I got to know Ford O'Connell and Steve Pearson somewhat through their political work here in Virginia. While not bloggers themselves, they have worked several political initiatives and campaigns on the outreach side of things. There's more at this link to their piece in AmSpec. I'd consider their advice to be experienced and well informed.
If you're lucky, you have a hometown paper that still sends a reporter to political events. Most candidates, however, will end up emailing press releases to a drop box at a paper that no longer even has a reporter to cover your county, much less your campaign. Fortuitously, there is a political blogger network (in a very loose sense of network) that is growing to fill this gap left by the decline of traditional media. The trick for campaigns -- large and small -- is to figure out how to connect effectively with this proto-network of bloggers.
These bloggers are just one aspect of the larger network of online activity that is often referred to as "social media." Email, web2.0, video, social networking, micro-blogging, social bookmarking -- all are different aspects of a larger approach to distributing information and encouraging activity. The common thread woven throughout these concepts is the distributed self-service nature of the various activities.
I don’t know If I said it already but …Excellent site , keep up the good work. I read a lot of blogs on a daily basis and for the most part, people lack substance but, I just wanted to make a quick comment to say I’m glad I found your blog. Thanks.
Posted by: ram | Tuesday, December 08, 2009 at 06:09 AM