so i'm starting to think that some candidates should look at some liberal bloggers and hire them as consultants, or something. like, soundbite consultants. like at politicalaims.com, when talking about the ridiculous way the bush administration has covered up the report on 9/11: "I know American voters aren't given much credit for being terribly bright or attentive. But it seems to me that a savvy Democratic candidate could say, 'Do they want to protect you, or do they want to protect their own political reputations?' and people would pretty much get the picture."

or over at http://www.grammarpolice.blogspot.com/: "Quick: I'd like for every Texan that I know to call his or her parents and ask them about Bush's Luna/Mars combo. That's what mine had to say about the matter—what with Iraq still a mess, Osama still loose, and the deficit skyrocketing, we have 'enough on our plate.' From my informal polling of the people who birthed me, both Lone Star Republicans, that's the CW. Sure, northeastern readers, you can ask your folks too, but we already know how you spend-spend-spend liberals will react to Bush's calls for... uh, spending, spending, spending.

I'm thinking that not only will some of your folks say the same thing, but that they'll say the exact same thing. 'Enough on our plate' would be a smart soundbyte, Mr. Clark."

in general, i think political candidates or their advisors should spend a little time looking at blogs. not because they represent the average american voter - i haven't done a study of bloggers or anything, but i'm pretty sure most of them are upper-middle class, white and well-educated - but because they are pretty damn savvy. and have an outside perception. or something.

speaking of demographics of bloggers - why are like 90% of the political blogs i come across done by men? i browse dozens of news/political blogs daily, and have only seen perhaps 5 or less that were done by women. i know it's not because more men use the internet or are smarter about politics. and tons of women blog. i read somewhere that like 51% of bloggers/livejournalers/whatever are women. but it seems to be that most female blogs are more confessional. i'm not talking like personal diary here, though that's an aspect, but just talking about stuff that happened to them that day or what they're reading...sometimes interspersed of course with politics, news, etc, but not solely focused on news/politics (as in what i would consider a political blog). whereas most blogs done by guys are far less personal. obviously not every single blog done by a guy is about politics, but i feel like male blogs may be more centered on outward happening things/links to other stories rather than innermost thoughts. i don't mean to make huge sweeping generalizations, but i really think there is a big difference in the way most men and women use blogs. but why?