Pols cultivate bloggers

From Blogometer: "House GOPers met 10/20 with conservative bloggers on Capitol Hill, the first event of its kind for the House caucus. It was the 2nd officially sanctioned GOP blog event since the '04 convo in NYC, following last week's RNC conf. call with Ken Mehlman (see 10/13 Blogometer). This event was both an attempt to make a connection with friendly bloggers, call attention to fiscal matters and, not least, make sure both the MSM and bloggers know that they're doing so."

The Blogometer attended, along with Justin Hart of Right Side Redux, Ian Schwartz of The Political Teen, Matt Margolis of Blogs for Bush, Eric Pfeiffer of NRO's The Buzz, Matthew Sheffield of MRC's News Busters, Tim Chapman and Mary Katherine Ham of Townhall.com (representing the Capitol Report and C-Log blogs, respectively), Pat Cleary and David Kralik from lobby org. NAM, writing for their Manufacturers' Blog and also representing RedState, Kevin Aylward of Wizbang, and the presumably pseudonymous Flip of Suitably Flip.

"House GOP spokespersons said they plan to start sending "feeds" to bloggers -- not just talking points, but audio and video tape as well."

"Whether intended or not, the nature of the event likely had a disarming affect on the bloggers present. Not just the procession of luminaries and the swank digs (with a great view down the Mall, as GOP handlers pointed out more than once), but also the parade of news cameras and MSM journalists who attended the middle stretch. Add to that, the caucus also filmed and photographed the event for its own purposes. While the interest in forging ties with amateur bloggers seemed genuine, it was also a rolling photo-op -- for the benefit of not just the MSM, but the blogosphere as well."

//Billy McCormac