The Denver Post ran an article today on Colorado Pols, the blog devoted to insider political news, and a member of the blogroll here.
Some bits:
Gov. Bill Owens, congressional staffers, state lawmakers, lobbyists and political wonks are among the estimated 20,000 people who visited the site in March. The mystery bloggers expect hits to double this month.
A privacy agreement with the site's host server masks who is behind it.
Although many readers bristle at the authors' anonymity, they see the site as a guilty pleasure, especially in a state where sports coverage often pushes political news to the sidelines.
"Everybody's reading it because it's great entertainment, even if it's not always accurate," said former Democratic Party chairman Tim Knaus, who peruses the blog almost daily.
Rick Ridder - the Denver political consultant who ran the early part of Vermont Gov. Howard Dean's technologically savvy presidential campaign - said such blogs are replacing older centers of gossip. They "are becoming what was once the pool room, the bar hall or the corner drug store of political life, with all the accuracies and inaccuracies of those institutions."
[...]
Owens' communications chief, Sean Duffy, took umbrage with a recent posting about Holtzman's fiancée and Owens' former deputy spokeswoman, Kristen Hubbell, whom the site described as a "press girl."
"It was snarky and demeaning," Duffy said. "The anonymous nature of this cuts the cord on accountability."
Newly elected state Democratic chairwoman Pat Waak also questions the ethics of the site, which knocks her ability to lead her party.
"If they want to be really viable political players, they ought to be willing to step up and say what they are and what their agendas are," she said.
At least they're annoying all the right people. I haven't found the site to be particularly rude, more playful than anything. Some people have no sense of humor.
Posted by Walter at April 8, 2005 03:22 PM