Bush Campaign Reaching Out to Bloggers
President Bush’s campaign will unveil a Web site today that allows proprietors of online journals — Blogs or Web logs — to “get the latest campaign headlines and inside scoop posted instantly to your site through a live news feed from GeorgeWBush.com!”
Bush’s campaign is leaving nothing to chance as his devotees spread his message. The automatic feeds are offered in horizontal and vertical versions.
Clearly cognizant of the Web frenzy over Democrat Howard Dean, Bush’s aides held a conference call to preview the site, which replaces a bare-bones one that has raised $1.3 million from 6,000 donors since the campaign launch May 16.
Campaign manager Ken Mehlman said the site’s purpose is “sharing the president’s positions and tying them to grass-roots activities so that everyone who wants to, has something to do.” The site allows a user to type in a Zip code and find local and national radio talk shows. A letter can be automatically e-mailed to newspapers, and all the supporter has to do is paste in pre-scripted text such as, “President Bush should be commended for his strong leadership on the economy.”
Really, though, most of the sites that will use this feed already post or comment on most of the same stories on their own and link to the Bush in 2004 site.