Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers who will be covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Here is Iowa-based Caucus Cooler.

Mortman: Tell me what the Caucus Cooler blog is?
Caucus Cooler: The Caucus Cooler is the premiere Iowa Caucus blog. We cover insider information regarding the 2008 Caucus. From Presidential wannabees Iowa visits, to the latest campaign acquisitions, to down and dirty insider dish- we’ve got it first.
We also cover news about the likely Republican contenders and anything that catches our interest on the Democrat side. We also offer the signature “Cooler Line” which tracks who the most likely candidate to win the Iowa Caucus is at any given time.

Mortman: What is your role?
Caucus Cooler: The Cooler has an ensemble cast of authors; all of whom are Republican insiders. We see our role as
a) Providing a forum for other interested parties to discuss the news of the day as it relates to the upcoming Presidential Caucus.
b) inform those who are either out of state or out of the loop about the latest news from the Caucus campaign trail.
c) be the best place to get information solely focused on the Iowa Caucus.

Mortman: How will blogs, online communities, and social networking affect and change the Iowa presidential precinct caucuses in 2008?
Caucus Cooler: Firstly, there will be more information about the candidates, the campaigns, the activists, the nuances than ever before. News is being broken on the blogs that the MSM either won’t cover or can’t cover quickly enough. Blogs will be a great way for candidates and campaigns to spread their message to a defined audience and it will allow them to target their message to folks they know are going to be participating in the Caucus.

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 caucuses campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Caucus Cooler: The blogs are a more interactive medium for one. They will allow the people who support different candidates to have a dialogue as opposed to a one-way conversation. Blogs also can focus on information that the MSM wouldn’t cover and wouldn’t interest a casual voter. We discuss little nuances about staffing and who’s supporting who- things that the Des Moines Register would never print. That will allow you to see the momentum that one candidate or another is gaining far quicker on the blogs than you could in the mainstream media.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Caucus Cooler: Chicken or the Egg. MSM reporters all read the blogs religiously. Since bloggers have the advantage of not having to have sources for their info, they are much more conducive to rumors and innuendo. Oftentimes these rumors turn into facts and so the MSM has to catch up to a story that’s been in the blogs for a couple of weeks. On the flip side, most bloggers have other jobs, so the MSM reporters can do much more detailed research. They also have more resources in most cases. For that reason, we post a lot of MSM stories on the Cooler (particularly from smaller papers) and those stories drive the conversation we have on the blog. It’s a give and take.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 caucuses?
Caucus Cooler: We’re old, crotchety and jaded, so we’ll have to pass on that.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns geared to Iowa?
Caucus Cooler: More familiar with the R side. Romney and McCain both have Iowa blogs. Huckabee bloggers from New Hampshire and Arkansas post on Iowa blogs. That’s all we can think of at this point.

Mortman: As we approach the caucuses, which candidates, both Dem and Republican, will have more appeal to blogs and online communities– and why? And which will have the least — and why?
Caucus Cooler: This is a lot harder to read on the R side. In Iowa, we seem to have a group of far-right fringe bloggers and we’re not sure where they’ll line up, since there don’t seem to be any viable fringe-right candidates. Romney already has a strong blog presence. McCain and Giuliani will probably attract the younger set and those people are more likely to blog. It will be interesting to see it develop.

Mortman: Who will win the 2008 Iowa presidential precinct caucuses — both Dem and Republican?
Caucus Cooler: Right now we have Mitt Romney leading the “Cooler Line”, followed by McCain, Pataki, Giuliani, Allen and Huckabee. We call those the “Big 6″ because they seem to be the viable contenders at this point. (Huckabee might even be a stretch. He’s on the bubble). Where we place Pataki surprises a lot of people nationally, but he has a great organization in Iowa already and he can fundraise, so we think he could be a sleeper. If we had to predict right now, we’d say Romney takes the Iowa Caucus and McCain gets the nomination- with Romney right on his heels. It will be interesting to see what happens with Allen though. He’s a wild-card in all of this since he’s not really campaigning for President yet. Once we see who lines up with Allen in early 2007, everything could change.
On the D side it looks like its Hillary’s to lose. Warner and Edwards seem to be the two most likely to knock her off.

Mortman: How will Caucus Cooler cover the caucuses?
Caucus Cooler: Better than anybody else.

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers who will be covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Here is David Burris from the Delaware-based blog First State Politics.

Mortman:  Tell me what First State Politics is.
Burris: First State Politics is a blog I created this year to try and provide focused information about Delaware and national politics from the perspective of one Delaware Republican. There hasn’t really been a blog like this focused solely on Delaware, so I’m hoping to fill the void for political junkies and observers alike here in the first state. Certainly 2008 was in my mind when I started it.

Mortman: What is your role?
Burris: I don’t know that my role is for me to define. I try to present information, stir up discussion and see what comes of it. I stay in communication with various political activists around the state and try to get a bead on what the politics of the day are.

Mortman: How will blogs and online communities affect and change the presidential primary campaign in 2008?
Burris: This will certainly be an interesting election for that reason. After 2004, with the advent of the ‘netroots’ and the Howard Dean campaign’s success with online fundraising, everyone’s scrambling to ensure that they can mobilize the online support. One example of this is Mark Warner’s hiring of MyDD founder Jerome Armstrong, which has kind of blurred the lines between paid advocacy and grassroots support.
What the candidates fail to realize, though, is that the Deaniac craze was viral. You can’t manufacture that kind of reaction. You’re seeing it now with Mitt Romney. There is an online movement to support Romney, from the ‘Americans for Mitt’ sites to the ‘Elect Romney in 2008′ blog to the ‘Evangelicals for Mitt.’ This is not a coordinated effort. I know because I’m a part of it, as a guest blogger on the Elect Romney site. There are people out there just like me who are fired up about Mitt Romney and are banding together to promote his candidacy without any direction, coordination or even contact from the candidate or his people. It just takes on a life of its own.

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 primary campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Burris: I think that blogs and online communities where people can comment and debate, communities like DailyKos, Atrios, Free Republic and RedState, can have a big effect on momentum and opinion among activists. Supporters of a candidate can ensure that his or her message gets to the faithful and gets field-tested early among those who know the issues. It is certainly easier for a longshot candidate like a Howard Dean to emerge via online support than it was in the days before the internet.
The possibility of direct communication between candidate and voter, and the limited expense of doing so, makes the internet extremely attractive. Other technologies like text messaging are already being used to make that one-on-one connection that you don’t get when you have to go through the MSM filter, and at a relatively limited expense.
The mainstream media, on the other hand, will feed you what they think you want to see and hear. They have the resources and the agents in place to break big stories and get face time with candidates, but there’s no vetting of their material. It is up to the blogs to decide what the MSM did wrong or right. Of course, the good old television advertisement still seems to pack the biggest punch, but now you can not only see the ad on your local news, you can see it anytime you like on the web.
 
Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Burris: I think you will certainly see some of each. Stories will emerge from the blogs that make it to the MSM, and stories from the MSM will absolutely be dissected on the blogs daily.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 primary?
Burris: This question always fascinates me. Young voters are a mystery. In fact, it’s tough for me to even discuss “young people” at the ripe old age of 31.  I keep feeling like the 18-24 crowd is finally going to come out in droves, but it never seems to materialize. So, it will probably be another election where people talk about the young vote, and recruit the young vote, but it fails to materialize.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns?
Burris: Well, besides Romney and Warner, which I mentioned above, Bill Frist has used the web as a communication tool this year, there is an effort to draft Condoleeezza Rice and Wes Clark continues his net presence from 2004.

Mortman: Tell me about your homestate Delaware candidate, Democratic Senator Joe Biden. Will he have appeal to blogs and online communities — and why?
Burris: It will be interesting to see how the blogs relate to Senator Biden. Since the lefty netroots seem to want to run Senator Lieberman off for being a hawk, I can’t see them jumping behind Biden, who has a hawkish streak as well. The online communities on the left seem to like ideological purity in their candidates, so I think the leftroots will eventually look hard at Sen. Feingold.

Mortman: Is BIden organized online?
Burris: Biden’s PAC, Unite Our States, has a site, uniteourstates.com, complete with a blog. Also, there is JoeBiden.com, paid for by ‘Citizens for Biden’ which I believe is his Senate campaign organization. Also, there is joebidenforpresident.org, which is very limited in scope. So I’d say he’s out there, but without much fanfare.

Mortman: How will First State Politics cover the 2008 presidential campaign, particularly the primary?
Burris: This being a small state, where just about everyone in politics knows everyone else, I’ll try to get a feel for what people are looking for in a candidate, and what they’re seeing. This is in addition to covering campaigns, visits and donations.
Right now, I’d say that Delaware would certainly be loyal to Joe Biden and give him the win on the Democratic side. As a result, I don’t see many Democrats campaigning here so long as Joe is in the race.
As far as the Republicans go, this is certainly a state that can be won by visiting here. Steve Forbes won in 1996 based on his multiple visits to the state. Bush visited in 2000, and won, bouncing back quickly from a loss in New Hampshire by doubling up on McCain here in Delaware, which arguably re-established Bush as the frontrunner and made New Hampshire appear to be the exception.
John McCain has been here a few times since 2000, most recently this summer, and has a strong ally in Rep. Mike Castle. McCain has also donated to the state Republican Party. George Pataki gave the keynote address at the state GOP convention this year and is due back this month for a fundraiser for the state party’s campaign fund. George Allen made an appearance last year and has raised money from Delawareans for his re-election bid. Of course, it’s only 2006, so there’s a long way to go. It will certainly be fun to watch.

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers from early presidential campaign caucus and primary states. Here is Brian from Iowa Voice:

Mortman: Tell me what the Iowa Voice blog is?
Brian: It’s an experiment, really. I started it in March of 2005 to see what the hubbub was all about, and I’ve been hooked on it ever since. I follow politics and government closely, so this was a chance to voice my opinions in a way that I never really got to do before. I live in a heavily Democratic area, and running into a fellow Republican in this town is like Ballard discovering the Titanic.

I’ve tried to make it about national politics, mainly, but I also talk about other things. I do talk about Iowa issues, but I admit, probably not as much as I should. While some would think this is a drawback, it’s allowed me to obtain a following outside of the state that I normally wouldn’t have had.

Mortman: What is your role?
Brian: I handle it all, really. I do the writing. I do the maintenance on the site, and so on. I have outside help in that I get a lot of readers who send me stuff to look at, news tidbits, articles, things like that.

Mortman: How will blogs, online communities, and social networking affect and change the Iowa presidential precinct caucuses in 2008?
Brian: You know, that’s hard to say. I’ve seen a real growth in the Iowa blogosphere in the time I’ve been blogging, from both sides of the political arena.

I know there are Iowa blog “get togethers” (in fact, I believe one is coming up later this month). I haven’t attended, myself, but I know they’re popular. So there is some networking going on right along with people gathering in forums and message boards in Iowa. On the whole, though, I don’t see blogs or the message boards/forums playing a
big role in the Iowa political arena, at least not at the moment.

You asked about the caucuses, I know, but all I can really say is it’s not happening right now, at least not on a major level. Will that be the case in 2008? I’ll predict that it will remain essentially the same, although I expect Iowa bloggers to get some serious attention from others in the blogosphere, simply because we’re here and in an excellent position to cover it.

I’ve been a little disappointed that there hasn’t been a “blog outreach” by either party here in Iowa. It’s like you tell them “I’m a blogger” and they run like hell! But, 2008 is still a long way off for politics, an eternity, so that all could change at the drop of a hat.

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 caucuses campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Brian: Well, I think with the mainstream media they pretend to be “above it all”, when they’re not. With bloggers, you usually know right away which side they’re batting for. Having said that, I think the media still has a leg up on blogs in reaching undecided voters, and here’s why.

People visit blogs not so much to help them make up their minds, I think, but more because it’s a confirmation of their already-held beliefs. Conservative blogs get most of their traffic from conservatives, and liberal blogs get most of their traffic from liberals, although there is some “bleed over” from one side monitoring the other for the “latest outrage.”

I think that right now, political blogs in Iowa are more useful for motivating their readers to get involved, to think…and that’s about it. Once the primaries/caucuses are over, though, I don’t see them playing a big role at all, other than to keep their regular readers informed of what’s going on.

As I said, blogs are read mainly by people who already know how they’re going to vote and what candidate they’re going to support. I don’t see blogs as an effective tool to reach independent voters…not yet, at least. That may change as the blogosphere continues to expand and more people turn to it for information.

Until that time, undecided voters or independents will continue to get their information on the candidates from the regular media.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Brian: I think the media has to follow the blogs. The blogosphere has dealt some rather severe body blows to the MSM in recent times by exposing their fraudulent/negligent reporting and the way they consistently slant their reporting. And the MSM is hurting right now. The real media is losing money, viewers/readers, and they’re rapidly making themselves irrelevant. People have more choices now than they ever did in the past.

Twenty years ago, if you wanted the news, you turned on the networks, maybe a cable news show like CNN, or you read the papers…which gets a lot of their material from the AP. It was all one-sided, and people weren’t being exposed to the facts.

I think that’s why Rush became so popular. I mean, here was a guy who was presenting the other side of the coin, and people weren’t used to that. They ate it up. Naturally, the media hit back…and made him even MORE popular. They’re doing the same thing with blogs right now.

And when you think about it, blogs are merely the “Talk Radio” of the internet. If any one person could be said to have had a major role in creating the blogosphere, I’d have to say it was Rush Limbaugh, because he took punditry to another level. The blogs are just the latest developments of this.

As I said earlier, with blogs, you know right away which side they’re on. They don’t claim to be independent, as the media does, and readers like that kind of openness. They expect it.

I think that if the media just came forward and told their viewers how they really felt, politically, they would be doing a lot better right now.

FOX News’ success should have taught them this lesson. People hate being taken for fools. The MSM right now looks down on their viewers/readers, thinking they’re too stupid to realize that they’re slanting the news to fit a particular political agenda. If the media was upfront about this, then viewers wouldn’t mind their being biased.

If the media is to survive, it needs to do one of two things: either start reporting the news accurately and fairly (without divulging state secrets!), or they can admit their bias and go on from there. Otherwise, they may as well pack it in.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 caucuses?
Brian: I’m going to answer this one from experience. What young voters will do in 2008 is basically the same thing they’ve done every other year: talk the talk, but then fail to walk the walk.

I’ve worked with kids from ages 16-25 for the last twenty years of my career, and ALL of them have, at some point in time, complained to me about politics and how they were going to go vote and “change the world.”  After Election Day, I always ask if they had remembered to go vote. Without fail, the answer is “no”. They either forget about it, or they somehow couldn’t find the time to go do it.

It’s like with John Kerry. Kerry was going to crush Bush in 2004 because the young generation of voters was going to turn out en masse for him. It didn’t happen. It never does. It’s hard enough to get kids involved in the political process, but it’s darn near impossible to get them out to actually vote.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I’m not coming down on kids today, because I’ll freely admit that I was the exact same way in my 18-25 years. I voted for the first time in 1992 (for Bush), at the age of 23 (few months shy of 24). And the only reason I bothered then was because I owned my own small business. If it hadn’t been for that, I probably would have skipped it.

So, to sum up my answer, I think that while they have tremendous potential to play a role in 2008, and we should make every effort to get them involved and voting, I just don’t see it happening.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns geared to Iowa?
Brian: To be honest, I couldn’t tell you right now. I haven’t been following this just yet. I know there have been a few that have gone through the token act of putting up a campaign website and putting a “journal” of some sorts up, but if you’re talking about an outreach to the blogs here in Iowa, I haven’t seen it happen yet. I do know that some have expressed interest in doing it, however. Of course, that could be different with the Democrats, but I just don’t know.

Mortman: As we approach the caucuses, which candidates, both Dem and Republican, will have more appeal to blogs and online communities– and why? And which will have the least — and why?
Brian: Speaking for myself, I’d really like to see Newt make a run, and I think he will…but that’s speculation. I think he would have a tremendous appeal to blogs, as he is, in my opinion, a Reagan conservative…one of the last of what is, sadly, a dying breed. I think he’d fire up conservatives in a way that we haven’t seen for some time.

I’d have to say that McCain would get some serious attention, too…but not necessarily in a good way. We conservatives write about him, but more often than not it’s because he’s done something new to cut the legs out from under the Republican Party.

Hillary, I think, would have some appeal, but I think she’d be more appealing in a negative way (for her). I don’t think Hillary would stand a chance in a presidential election, and I don’t think she could win the nomination. Still, it’d be fun to see her try, and that alone would make her blogworthy.

John Edwards has a sizeable following here in Iowa from what I’ve seen and heard, so I’m sure he’d get some serious attention by the blogs.

Kerry, Vilsack, Giuliani, Biden, Feingold…they may as well save their time and money. There may be some token blogs writing about them once in awhile, but I think they will be too few to matter all that much.

Kerry, because nobody wants to dance to that tune again. Vilsack finished fourth in Iowa in a recent poll about the next President. Biden…well, because he’s Joe Biden! Need I explain? Feingold…mainly because he’s a broken record right now, a one-issue candidate (“censure Bush!”), and people want more than that.

Mark Warner and Mitt Romney are two guys who are a complete mystery to me. I’ve not followed their careers much, so I’m still learning stuff about them.

I imagine that Warner would get a lot of lefty coverage, but not just in Iowa. Since Kos loves him and the big blogs drive most of the conversation in the blogosphere, I imagine all the liberal blogs will be talking him up. Romney, on the other hand, I couldn’t really say.

Mortman: Who will win the 2008 Iowa presidential precinct caucuses — both Dem and Republican?
Brian: Well, that all depends on who enters. I can’t even predict that, let alone tell
you who would win.

I’ll can tell you my prediction on who won’t win, though:

John Kerry
Hillary Clinton
Rudy Giuliani
John McCain
Tom Vilsack
Russ Feingold

That’s just a start. That list will no doubt grow as we find out who’s running.

Mortman: How will Iowa Voice cover the caucuses?
Brian: To be honest, I’m not sure that Iowa Voice will still be up and running at that time. We’re talking another year and a half from now, and I’m currently pursuing a new career. It’s quite possible that once I finish my studies and get my new degree, I’ll be off to another job…perhaps even another city (or even another state).

I’ve been thinking about this for several months now and trying to decide what I would do come November (when I graduate). I’ve laid out certain goals for the website to reach before that time and, although traffic is growing and the site is becoming more and more popular, I’m probably not going to hit those goals….I may be close, though. If I’m way off the mark, I’ll probably pack it in. If I’m reasonably close, then I’ll probably stick with it.

If that’s the case, and I’m still blogging in 2008, I’ll probably be devoting a major portion of my blog time on the caucuses. I’ll be in touch with the candidates, possibly some interviews and things like that. If I ever get around to learning how to make and edit video on the computer, I’ll probably do some video interviews. If I can’t do that, I’ll probably just do some podcasts or other type of audio, instead. There’s so many ways I can go about it. Really, just depends on how much time I get and how much access I can get to the various candidates.

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers who will be covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Here is Laurin Manning from the South Carolina-based blog The LaurinLine.

Mortman: Tell me what the LaurinLine is.
Manning: I launched the LaurinLine in 2002 as a personal website. Although my interest in politics crept into entries periodically, LaurinLine: The Early Years focused just as much on what I happened to eat for lunch on a given day as it did on my political opinions. Over time, gauging from the number and nature of comments on the political pieces as well as which search words brought the most referrals from Google, I realized that most of my readership craved political coverage. I tailored my content accordingly. (Though I do still slip in the occasional I-ate-shrimp-and-grits-today post.)

Mortman: What is your role?
Manning: I pay for the site, design its graphics, write its content, and stomach the criticism garnered by it.

Mortman: How will blogs and online communities affect and change the South Carolina presidential primary in 2008?
Manning: South Carolina is a small state, and the boundaries of the various political factions are clearly drawn — most noticeably among Republicans. Scar tissue from the 2000 Presidential primary in our state hasn’t healed. Eight years later, there remains little association between the Bushbackers and the McCainiacs. Republican bloggers tend to fall neatly into one camp or the other, and their content reflects these allegiances. I expect to see the former Bushbackers rallying behind a more Bush-esque social conservative candidate–a George Allen, a Bill Frist, a Mike Huckabee.
Both the South Carolina Republican Party and the South Carolina Democratic Party have close ties with certain bloggers who are willing to shill for them (or at least promote their stories), and I expect to see more party agenda-pushing in the blogosphere as the primaries approach.

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 primary campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Manning: Blog readers tend to be uber-informed, so I doubt blog-reading will change the minds of many readers. For the readers who are more impressionable, though, the dialogue-engaging nature of the blog medium is perfect for “hearing” multiple sides of a given issue.
The mainstream media is beginning to understand the power of the interactivity of blogging and is applying these ideas to better their own media. South Carolina’s largest newspaper, The State, features several blogs on its website, including one manned by the editorial page editor, Brad Warthen. Also, The State has recently added commenting capability on certain news stories featured on their website.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Manning: It’s cyclical. The mainstream media provides bloggers with material, and the mainstream media follows blogs to gauge the interest level of stories and plan for future news coverage.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 primary?
Manning: Campaigns will utilize and improve upon the “netroots” campaigning tactics most famously employed by Howard Dean’s campaign in 2004. The synthesis of technology and the political process tends to attract and energize young voters.
Also, there is no incumbent President or sitting Vice President running for the first time in over 50 years. This element of surprise and the guarantee of change is likely to attract the attention of young people and others who otherwise may tend to show little interest in elections.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns?
Manning: Virtually all of them.
The Democratic Presidential hopefuls are ahead of the curve with respect to online campaign organizing for 2008. John Edwards’ One America Committee is the most thorough, interactive, and visually appealing site of all. Tom Vilsack’s HeartlandPAC.org, Mark Warner’s ForwardTogetherPAC.com, and Joe Biden’s UniteOurStates.com are also comprehensive, well-designed sites. The most bare-bones, visually-blah site among Democratic hopefuls is Hillary Clinton’s HILLPAC.com.
Bill Frist’s VOLPAC.com is the best of the GOP Presidential hopefuls’ sites. VOLPAC.com is a well-organized, user-friendly site with a host of capabilities–downloading podcasts, tracking Senate races, and tapping into a broad network of blogs. John McCain’s StraightTalkAmerica.com is nice-looking and easy to navigate. Second-string sites include George Allen’s www.GeorgeAllen.com and Mike Huckabee’s HealthyAmerica.org.

Mortman: As we approach the South Carolina presidential primary, which candidates, both Dem and Republican, will have more appeal to blogs and online communities– and why? And which will have the least — and why?
Manning: Internet campaign activity in the 2004 election forever changed the face of political campaigning. Netroots activism is especially useful to insurgent candidates, but internet media will be utilized by all candidates, Democrat or Republican, serious or not. I expect to see all candidates competing to maximize the endless possibilities of internet media.

Mortman: Who will win the 2008 South Carolina presidential primary — both Dem and Republican?
Manning: An anti-Hillary Democrat will probably win the Democratic primary in South Carolina. South Carolina Democrats love Native Son John Edwards. He won the primary here in 2004, and he still has a strong support network in South Carolina. A Southern Democrat like Mark Warner could also do very well here, though I suspect that those to whom he will appeal most have already been (and may remain) Edwards’ supporters. Democrats here aren’t going to be too picky, though, since victory is seldom celebrated by Democrats in South Carolina. There will be earnest support among Democrat activists here for whomever has a fighting chance of actually winning.

Mortman: How will The LaurinLine cover the primary?
Manning: I am strongly considering attempting to leapfrog from blogger to campaign staffer after I finish law school in 2007, and if that happens, I may take a leave-of-absense from The LaurinLine and try and wrangle some of my fellow Palmetto political junkies into guest blogging while I’m away. If no full-time campaign opportunities pan out, I’ll plan to follow the primary as aggressively as I can, depending upon the time and energy constraints of securing post-law school employment and attempting to pass the bar exam!

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers who will be covering the 2008 presidential campaign. Here is Vincent Harris from the Virginia-based site Too Conservative (which recently broke the news of speculation about Darrell Green running for Virginia State Senate).

Mortman: Tell me what Too Conservative is.
Harris: Too Conservative is a blog about politics, from a Northern Virginia viewpoint. We mostly talk about Washington area politics, but often mention national news events.

Mortman: What is your role?
Harris: I am the creator , purchaser, and main contributor of Too Conservative.

Mortman: How will blogs and online communities affect and change the presidential primary campaign in 2008?
Harris: Blogs will have a HUGE impact on the presidential primary campaigns. I believe national, and local blogs will be a gateway for background checking on many of the candidates. Through information found on blogs, both liberal and conservative, I know that primary voters will be able to be swayed one way or the other. I believe policy will be discussed, but that the largest impact blogs will have is through the “discovery of dirt.” Campaigns will try to use blogs to gain an advantage over their opponents by sending out “information.”

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 primary campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Harris: National blogs such as Wonkette, Red State, and Hugh Hewitt have proven themselves as steps ahead of the media on many stories. I think these and other blogs will continue to be ahead of the media throughout the primaries. I think blogs will have a much larger impact on the primaries than the MSM.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Harris: MSM will follow the blogs. I have no doubt of this.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 primary?
Harris: As a new voter myself, I believe America’s youth will have a large impact in the 2008 primary. In my state of Virginia, the youth are very active. I am currently Chairman of the Virginia Teenage Republicans, and have seen a rapid growth in the number of teenagers interested in conservative politics. I don’t like Howard Dean, but believe his campaign effectively reached out to the web community, and many of the youth. Whatever candidates decide to do so, will easily gain a large chunk of possible primary voters.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns?
Harris: I think without a doubt the most seen possible candidate online has been Bill Frist. His new VOLPAC has been great in interacting with the online community.

Mortman: Tell me about your two homestate Virginia potential candidates, Sen. George Allen (R) and former Gov. Mark Warner (D). Will they have appeal to blogs and online communities — and why?
Harris: Senator George Allen is a great conservative, and will make an excellent presidential contender. Besides him, I only see Governor Mike Huckabee as real possible Southern candidates. Senator George Allen is already actively seeking the support of bloggers for his Senate race, and I would imagine they would continue to court bloggers into his Presidential run. I received an e-mail from one of his press people a week ago, in which it was made clear that Allen understood the importance bloggers have, and urging contact if we had questions. I believe George Allen will be able to successfully appeal to bloggers because of his willingness to listen to others.

Governor Mark Warner is VERY slick about these matters, and feel he will organize a great online campaign. While Mark Warner is a tax-raiser, his social moderation, and ability to appeal to the Southern base will embolden him in the primary. Conservatives should worry about a greater evil than Mark Warner winning the White House in ‘08.

Mortman: Are Allen and Warner organized online?
Harris: Mark Warner is organized online. His Forward Together PAC is very well put together, and very user friendly. I believe besides John Kerry, Mark Warner has the best online network of any possible Democrat.

George Allen just created a new website for his Senate race, www.georgeallen.com, has created some banners for bloggers. Interestingly enough, only one banner says “George Allen for Senate”. The rest can be used to support him for President.

Mortman: How will Too Conservative cover the 2008 presidential campaign, particularly the primary?
Harris: I hope to continue to expand the blog nationally by bringing on a more
diverse group of contributors. I will personally be visiting some of the primary states before the presidential campaign, and hope to live blog from them.

A quick follow-up. We recently ran a fascinating interview about the 2008 campaign and blogs with Peter Glenshaw of Democracy for New Hampshire.
Peter posted on his site an interesting reader response. Read the whole comment here.

An excerpt:

“…in the end, what the NH Primary brings to the democratic process is the ability of all voters to be actively involved in meeting and talking to presidential wannabees. The online world is still a self-selecting group of interested political addicts.

What we saw with the Dean campaign was that online blogging didn’t take the place of on the ground meetups and organizing. People like to be able to look each other in the eye and have human interactions.

I hope that DFNH will be able to facilitate both forms of interaction in the coming years.”

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers from early presidential caucus and primary states. Here is Peter Glenshaw of Democracy for New Hampshire.

Mortman: Tell me what Democracy for New Hampshire is.
Glenshaw: Democracy for New Hampshire is a non-partisan, big-tent organization that promotes grassroots community involvement in the democratic process in New Hampshire. DFNH works to protect the foundations of our democracy and the integrity of our political process, and supports fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates who speak honestly about policy choices.
We were formed in May 2004 as a New Hampshire state political action committee. We are the largest grassroots political group in New Hampshire, and the first political organization in the Granite State to emerge from the NH primary.

Mortman: What is your role?
Glenshaw: I am the Chairman and a co-founder.

Mortman: How will blogs and online communities affect and change the New Hampshire presidential primary in 2008?
Glenshaw: As I’ve already written, I believe Internet-based communication will have a huge impact in the NH primary 2008. Visit this page to learn my predictions about video iPods and the 2008 election.
And while I am bullish about so-called Web 2.0 tools in 2008, I am also reminded that blogging, et. al., is not going to conquer the world or theNew Hampshire primary.
That said, this is some of what we might see:

1. Paid bloggers within each campaign ­ providing behind-the-scenes or informal views of a candidate and his/her campaign; imagine people blogging about each campaign stop!
2. Guerilla bloggers ­ independent analysts who cover events, trends, campaigns, staff, and (yes) candidates in NH in 2008. Regardless of what Donna Brazille and others in the DNC do to amend the primary process, New Hampshire will be the test for viability for all Democratic candidates.
3. Mainstream media bloggers ­ you will see CNN, Washington Post, NY Times, LA Times and others either dispatch current staff or employ local NH bloggers to augment their daily coverage in both New Hampshire and Iowa. Grasp to be edgy.
4. Random ­ NHInsider and Politics NH both will employ volunteers and paid staff to report or blog about the primary.

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 primary campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Glenshaw: There is some evidence to suggest that blogs (and their kin, including podcasts [video and audio]), rss, and other web 2.0 tools) will have an important, maybe even a huge, influence in 2008. I’d say, though, that by 2008 (or more fairly, 2007) we will see new technology/formats beyond blogs. Already there is a video podcast that garners more viewers than a cable news broadcast (Rocketboom vs. Abrams report on MSNBC. Mainstream media won’t sit quietly as this revolution occurs, but I expect it will be an iterative process ­ with bloggers pushing MSM, MSM responding to blogers, and so forth.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media
follow the blogs?
Glenshaw: See above. It will be interactive. Blogs and Mainstream Media need each other.

Mortman: What role will young, web-savvy voters play in the 2008 primary?
Glenshaw: Unclear. The world of Internet-based advocacy is very different from on-the-ground, grassroots politics. It remains to be seen whether Net-activists leave their laptops behind to meet ordinary people in NH, IA, and other retail states. Or whether ordinary people will take to the Internet. I’m bullish on the proposition, but it has yet to be implemented at scale.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns?
Glenshaw: I know the Democrats best. I see Russ Feingold in the lead in this domain. He has done podcasts, email, and Internet communications. It’s good stuff.

Mortman: As we approach the NH primary, which candidates, both Dem and Republican, will have more appeal to blogs and online communities — and why? And which will have the least — and why?
Glenshaw:
Raw guesses:

1. Dems ­ Feingold will go over well with the Netroots. If he runs, Gore will, too. Maybe Warner. I don¹t see Richardson, Clinton, or Biden breaking thru to this constituency.
2. Republicans ­ McCain, just because his brand says “maverick.” Forget Frist, Pataki, or Romney. They will have their thing, but it will be empty. Wildcard: Chuck Hegel of Nebraska.

Mortman: Who will win the 2008 New Hampshire presidential primary — both Dem and Republican?
Glenshaw: One of the first questions asked of anyone in politics who lives in New Hampshire is, who is going to win the 2008 primary? I don’t know. There is a lot of life and politics still to unfold and we will know more 30 days before the primary and then even more about five days before the primary. But at a certain level, it’s really not the most important question.

Yes, it matters if a Democrat does well in NH (and later, like in the 2008 election). And, duh, we don’t want a Republican to win. But ultimately this fight is more about convincing likely voters that a socially progressives, fiscally responsible worldview is the right approach. Politicians who support this approach are important, but they are they last mile in the solution.

Mortman: How will Democracy in New Hampshire cover the primary?
Glenshaw: DFNH is a state PAC, and we tend to focus on NH issues. That said, I think DFNH will take a keen interest in the NH primary. After all, our origins lie in the 2004 primary and we recognize the important ­ even crucial ­ role that the Granite State plays selecting the next President.

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers from early presidential caucus and primary states. Here are Andrew Seal and Niral Shah of The Little Green Blog in New Hampshire:

Mortman: Tell me what The Little Green Blog is.
Seal: The Little Green Blog is a blog run by a group of liberal/progressive Dartmouth College students. We try to focus primarily on issues directly concerning the College, though we often comment on politics and culture–pop, highbrow, anything that strikes our fancy.
Shah: As a legacy of the Dartmouth Review, a once-notorious (and now irrelevant) conservative student publication, there is a skewed perception of Dartmouth by alumni and the outside community in general. While the Review may have faded, conservative blogs continue to provide a one-sided, often reactionary perspective, targeted towards alumni. Little Green Blog provides a slightly more realistic source of information about Dartmouth as students.

Mortman: What is your role?
Seal: I guess I’m just the most frequent poster; we really have no sort of hierarchy or anything.
Shah: While I post less frequently than in the past, my main role is as a poster. I served as the transition link between the seniors who founded the blog and graduated in 2005, and the students who currently write for LGB.

Mortman: How will blogs and online communities affect and change the New Hampshire presidential primary in 2008?
Seal: I think the impact will be fairly significant, but perhaps the influence will be greater in forming external impressions of what is happening in NH rather than on shaping internal impressions. In other words, I think blogs will be more useful for pundits than voters, but that this will quite likely act in a sort of feedback loop–what you may see on the news or read in the paper tomorrow may be influenced by what a blog observed about a candidate’s visit today, and that will impact the voter in the election.

Mortman: Compare the impact blogs and online communities will have in 2008 primary campaigning and voting to that of the mainstream media?
Seal: Clearly, the blog’s advantage is its speed and mobility. A blogger based like we are in a typical campaign stop (Dartmouth College) can cover a town hall meeting in progress or just after it; I think pundits, and all interested parties, will find that a great advantage. In addition, bloggers often have specific focuses in covering political events; they’ll be looking for different things in a candidate than the press-at-large will, and will notice different things as well. Quality subjective judgment (assuming for the moment that the press is objective) can be enormously useful when trying to evaluate a candidate’s performance, especially on specific issues.
In addition, blogs are much better at aggregating news sources–news reports, other blogs, video, etc.; the soul of blogging is connection, and I think that will be useful to a variety of different people–candidates’ staffs, the press, amateur wonks outside of NH, and, hopefully, to the voters.
Shah: Everything Andrew says about blogs is true, and applies to LGB as well as any other. However, I’d also like to note, we are aware that our blog is not the end-all-be-all in any argument. Staying grounded keeps our opinions accessible and honest. We’re part of the debate, not the noise.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Seal: That’s pretty much the choice of mainstream media. They can choose to ignore blogs–at their peril, I think, but they can. Bloggers can’t choose to ignore mainstream media. We enjoy critiquing it too much, for one thing.
Shah: Bloggers and the MSM can’t exist in a vaccuum. There is definitely reciprocal influence between each, and while the MSM has long been predominant, the balance is starting to slide just enough for blogs to check the most egregious errors of the media. Ultimately, mainstream media has the money and the masses, blogging does not, and the principal causes of this discrepancy won’t change anytime soon.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 primary?
Seal: Well, young voters were almost exclusively behind Dean in 2004, but that didn’t turn out very well, so I’m not sure. I feel like New Hampshire is a state that prides itself on avoiding trendy choices, which is basically what the youth candidate always is. On the other hand, you’ve got a whole lot of kids who are aching to have some excuse to avoid schoolwork or their job or whatever and who make an ideal cadre for getting out the vote, getting out the candidate’s name, etc. Maybe the strategy should be: be the youth candidate, but don’t let everyone know about it.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns?
Seal: I haven’t really run into any large netroots efforts yet. I know Obama has had a few excellent posts on DailyKos and Feingold just had something up on HuffingtonPost, but not much yet.

Mortman: As we approach the NH primary, which candidates, both Dem and Republican, will have more appeal to blogs and online communities– and why? And which will have the least — and why?
Seal: I don’t think bloggers will support a candidate for reasons too different from those of a normal voter–if the candidate takes you seriously, then you find him or her appealing. Candidates that develop and work through netroots will be liked by blogs and candidates that seem too arrogant to stoop to the ‘net for exposure will probably get some rough treatment. I think this is doubly true for left-of-center blogs, which are often run by people attracted naturally to the type of candidates who need blogs for exposure–the underdogs.

Mortman: Who will win the 2008 New Hampshire presidential primary — both Dem and Republican?
Seal: Well, I can answer one burning question pretty confidently. I don’t think Hillary will win; she seems to hate New Hampshire–I don’t think she’s been here since 1994 or something. Candidates don’t win NH unless they actually spend time in the town halls and similar events.
As for who will win, I can’t really say. I think NH will respond well to Feingold’s toughness and poorly to Bayh’s smoothness. Edwards is somewhere closer to Bayh in that regard, but he’s already put in quite a bit of effort into NH; Warner’s record of sober executive efficiency will probably sell well. Then you’ve got Clark, who ignored NH last time. [Extreme Mortman note: Clark actually ignored Iowa, not New Hampshire]. I doubt he’ll do that again, but it might have irritated state party leaders and confused voters.
I think Giuliani will probably do well as long as he puts in the effort. McCain has won here already, and his maverick image will win him a lot of support. George Allen’s out there too, but he seems more of a party favorite than a people’s favorite.

Mortman: How will The Little Green Blog cover the primary?
Seal: We’ll try to do as much live-blogging, on the spot reporting as we can. I personally will have graduated before the actual event, but candidates have already started their rounds, and things will likely heat up a whole lot this fall with the midterm elections. We’ll see if we can get some interviews–at least with staff, but who knows. We’ll try to get as much access as they’ll give us and then post anything we get.
Shah: I’m not sure. I’d assume we’ll have photo-blogging, first-hand accounts of events, a picture of student opinion towards candidates, political analysis, and hopefully interviews. The midterm elections will be a good chance to see just how we, and Dartmouth blogging in general, take on such high-profile politics in our backyard.

Extreme Mortman is interviewing top bloggers from early presidential caucus and primary states. Here is Thomas Niblock of Hawkeye Republican.

Mortman: Tell me what the Hawkeye Republican blog is.
Niblock: The Hawkeye Republican is a forum for conservatives at The University of Iowa to comment on local, state, and national politics, as well as the truly important things in life: the 2006 Outback Bowl officiating kerfuffle, the rise of the Iowa Men’s Basketball team, Starbucks, and Bono.

Mortman: How will blogs and online communities affect and change the Iowa presidential precinct caucuses in 2008?
Niblock: The caucus system is perfectly suited for online political activism. The system rewards relationships that encompass more than raw political discussions, and online communities help individuals develop these relationships. It isn’t just my feelings on the Republican party that’s shared online; it’s my love for Hawkeye sports and American history that help build natural allies also. While the policy issues raised by candidates will have a major impact on the caucus results, the ability to organize supporters is also crucial.

Mortman: Will blogs follow the mainstream media or will the mainstream media follow the blogs?
Niblock: I’ll be modest here. I get my information my online newspapers. Bloggers are most effective when they check facts and trends by comparing what the media reports to what are the true facts on the ground. We can have some influence over what is presented in the mainstream media, but oftentimes, they are simply better equipped to report the news. We are better equipped to provide insightful commentary.

Mortman: What role will young voters play in the 2008 caucuses?
Niblock: Online communities have enormous potential to increase student voting. At the caucus level, we can make a huge difference in mobilizing like-minded students.

Mortman: Which potential candidates, Democrats and Republicans, have been organizing online campaigns?
Niblock: I have only seen one candidate organize online: 2006 Iowa gubernatorial candidate Jim Nussle.

Mortman: As we approach the caucuses, which candidates, both Dem and Republican, will have more appeal to blogs and online communities– and why? And which will have the least — and why?
Niblock: Candidates that spend lots of time in Iowa appeal more to blogs. For example, if a candidate talks about ethanol subsidies at a Rotary club chili supper, he or she can use a strong online presence to continue that personal level of involvement later. Howard Dean did a great job with his online campaign in 2004. Blogs will especially help candidates who are not as well known in Iowa (Mark Warner, Mitt Romney, Mike Huckabee).

Mortman: Who will win the 2008 Iowa presidential precinct caucuses — both Dem and Republican?
Niblock: If held today, John Edwards would win the Democratic caucus. As he gains more local exposure, Mark Warner will improve his position. Iowans in general are not that enthusiastic about Tom Vilsack or the ever-present Hillary Clinton. On the other side of the aisle, whoever can appeal the most to Chuck Grassley, Iowa’s most popular elected official, will win the Republican caucus. Local names like Bill Frist and Chuck Hagel have the natural advantage. John McCain will ignore Iowa in favor of New Hampshire again and will not do well. Sam Brownback and Mitt Romney will also improve with more exposure.
Most importantly, we can’t forget one fact: we still have two years, and one round of congressional elections, to go.

Mortman: How will the Hawkeye Republican blog cover the caucuses?
Niblock: We’ll report back from the trenches and try our best to influence the local Republican agenda to ensure traditional conservative principles (strong national defense, limited government, free trade, and others) are represented.