Democrats Woo Bloggers; Republicans Face Off in Iowa

GWEN IFILL:

The major presidential candidates spent the weekend appealing to the right and the left wings of their respective parties. We have two reports, the first on the Democrats from NewsHour correspondent Elizabeth Brackett of WTTW-Chicago.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT, NewsHour Correspondent:

The YearlyKos bloggers convention was sold out; 1,500 people who usually meet in cyberspace at DailyKos.com showed up to meet face to face. Blogger Page Van Der Linden came all the way from Amsterdam.

PAGE VAN DER LINDEN, Blogger:

This is an historic, groundbreaking event. Last year's was only the beginning. This year — well, think about it. It's the first all-volunteer, grassroots, blogger-organized presidential candidate forum. And that's just one part of this whole thing.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

As a contributing editor, Van Der Linden makes regular posts on the front page of the DailyKos. Anyone can register with the blog and post a diary or make comments on other entries. The progressive blog's growing influence did not go unnoticed by the Democratic presidential candidates, says Clinton campaign Internet director Peter Daou.

PETER DAOU, Hillary Clinton Campaign:

Yes, DailyKos is probably the highest-trafficked blog, either progressive or conservative, in the country. You know, about a half-million visitors a day. It's a very strong community of people. You know, this entire YearlyKos convention came out of that community. People who were part of the community decided to create a real convention out of a virtual community.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

The man who started the Web site five years ago, 35-year-old Markos Moulitsas, says he is still astonished by the explosive growth and impact of the blog and the convention.

MARKOS MOULITSAS, Founder, DailyKos.com:

This was never intended to be this big showcase for the candidates and anything like that. It was intended to be a place for us to get together and meet.

So I showed up to the first convention thinking, "We'll have the back room of the Howard Johnson, right, and we'll just all have couple of drinks and get to know each other. That'll be fantastic." And, instead, I walked in, and there was actually a real bona fide conference. And as we've seen this year, people are deciding, "You know what? This is where all the energy is coming from in the new progressive movement. These guys were incredible last year. They helped us win majorities in Congress. You know, let's go talk to them."

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

New Mexico Governor Bill Richardson was the only candidate who showed up at the first YearlyKos convention last year. This year, he says, nearly all the candidates have figured out its importance.

GOV. BILL RICHARDSON (D), New Mexico: The good thing about these individuals is they're voters, they're activists, they generate communication with each other. And in early primary states like Iowa and New Hampshire, they have an influence. So this is why I'm here.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

All the Democratic candidates but Delaware Senator Joe Biden showed up for a format divided into three parts, with questions from the moderators and online, on foreign policy, domestic affairs and philosophy and experience. Former Senator John Edwards drew heavy applause with this unique campaign pledge.

FORMER SEN. JOHN EDWARDS (D), Presidential Candidate: I will hire an official White House blogger, and her name will be Elizabeth Edwards.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

In the biggest dust-up of the 90-minute forum, Edwards and Senator Barack Obama challenged Senator Hillary Clinton for taking money from Washington lobbyists, something neither the Edwards nor the Obama campaign does, although they do take money from state lobbyists.

JOHN EDWARDS:

I think my party, the Democratic Party, the party of the people, ought to say, from this day forward, we will never take a dime from a Washington lobbyist; we do not do business with these insiders; we're going to give the power in this government back to the people.

MODERATOR:

Senator Edwards has really a very straight-forward question here, which is, will you continue to take money from lobbyists or will you take his position?

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON (D), New York: Yes, I will. Yes, I will, because, you know, a lot of those lobbyists, whether you like it or not, represent real Americans. They actually do. They represent nurses. They represent, you know, social workers. They represent — yes, they represent corporations that employ a lot of people.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA (D), Illinois: I disagree with the notion that lobbyists don't have disproportionate influence. Look, the insurance and the drug companies…

… the insurance and the drug companies spent $1 billion in lobbying over the last 10 years. Now, Hillary, you were talking earlier about the efforts you made back in '93. Well, you can't tell me that that money did not have a difference.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

Clinton had gotten a warmer reception when she met by herself with a room full of delegates and knocked Markos Moulitsas' nemesis, FOX network's Bill O'Reilly. He had urged people not to go to the YearlyKos convention.

SEN. HILLARY CLINTON:

I was very proud of my campaign standing up and really calling O'Reilly out and saying, "Oh, come on, look, there are things on the DailyKos that I don't agree with," and sometimes, you know, look, people do go over the line. But, hello, for Bill O'Reilly to be making that criticism?

AUDIENCE:

Happy birthday to you…

SEN. BARACK OBAMA:

Thank you. Thank you. That's sweet.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

After Senator Barack Obama was serenaded at his breakout session, his 46th birthday, he again attacked the influence of lobbyists.

SEN. BARACK OBAMA:

You know, when we've got a billion dollars worth of lobbyists' money that is shaping our health care bill, it means we're not going to be able to move any universal health care plan forward.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

Nearly 300 comments were up in the DailyKos Web site just an hour after the presidential forum ended, the bloggers quickly making the switch from the real world back to their virtual one.

Gina Fezmeir and John Kriskorn were busily posting and reading comments about the forum but had liked actually seeing the candidates.

JOHN KRISKORN, YearlyKos Attendee:

I don't know if the debates, that people really found out anything they didn't know, but it was a great sign to see the candidates coming out and meeting with just regular people. Gina and I don't work in politics. We have separate careers.

We're just very concerned citizens. We like following the news and staying informed, and we care about what these people are doing, because we know that their decisions affect our lives and everyone's lives in this country.

ELIZABETH BRACKETT:

As the candidates continue to try and reach voters like these, the Internet offers them one more platform to stand on.