Year of the Blog: Blogs, Politics and the 2004 Election

Writer Robert J. McNamara takes a look at how blog culture -- the blogosphere -- has developed at lightning speed and staked out valuable territory on the American political scene. No one had heard of blogs a few years ago, but today some bloggers have risen to quasi-celebrity status among news junkies. And blogs are now deemed so important in reaching a coveted audience -- those who are intensely interested in politics -- that the major political parties not only host blogs but are actually starting to give press credentials to do-it-yourself bloggers. Spell that R-E-S-P-E-C-T.