McCain's Blogger Outreach Effort Noted in Washington TimesIn an article that mentions my longtime blog-buddy
Pat Hynes:
The main reason: Mr. McCain's blogger outreach, the most extensive of any presidential campaign in either party, helped keep him afloat in the dark days last summer when the major press was sizing up his campaign grave. During those times, Mr. McCain got attention and digital ink from the bloggers he invited to biweekly conference calls, and got a chance to talk policy.
"During the unpleasantness, whenever Senator McCain put himself in front of reporters, the question was always, 'How much did you raise today, when are you dropping out,' " said Patrick Hynes, a conservative blogger who Mr. McCain hired in 2006. "And then we'd put him on the phone with bloggers, and they'd want to talk about Iraq, and pork and chasing down al Qaeda."
Patrick has done terrific work for McCain, although it's taken his toll on him as you can see from this recent photo:
Update: John Cole, who was most emphatically not part of the blogger conference calls, offers these
trite thoughts:
I suppose it is only natural to go to a forum where you can be asked the truly pressing questions. Things like- “Who is less patriotic, Obama or Hillary?” Or, “Will the Democrats be content to lose the war in Iraq, or will they try to turn the US into a province of Iran.” Or, “Do you think you can be as great a President as Bush?”
If anything, Cole's commenters are even more pathetic.
Labels: John McCain, Patrick Hynes
