March 16, 2007

Blogger Spotlight: Students for Barack Obama

Alex Locke of Students for Barack Obama closes off our unofficial WH '08 blog tour. On Monday we begin our tour of California tipping things off with Calitics Brian Leubitz.

What is your full name?

Alexandra Locke

What is your age?

18 years old

What's your hometown?

Wayland, MA

Where do you live now?

Brunswick, ME (Bowdoin College)

What is your educational background?

Freshman at Bowdoin, hoping to major in international affairs with a concentration on the Middle East and journalism.

When did you first get involved in politics and why?

I grew up in a very liberal family -- we used to watch the Daily Show together every night. The exception was my older brother, who was extremely Republican until Bush in 2000. I didn't have anyone my own age to talk to at family events, so I learned to talk politics very quickly. The Barack Obama campaign is my first actual involvement in politics, and I decided to volunteer for him because I felt like it was the chance to be a part of a movement that would become part of history.

When did you start blogging and why?

When I was a teenager I always kept a Livejournal, mostly to whine about my day and talk to my friends. I started reading the Defamer website, which is a Hollywood gossip blog that actually is intelligent and has a sense of humor. Wonkette is part of the same company, so I started reading it pretty soon afterwards. Wonkette remains my favorite blog, hands down. I read DailyKos and the Huffington Post, but those take themselves a little too seriously for me. I started blogging when Meredith and Tobin (directors of SFBO) offered me the position of Blogging Director. It has been a great experience so far.

How will blogs impact WH '08?

I don't think that campaign blogs will do much for the race, but independent blogs have a chance to make a real difference. The ability to organize and raise money on the old series of tubes is really nowhere near capacity, and it will just keep growing.

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

Everyone cites the Dean campaign as the first example of the power of the blogosphere, but the 2006 midterms was really way more substantive -- Dean produced a lot of buzz without a lot of substance. George Allen's defeat was really a product of the blogs -- without them, "macaca" would have been one guy who captured the event on a cell phone camera.

Posted by Conn Carroll at March 16, 2007 03:28 PM