Blogging your way to punditry!

A watershed moment for the blogger universe is about to take place, as the Democratic Party in the USA is preparing to provide credentials to bloggers to cover this summers convention.

50 fellow bloggers have offered up their blogs as worthwhile participants in this year's Democratic coming out party for John Kerry in Boston.

Democratic organizer and convention spokeswoman Lina Garcia said the Democrats are looking for originality, readership level and professionalism in determining who will get the coveted convention passes.

Some of the more well known political blogs in the US are looking to get inside the Fleet Centre for thefestivitiess. Of course blogs by their nature are opinionated, thus some folks won't have anything to do with the Democrats. Michele Catalano wants to be in Madison Square Garden with the Republicans for her Comand Post blog. Over at the Daily Kos, it's the Democrats that offer the most interest, Markos Moulitsas Zuniga is looking forward to heading to Boston if selected, and it's probably a good thing he's applied for the Democrats. He's apparently about as welcome as hemorrhoids on a trail ride to the Republicans, according to the Bush Country blog, which seems to wish him a speedy exit from the planet.

Being a rather new medium and only recently attracting attention of the mainstream the bloggers are logging into uncharted political territory. However, for the successful blogger there is a cost to cover the Kerry love in, bloggers are expected to cover the same costs as their more traditional compatriots.

So should a blogger get the pass to the convention, he or she will have to pony up the cash. Rental space for phone lines, desks and even snackies will all have to be provided in advance.

The Republican's apparently more suspicious than the Democrats are still studying the idea and expect to announce their plans very shortly. One suspects that should the Republicans wander by a Michael Moore blog, it will be game over for the Blogging universe and the Party of Bush.

Personally, I think the blogger should just pick their favourite TV anchor's hairpiece, sit close to the TV and listen in to the "experts" and stay by the homestead. The phone line is already paid up, the snacks are in the cupboard and the beer is in the fridge.

One can pillorize or praise their favourite moment from the comfort of the computer desk, save the entry fee for a better use. Grab some more disk space, pick up a digital camera and more squeeze some more beer into the fridge. The thoughts will come regardless and since this convention should provide the surprise of a North Korean election, why make the trek.

While the attention to the blogging phenomenon is nice to see, we approach a formal alliance with our politicians with trepidation. What's that old Groucho Marx line about "not wanting to be in a club that would have me"; in this case for bloggers it could be the best path to follow.