from one contributor: Ned Lamont. Nearly all the rest, $1,607,371, came in contributions from individuals. (Lamont, in a point of great pride, listed just $3,784 from PACs.)

Now go to actblue.com , the clearinghouse for most netroots fundraising. According to figures on the site, which are likely much more up to date than the FEC records on PoliticalMoneyLine, Lamont has raised $298,068 from individuals contributing through blogs that take part in actblue. The site breaks down the figures by individual blogs or groups of blogs. For example, a consortium of three blogs, Firedoglake (featuring the hot blogger of the moment in Connecticut, Jane Hamsher), DownWithTyranny, and Crooks&Liars, has raised $60,123.33 from 1,354 donors. The larger Netroots Candidates group, coordinated through MyDD, has raised $104,543 from 2,913 contributions. Smaller blogs have raised far less; myleftwing, for example, has raised $100.

So what does this say? Because of reporting times, the figures don't quite match up (Lamont has surely contributed a lot more to himself by now), but the rough numbers are these: Lamont has raised $4.1 million, $2.5 million of which came from himself and $298,000 of which came from bloggers.

Essentially, Ned Lamont is a rich guy who used his money and a lot of genuine leftwing anger with Joe Liebermann to win the primary. Could he have done it without the support of the lefty blogs? Hard to say with certainty, but to claim that blogs were the primary factor in his victory is silly.

But while the story of blogs influencing political campaigns and elections is over-hyped, there is an emerging angle on the confluence of politics and blogging that has not yet been adequately covered: bloggers running for political office. I don't know if this is a trend on national basis, but we have a couple of examples right here in Minnesota. The one that I'm most familiar with is Derek Brigham from The Freedom Dogs.

Derek is a small business owner and a graphics wiz (he designed the logo that graces our header) who is running for the Minnesota State Senate in District 45. You can find out more information about his campaign at Brighamforsenate.com and drop a dime or two in his jar. You can be sure that he won't be able to self-finance his campaign like a Ned Lamont or Mark Dayton.

While Derek was involved in politics before he took up blogging, I have no doubt that he would not be a candidate for office year if not for the exposure he received and connections he made through his blog. Bloggers are often referred to as "citizen journalists" and having more of these vox populi running for office is a most positive development.