Political insiders create blog, film at 11!

by: neutron

Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 11:30:57 AM PDT

Interesting that the tradtional media only seems to pay attention to "events" when they are officially sanctioned and have the "right people". It reminds me of the rock world, where a band can be instantly famous if they have the right "members of..." in the group, whether the music is any good or not. Check out this article in the Sacramento Bee over a political website created by insiders that is launching on tuesday:

Thirty Democratic operatives -- pollsters, consultants and spokespeople -- will launch the "California Majority Report" at midnight Tuesday at www.camajorityreport.com. The big launch party is Tuesday night at Mason's in downtown Sacramento, complete with a "special guest," former Gov. Gray Davis.

Oh wow! Gray Davis... (*yawn*), how exciting. Heh, I guess it's good that he's keeping busy, anyway, the site CA Majority Report is billed as an alternative to the right wing Flash Report. Which is fine, I mean i'm all for more voices being added to the discussion, but it is interesting that the story acts like it's coming out of a vaccuum and totally ignores the previously existing California blogosphere.

more on this below, including some action:

neutron :: Political insiders create blog, film at 11!

It's a known fact that grassroots politics in California is a tough business.
If any grassroots groups are recognized at all, (rare) frequently it's to be called Kos Kidz, blogonistas, you name it... and that's from the people on "our" side.

Don't even get me started on the Republicans.

Now i'm sure some people may decry this as sour grapes since GovernorPhil.com is still relatively new. But i'm not trying to court the WAAAAAAAAAH vote here, just pointing out some serious omissions. It reminds me of the fawning coverage of Pajamas media. Which, if you had believed the hype, you might even believe was the first such site in existence, totally ignoring the work of the rest of the established blogosphere.

Dan Ancona's letter to Kevin pretty much says it all:

Hi Kevin,
Just a quick note on the Democratic weblog that's about to launch; your
report made it sound like this was the first lefty weblog focused in
California, but really it's just the first one by insiders. The insiders
have been behind the curve, but us outsiders have been pretty far in
front of it! These six sites are already out there and doing great:
Speak Out California
California Progress Report
Alliance for a Better CA
PowerPac Blog
Courage Campaign
Calitics
There's also http://governorphil.... - a grassroots site supporting
Phil Angelides, in the mold of the LamontBlog and RaisingKaine, two
grassroots sites that have made big impacts in CT and VA races. We're
happy to have another site with news from the inside, of course - we're
expecting CAMajorityReport to be a terrific addition to the expanding
and vibrant discussion already in progress.
Thanks!
Dan Ancona
Director of Internet Operations
Speak Out California

Right on man, couldn't agree more:
If you agree and feel like writing as well, (i'm writing now), e-mail kyamamura@sacbee.com

Or... even better... a Letter to the Editor:

The Sacramento Bee
2100 Q Street
P.O. Box 15779
Sacramento, CA 95816

-C.

Tags: CA-GOV, CA-Sen, California, Dianne Feinstein, Phil Angelides, Arnold Schwarzenegger, 2006 elections, blogosphere, Meta, pajamas media, calitics, (All Tags)

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Political insiders create blog, film at 11! | 4 comments

Who preannounces a web site? (4.00 / 2)

As my bitter computer nerd friends would say, l@me and st@le.

Dear "CA Majority Report",
Put it up live already, then tell me how great it is.

Santa Barbara Progressives

by: bolson @ Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 19:17:45 PM UTC

This is the same celebrity-centric mentality (0.00 / 0)

that brought us Arnold as governor. Seems rather pathetic on the part of journalists that they swoon so easily for a big name, no?

by: CarlsbadDem @ Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 20:37:11 PM UTC

welcome to the party, guys (0.00 / 0)

it's about time you showed up

by: Todd Beeton @ Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 20:52:36 PM UTC

It's an interesting question (0.00 / 0)

I've known about this project for quite a while, and have been speculating as to what its role will be. Roger Salazar, one of its founders, has been working communications for the CDP for a few months right now. Much of his work would be appropriate for a blog, and much of it has gone largely ignored.

Perhaps this will be a great thing for the California political information scene, but it's clearly not netroots. It's insiders talking about insider stuff; it's not going to be something that changes the landscape of California politics. But what it could be is a great source of information about California politics from people that are in Sacramento fighting the good fight everyday. That being said though, I'm still a bit skeptical as to the implimentation of staffers who are not as acclimated to the media. It's not the same as a press release; you have to be able to defend your statements immediately and you have to be able to accept criticism and disagreement.

Hopefully one side effect of this site will be to pull some of the unwarranted attention from Bill Bradley's radically moderate blog. The tone of the commenters is getting really nasty over there, and I'm afraid that Bill is unwilling to confront that, as he is often a participant in nastiness and condescension around the blogosphere.

I think?

by: Brian Leubitz @ Mon Aug 21, 2006 at 21:43:57 PM UTC