Paid Bloggers Stoke Senate Battle in Va.
Campaigns Test Limits of Finance Laws
By Michael D. Shear and Tim Craig
Washington Post Staff Writers
Sunday, September 17, 2006; Page A01
RICHMOND -- Virginia's U.S. Senate race has catapulted bloggers into the middle of electioneering and controversy as campaign supporters use their online forums to connect with voters, raise money and spread gossip.
Liberal bloggers -- two of whom are on the payroll of Democratic challenger James Webb -- fanned the flames last month after Sen. George Allen aimed a derogatory remark at a young Webb volunteer. That hype has helped Webb close a double-digit Allen lead in public polls and was a blow to the Republican senator's possible presidential bid in 2008.
The lack of an effective response from conservative bloggers has prompted Allen to hire a Virginia blogger as his "new media coordinator" to goose GOP supporters into action. And four of Virginia's most popular conservative bloggers launched
http://www.allens-a-team.com last week to counter what they call liberal attacks.
Together, the Webb and Allen campaigns are transforming the image of the independent blogger, clicking away on his own dime from his basement. And they are pushing the boundaries of federal campaign finance laws as blogs that once were personal diaries have come to resemble full-blown campaign operations that don't have to be reported as expenses.
The goal of the paid bloggers, both campaigns say, is to deluge online political journals with positive tidbits about their candidate and draw attention to the most negative news about their opponent. The campaign bloggers sometimes write their own bits. Other times, they spread gossip generated by others....
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/09/16/AR2006091600575.html