Tom Curry at MSNBC marvels at the new political power wielded by "bloggers"--people who possess the magic ability to conjure words from computer keyboards. Curry revisits the unexpectedly strong run that Gulf War vet Paul Hackett mounted in the recent Ohio contest to replace Bush trade representative Rob Portman in Portman's heavily Republican district. Bloggers such as Bob Brigham of Swingstateproject.com--whose avowed mission is to recruit Democratic candidates to run for all 435 House seats in 2006--managed to gin up enough interest in Hackett's campaign to get him within 4,000 votes of knocking off GOP favorite Jean Schmidt. This leads Curry to speculate:

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The work of such bloggers as Bob Brigham . . . points toward a day when the traditional campaign � tailored by Washington-based consultants, centered on 30-second TV ads, with fund-raising driven by Washington-based party committees � might become obsolete.

But then again? Nah, not so much. It turns out campaigns require, you know, knowledge and shit:

To win the open seat in Iowa's first congressional district next year, for example, one needs to know very place-specific details: Which are the reliably Democratic precincts in the city of Waterloo? How much will the United Auto Workers spend on get-out-the-vote efforts? When would be the right time to run the candidate�s 30-second radio ad in the Davenport market?

Whereas, Curry gently observes, Brigham is a "self-employed communications consultant" based in San Francisco. On the other hand, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has to use euphemisms to make its ass-fucking jokes. In your face, old information paradigm! -- HOLLY MARTINS

Democratic Bloggers Aim to Reshape Campaigns [MSNBC]