Monday, November 16, 2009

The electioneering blogger

At the top of your screen you should be able to find, supplied by Google's Blogger.com, a link that says "Next Blog". Today for the first time I have given this feature a good workout clicking my way from blog to "random" blog. (Maybe not so random given the way several blogs came up multiple times within a few trials). What mainly caught my attention, however, was the number of blogs where posting stopped in November 2008. It seems there have been many bloggers who had opinions about the last US presidential election that they had to get out but are at a sudden lost for words about the subsequent presidency. Why is this?

The fairly obvious, (to me), answer is that these bloggers hoped that their comments would influence the election results in their favor and that continued posting afterward is too late. While I had not thought about it before I realize now that my own view is just the opposite. The best time to influence blog readers, if it exists at all, comes in the between election times. In the heat of the campaigns positions harden and considerations of personalities and partisanship come to the fore.

So be warned: Much of what I post is aimed at influencing your future votes even before candidacies are announced and while minds may be a bit more open. Once the campaigns get fully engaged I might take a break from posting because my arguments then are probably coming too late.

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