Cover I REACHING OUT: When Sen. Richard Durbin decided to Story write a broadband bill, he also signed up to be a blogger. Blogging On Lawmakers and I By Bara Vaida lobbyists can’t decide n late July, Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Ill., tried a new whether blogs will approach to writing legislation. The 62-year-old end up as another majority whip logged on to a computer in his Capitol passing fad, or Hill office and began chatting on the Web about his become the real thing. plan to expand broadband services in rural America. I The standard method for writing a bill would have had some trepidation—he couldn’t be sure how its conservative IDurbin and his aides calling in consumer groups, telecommuni- subscribers would respond to him. cations lobbyists, and technology experts to hash out the de- In a series of evening postings on the two blogs (videotaped by tails. Instead, Durbin reached out to the editors of two online his staff to prove that the senator was indeed doing the typing), political blogs so that he could hear directly from their readers. Durbin connected with academics, California hip-hop artist Baby One was the progressive Open Left, a natural place for the pug- D, free-market advocates, rural Internet users, and many others. nacious liberal to turn. But the other, RedState, caused Durbin The conversations yielded more than 500 comments. 24 N A T I O N A L J O U R N A L 1 0 / 6 / 0 7 RICHARD A. BLOOM “It was an interesting national drafting session,” Durbin says. former Rep. Robert Walker, R-Pa., chairman of Wexler & Walk- “The reality is that most people feel that unless you can hire an er Public Policy Associates, “the more that lobbyists know they expensive lobbyist, you can’t get to the table to write a bill. will be using” them too. This is a ‘small d’ democratic approach [to legislation], and No one knows precisely how many Washington lawmakers are I think it is a valuable approach that we ought to try more blogging. But, according to National Journal’s Beltway Blogroll, and more.” at least 19 members of Congress, including House Speaker For Durbin it was also a process that took on a life of its own. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., have created blogs to help them in their Initially, his staff approached Matt Stoller, a 29-year-old political legislative work. In addition, Hill leaders from both political par- consultant who is a co-founder of Open Left. But when Durbin ties, and several committee chairmen, have created staff posi- started blogging on Open Left on July 24, several conservative tions to reach out to the “Internet media,” and to contribute to bloggers took to their websites to complain about being shut various blogs. out. They invited the senator to blog with the Right, too. After Sen. Jim DeMint, R-S.C., used blogs as a way to bypass tradi- some thought, Durbin agreed. tional media and to build grassroots opposition as he led an ef- In an interview, the senator recounted how the process un- fort to derail an immigration reform measure in the spring. folded. “I was invited to RedState and they had to warn every- Rather than issue a press release opposing the bill, DeMint’s one that ‘Durbin was coming,’ that ‘We’ll have a real Demo- staff coordinated conference calls and leaked information to crat here—and, calm down, he is talking about an issue.’ conservative bloggers to fan citizen uproar against the bill. [But] they were good. There were a few who couldn’t resist “Several pretty significant blogs are becoming a direct line the urge to punch me verbally, but I thought it was a good between elected officials here in Washington and the American exercise.” people,” said DeMint in an interview with National Journal. Durbin’s aides have been studying the comments as their But as is typical with any change, K Street’s embrace of bill-drafting effort continues. Meanwhile, National Public Ra- blogging has been slower. To be sure, some lobbyists are mov- dio, a stream of newspapers, and now National Journal have tak- ing full-speed ahead to incorporate blogs into their cam- en note of the senator’s venture into the world of blogs. And paigns and websites, but the more skeptical are hanging back, Durbin has garnered respect from the bloggers, even among unsure whether blogs will turn out to be a passing fad. Only 8 ideological foes. percent of trade associations and corporations said they either “When he wanted to reach out to the Right online, he came monitor blogs, post on them, or host them, while 29 percent to RedState to do it,” says the blog’s managing editor, Erick Erick- said they have someone reading blogs, according to a March son, a 32-year-old GOP political consultant based in Georgia. 2007 study conducted by the Policy Council, a research arm of “We appreciate his willingness to let us be involved in discussing National Journal Group. About 52 percent of associations the issue as he writes legislation.” and corporations reported that they were not doing anything It’s unclear whether Durbin’s bill-writing-through-blogging with blogs. exercise is a sign of things to come. But what is clear is that law- Underscoring the skepticism is that even the firms that spe- makers, their staffs, and other professionals in the nation’s cap- cialize in Internet advocacy have a hard time coming up with ital are making use of blogs (short specific measures to gauge the influ- T H for “weblogs”)—a handle describing E ence of blogs. Further, precious few T E websites that feature entries from L examples exist of legislation either E G R individuals or groups of writers, A passing or failing because of blog- P H / and the back-and-forth discussion C ging activity. O L L among folks responding to one an- I “Right now,” Walker says, “I think N C other’s musings. H K Street is still trying to figure out A P P Liberal and conservative activists E who the [blog] audience is.” L L began using blogs for fundraising E and political organizing during the Uncontrolled 2004 election cycle. Now policy Part of the problem with “figuring makers are trying to figure out how out” the blogosphere—the catchall to use them to advance their goals. term to describe the approximately Many of Washington’s practition- 70 million websites featuring conver- ers of politics and public policy—K sations about everything from ro- Street’s contract lobbyists, corpo- mance to politics—is determining rate government-affairs executives, which ones matter. One way to do and trade association representa- When [Durbin] wanted that is to learn which blogs the main- tives—have their hands full in keep- stream media are reading. Another ing up with the rapid changes in “to reach out to the technique is to find out which sites technology. No sooner had lobbyists Right online, he came Capitol Hill aides are following. figured out how to use websites and Search engines measure the popu- e-mail for advocacy campaigns than to RedState to do it. We larity of blogs; popularity, in turn, grassroots activists and decision appreciate his willingness drives media coverage, says Kevin makers moved on to blogging. Wallsten, a political science professor “The more that politicians are to let us be involved. at the University of California (Berke- reading [blogs],” says lobbyist and —Erick Er”ickson of RedState ley). “There are these popular blogs 1 0 / 6 / 0 7 N A T I O N A L J O U R N A L 25 megaphone, in other words, but as for evidence that they help to build I At least 19 members of Congress, support among anyone other than including House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, core activists already engaged on have created blogs to help them in their an issue, “I think the jury is still out legislative work. on that.” Being Provocative I Part of the problem with “figuring out” Some on K Street are experi- the blogosphere is determining which menting with the blogosphere and websites matter. liking the results. Marc Lampkin, a lobbyist with Quinn Gillespie & As- sociates, is one. I M Lobbyists are using blogs Lampkin, 43, sees blogging as a O C . S to cement relationships—and to way to get media attention for his E G A M client, itself an important achieve- I whip up the grassroots. / S I B ment. He was hired last spring as R O C executive director of Strong Ameri- can Schools, a $60 million lobbying that serve as hubs for interesting stories, and then those stories and public-affairs campaign funded by the Bill and Melinda tend to get picked up broadly,” he says. “Blogs create a stir be- Gates Foundation and the Broad Foundations. The group’s cause they are read by journalists, people on the Hill, and peo- aim is to prod Congress and the presidential candidates to em- ple engaged in the political debate.” brace education reform, including improving teacher quality To refine the question of readership on the Hill, the Policy through merit pay and other measures. As part of its Internet Council in March surveyed 266 chiefs of staff, communications strategy, Strong American Schools made Lampkin, who enjoys a directors, legislative directors, and other congressional aides heated debate, a blogger. on how often they read blogs. Just 7 percent said they read “Being provocative is important in the culture of blogs, be- blogs several times a day, 22 percent said they read blogs about cause it is all about starting and sustaining a debate,” says Lamp- once a day, and another 21 percent said they read blogs about kin, a former Capitol Hill aide and a deputy campaign manager once a week.