Nancy Pelosi apparently had a Q&A session with a few dozen bloggers after being sworn in as House Speaker, and has hired a full-time staff member who's job is blogger outreach!! This is big--the Speaker of the House is conferring a sense of legitimacy to bloggers as a news source and important voice to woo in "new media." Even if no science bloggers were included (hey, we care about politics too!), it makes me feel all warm and fuzzy inside. Pelosi is also launching a blog of her own.
"They've gone from an initial writing blogs off, then moving to skepticism, then moving to, 'OK, maybe we can find a way of working with these guys,'" said John Aravosis, who runs Americablog.com.
"It's a power base and it's influential and it's an opportunity. And you know what? It exists," Aravosis added.
"It should only scare you if you're on their bad side."
"It's a mistake to think that these people just sit behind their machines and don't do anything other than talk to each other and send money," said Joe Trippi, who managed Howard Dean's Internet-driven campaign. "These people are very active in their precincts, in their communities."
Viva la Blog!
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