Yesterday I was interviewed about presidential weblogs.

Got me thinking. I keep reading the candidate weblogs, waiting to be inspired, or even interested. So far the only one worth pointing to, imho, is the DNC weblog. It's the only one that's engaged, in gear, doing stuff. I feel pity for poor John Edwards, trying so hard, but feeling strongly that his time could be spent in much better ways.

Then I figured out what the candidates aren't getting about weblogs, and why it's hopeless for them to do their own blogs, at least for 2004. When people say they want the candidates to blog, they're not stating their wishes accurately. What they really want is to know the candidate as well as they know their favorite bloggers. If one writes publicly without editing every day for a few years, people get an idea of how your mind works. This builds trust, the kind of trust a candidate just can't build in a couple of months of stump speeches. So unless Glenn Reynolds declares (he will someday, I'm sure of it) for President, forget about voting for a blogger for President in 2004.

Candidates should use weblogs instead of becoming one. Hire one or two people to run a public information router for you, pointing to all relevant stories about the candidate and the competition. Treat bloggers like press, publish advocacy guidelines and your schedule and everything else about the campaign, and have the candidate speak about the democracy.

# Posted by Dave Winer on 11/5/03; 4:45:39 AM - --