Politcians, pundits, and DU

[GreenPartyVoter]

We know we have had some higher-ups pay visits to DU (Mrs. Edwards and I believe a Kerry relative last time around). So I am wondering, how often do you think people who carry a lot of weight in politics read DU (or have staff members do it for them and give them "reports")? Do you think that they see DU as representing only a small segment of Democrats or Democrats in general? Thusly, how much weight do they give what they see here?

I ask because personally I think there is a wide cross-section of people here and that there are a lot of valuable ideas, opinions, and questions put up here and that politicians could be looking at it as a constant Town Hall situation where they could really get some ideas of what makes your average Joe and Joan tick. I truly hope they recognize what a tremendous resource they have in DU.

[Cant trust em]

1. I guarantee that they read DU frequently

This is a totally valuable tool to see what the base is talking about.

[GreenPartyVoter]

7. I hope so, I really do.

[Cessna Invesco Palin]

9. In that case...

...I'm surprised we haven't seen campaigns run on the following issues:

1) Smoking bans. Good idea or SATAN?

2) Cheney did 9/11!

3) Goddamn kitteh woke me up at 5:30AM!

[GreenPartyVoter]

12. "And as my campaign pledge, I promise locks for all American bedroom doors so

that no one will be disturbed by a kitteh.. (or a doggeh!) in the wee hours of the morning."

(Try reading it in a Mayor Quimby voice. Makes it that much cooler. LOL)

[displacedtexan]

2. From a personal perspective

I worked for the Kerry campaign in DC HQ, and no one even knew what DU was until I
brought it up at a morning Rapid Response meeting.

We started checking DU several times per day in 2003, and back then it was almost
wall-to-wall Howard Dean support posts.

Needless to say, DU was not --at that time-- reflective of the true pulse of the voters.

This time could be different.

I don't know.

[GreenPartyVoter]

3. Still, reflective or not was it found to be useful in any way?

[displacedtexan]

23. Sure. We were able to get out the facts on specious stuff quickly.

[GreenPartyVoter]

25. Well, that was good then

[gateley]

26. I think it would serve a purpose in letting them know that there ARE voters

who are concerned about and following issues like FISA, etc. Bring to their attention issues that don't necessarily get attention from the vast majority, but let them know there are people out here who are aware and will support them in their efforts to do the 'right thing'.

[GreenPartyVoter]

28. Absolutely!

[Bucky]

4. If they want townhall style feedback, they probably go to town halls.

For Democratic blog & internet buzz, I suspect DU is in a far distant second place behind Koz. We might be a nose ahead of TPM Cafe

[GreenPartyVoter]

5. The thing about town halls, though, is they are finite in time and localized in place. That's

why I asked about DU being valuable in that respect, since it's never closed and the variety of people here is is pretty rich.

[mmonk]

6. Many do.

[GreenPartyVoter]

8. Thanks. Love your icon. :^D

[mmonk]

13. My dog George (no relation to you know who).

He past away a year ago from this past Feb. 17th.

[GreenPartyVoter]

14. Aw. I am so sorry. I have my mom's pic as my icon for the same reason. 3 years ago just this January

[mmonk]

21. My condolences.

[GreenPartyVoter]

22. Thank you

[leftofcool]

10. More probably read KOS

[GreenPartyVoter]

11. It's funny, but I've always prefered here to KOS

[Lisa0825]

16. me too

the format here is much easier to keep up with a large number of posts on. I am not a big fan of the blog format for large forums.

[GreenPartyVoter]

18. Yep. I liek DU because it feels like a conversation to me instead of a newspaper

No offense to KOS, which does great job ts own right

[gateley]

29. Well put - I feel as though we're a big group of friends whereas on KOS I feel like

people come in report, post, period.

DU is MUCH easier to navigate, too. !

[GreenPartyVoter]

30. Yep! I am not sure if anyone on KOS ever really gets to know anyone else

[Bucky]

32. Oh, the design here is MUCH better than Kos.

But that said, they have more traffic.

[GreenPartyVoter]

34. They do have a lot of traffic and we also don't see our fearles DU leaders in too

many TV interviews. (C'mon Olbermann. Get on the ball! LOL)

[gateley]

15. I thought it would be a good idea for every candidate and representative to

have someone on staff to report on the blogs daily, so they would be aware of issues of concern. Actually sit down and have a face-to-face with that particular person.

I'd love that job!

[GreenPartyVoter]

17. I think it would take more than one person to cover all the best of the blogs, fora, and news media.

But it surely would be a good idea and an interesting job.

[gateley]

24. Well, I'd be the DU representative,

:hi:

[GreenPartyVoter]

27. :^D

[Tresalisa]

19. I don't know if anybody high up in politics reads DU,

but I hope they don't spend a lot of time in GD-P and read all the stupid stuff here! (Not talking about THIS OP, GPV!) They'd get the idea we were all :crazy: :silly: :eyes:

[GreenPartyVoter]

20. LOL I was worried about that too. Even though Obama and Clinton are not my prefered candidates I

still feel a concern for how some of these posts would hurt their feelings.

[RUMMYisFROSTED]

31. Never.

So I am wondering, how often do you think people who carry a lot of weight in politics read DU?

[GreenPartyVoter]

33. I dunno, I would think Mrs. Edwards would have had some impact on her husband's campaign.