Reporter Wants your input BEFORE he writes an article...AMAZING!

[ghemminger]

http://infocusblog.abc13.com/2007/08/ron-paul-the-71.html

August 07, 2007
Ron Paul: The Internet Superstar???
Being new to the blogosphere, I'm not certain about the customs here. But one of the reasons I want to blog is to have more of a conversation about news before I sit down to write as opposed to hearing from you after it airs.

I am working on a Ron Paul profile piece (Paul is a Republican congressman from Lake Jackson running for President). His political positions are easy to identify and well covered. His long shot campaign is quite honest about its chances and admittedly surprised about its early success.

Much of that success is on-line. He shows up really well on internet polls. He is huge on my space. He is a meetup superstar. He is dugg on digg. Cnet said all this yesterday.

The question reporters asked in the past has been is it real or some sort of shadow internet society jamming the net with Ron Paul votes? I wonder in your point of view - as a blog reader and therefore smart internet user - does it matter? Are we really seeing the long awaited leveling of the playing field where money doesn't matter as much? Even if it is just Ron Paul fans voting several times for him in online polls does it any way pervert the process? Conversely are these online polls equivalent to American Idol and therefore not a worthy part of the political discussion?

Before I sit down to write, I'd love to hear from you.

Posted by Ted Oberg on August 07, 2007 | Permalink

[beermotor]

WTF is the difference, really, between American Idol or a political vote? Somebody still cast a vote, didn't they? Some American took the effort to do it. Accusations of a robot army spamming polls all over the place might have been well taken prior to the 2Q earnings numbers, but an army of robot spammers does not donate $3M - mostly in donations under $200 - or are we faking names and addresses and phone numbers all at the same time?

[DeadheadForPaul]

I hope everyone is being kind to him. It's rare that someone in the media reaches out to the average American for imput on a story. I think he's doing a great thing

[Keith]

I think we might have killed his server or something. I clicked to post and the page went white. Then I realized that the last comment posted was this morning at 6:52. Anyway, below is what I tried to post. Maybe I will try again later or see if it appears after a few hours.

PS I just noticed that it is moderated. Maybe he did not count on getting the level of feedback that we gave him.

----------------------

Thanks for asking for our comments before writing your article. I don't know anything about journalism, but your approach seems like a good way to approach it.

If Congressman Paul's support was really just a small group of hackers manipulating polls don't you think someone would have caught them by now?

Personally I support Ron Paul primarily because he is the only Republican who is against this war of aggression that we are waging in Iraq. It also helps that he believes in limited government and individual liberty which are two things that seem to have been tossed to the wind during the last few years.

After I looked into Congressman Paul's voting record I noticed a consistency that I have not seen from other politicians. That consistency tells me that he cannot be bought by special interests and that he does not just follow the political wind where ever it happens to blow.

Finally, I would like to thank you for writing about Congressman Paul. It seems like the perceived front runners get almost all of the attention so early in the process that there is not really a lot of opportunity for candidates without large corporate support to be heard.

[ghemminger]

I think we might have killed his server or something. I clicked to post and the page went white. Then I realized that the last comment posted was this morning at 6:52. Anyway, below is what I tried to post. Maybe I will try again later or see if it appears after a few hours.

PS I just noticed that it is moderated. Maybe he did not count on getting the level of feedback that we gave him.

----------------------

Thanks for asking for our comments before writing your article. I don't know anything about journalism, but your approach seems like a good way to approach it.

If Congressman Paul's support was really just a small group of hackers manipulating polls don't you think someone would have caught them by now?

Personally I support Ron Paul primarily because he is the only Republican who is against this war of aggression that we are waging in Iraq. It also helps that he believes in limited government and individual liberty which are two things that seem to have been tossed to the wind during the last few years.

After I looked into Congressman Paul's voting record I noticed a consistency that I have not seen from other politicians. That consistency tells me that he cannot be bought by special interests and that he does not just follow the political wind where ever it happens to blow.

Finally, I would like to thank you for writing about Congressman Paul. It seems like the perceived front runners get almost all of the attention so early in the process that there is not really a lot of opportunity for candidates without large corporate support to be heard.

Sounds like a great Press release...I wish more Newspapers asked for our opinion before they write about us

[BIG_J]

There server got rocked. ha-ha-ha! Also; I think there is a limit on how many people can respond.

[thomj76]

Did it...