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"What this is doing is blowing apart the old calculus for who gets to
come to the party and who doesn't," says Peter Leyden, director of the San
Francisco-based New Politics Institute, a think tank that tracks the
intersection of the Internet and politics.
With the 2008 presidential election just 556 days away, political parties
and candidates understand that bloggers have become a critical part of the
commentary on political developments "on a scale that is absolutely
astounding," he said.
"Many of them have passionate followers, people who are crazy about
politics," Leyden said.
"And if you legitimize them, and bring them into inner
circles ...
they will get a huge new segment of folks energized that aren't
necessarily reading newspapers and aren't involved in politics."
Experts say the increased presence of bloggers at such traditional events
will be closely watched to track their growing influence and analyze how their
coverage shapes the candidates' strategies in the 2008 presidential election.
Bob Brigham, 29, an Internet strategist and blogger for Calitics, a
liberal Web site that provides commentary on Democratic politics, said the
intensity of the "netroots" coverage "stretches the debate in terms of breadth
and depth" and has the potential to create immediate ripple effects among a
hardcore dedicated political ...
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