Blogs, on the 2006 election?

I have had a theory that blogs will very quickly become a non-factor in politics, and am beginning to think that may have already happened. Looking only at the major Minnesota races, there was never a moment when I though a blog was pushing a story that ended up mattering. E-85 gate had nothing to do with blogs, very little of Keith Ellison's background mattered even though blogs pushed it heavily. The US Senate race might be the clearest example of blogs being a complete non factor, blogs were created for the sole purpose of covering this race from long before this race opened up with Mark Dayton announcing his exit. Next to nothing of merit came of that, and the race simply came down to the candidates and the way they portrayed themselves. Even Minnesota Democrats Exposed which is always an entertaining read, and lifted a lot of stuff into the mainstream media failed to propel any stories that effected any race.

It may be that the anti Bush, and thus given a large two party mindset, pro Democrat wave overpowered all other factors to the point where the 2006 elections can not be looked back on for any major insight, and it should be noted the internet culture was probably a large factor in the anti-Bush wave, but I don't have major expectations that blogs will play any factor in 2008.

One thing's for certain, blogs are not going away, heck I had an expectation of ignoring this blog post election, yet I am still actively looking for things to blog. I've decided to mainly stay on topic of Minnesota politics and the Independence Party, so it has left very little at this time, but as the legislative session starts up, and candidates eventually start to emerge this will be as active of a blog as ever. And of course every once in a while a story emerges that only bloggers can get their hands around, the Chris Stewart story being a perfect example.

So now the media has moved on to the newest greatest Internet tool, youtube. The only reason that will matter is we will see more people out there with cameras in hand, but lets be honest any relevant video footage will be ran into the ground on TV. No matter what new technology emerges politics will always be about the candidates, and how they are able to present themselves. The best candidate (note not necessarily best person for the job) will continue to win no matter what