March 07, 2007

Blogger Spotlight: Washington for Richardson

Barack Obama and Mitt Romney are lucky enough to have the largest collection of unofficial blogs devoted to their candidacies. Among the many pro-Obama blogs Emmett O'Connell helps run Washington for Richardson.

What is your full name?

Emmett Joseph O'Connell

What is your age?

30

What's your hometown?

Olympia WA

Where do you live now?

Olympia WA

What is your educational background?

BA, Liberal Arts, Evergreen State College (Olympia, WA)

What is your occupation?

South Sound information officer, Northwest Indian Fisheries Commission

When did you first get involved in politics and why?

Dean for America meetups in 2004. I was the rare Deaniac in that I started going not because of his opposition to the war (I was agnostic at the time), but rather because the meetups opened his campaign to any supporter. I loved that.

When did you start blogging and why?

In 2001, during a historic baseball season (116 wins), the Mariners started cracking down on ticket scalpers outside of Safeco Field by hiring off duty police officers. While ticket scalping is illegal in Seattle, the Mariners had set up a ticket auction website, where anyone could resell tickets they weren't going to use, but with the proceeds going to the Mariners. Because the servers were located in Bellevue (outside of Seattle), they couldn't be prosecuted.

How will blogs impact WH '08?

We'll probably see the Virginia Senate race on a larger scale, more candidates having to navigate in a less controlled environment. I wish I could say that every campaign will be like the Dean campaign, but I don't think anyone has really learned the lessons of 2004 in terms of turning over control to their supporters.

What's your favorite most unsung specific example of a blogger affecting a political figure, organization, philosophy, or movement?

The 2004/05 effort to get Howard Dean elected as chair of the DNC, especially as it compares to the recent election of Mel Martinez as chair of the RNC.

Posted by Conn Carroll at March 7, 2007 02:15 PM