BOSTON (AP) -- The food at receptions, the wonkish policy details debated over breakfast, the gossip on the convention floor -- in an age when the personal is political, blogs and conventions are a natural fit.
Dozens of delegates are writing for Web logs, or "blogs," promising the folks back home their take -- up close and personal -- on the pomp and politics of the Democratic National Convention.
"That's really the goal, to provide some little tidbits of what the after-hour delegate parties or caucus meetings are like, stuff you wouldn't see on TV," said delegate Greg Rodriguez, 38, of Seattle, who is blogging for the King County Democratic Party. "People are really starving for that, especially this year."
Delegate bloggers play a different role than traditional media or even other bloggers, said New York University journalism professor Jay Rosen, who is covering the convention for his blog.
"You can't apply to it the criteria of news or even punditry," Rosen said. "One shouldn't expect startling new information because that's not the point. The point is to share the experience."
Many delegate bloggers supported Howard Dean, whose Internet-based, grass-roots campaign set fund-raising records and attracted a large following. Some say they want to keep that online effort alive even as they transfer their loyalty to John Kerry, the party's presumed nominee.
"We don't want to lose the community, and we could lose it if we go back to the traditional methods of Democratic organizing," said blogger Ellen Meserow, a Washington delegate and former state technical director for the Dean campaign.
For Texas delegate Cate Read, 37, of Houston, a blog is an extension of the daily e-mails she sent when she was a delegate in 2000. When she ran for delegate this year, fellow Democrats asked her to keep up the Internet missives. One man in her district printed the e-mails so his elderly parents could read them every day, she said.
Blogging comes naturally for some delegates, especially the younger ones. In tech-savvy circles, they assume important events will be blogged.
"It's another element of your lifestyle," said delegate Karl-Thomas Musselman, 19, a government major at the University of Texas in Austin. "It provides a connection that I think didn't exist just from watching TV or reading editorials in your local paper -- it's someone I can relate to."
If no one from the Texas delegation blogged, Musselman said, "I think there would be real dissatisfaction."
---
On the Web:
A sampling of delegates' blogs:
http://www.musselmanforamerica.com
http://www.cateread.com
http://www.democraticgirl.com
http://virtuallythere2004.org
http://kcdems.blogspot.com
http://www.reachm.com/amstreet
http://www.democracyforvancouver.org/?qblog/4
http://www.livejournal.com/users/psyntist
http://www.pnwflyfishing.blogspot.com
