Prez Candidates Too Busy for Women Blogger Convention Make it to Male-Populated ConferenceCHICAGO--Last weekend, as I wrote here, only two of all the presidential campaigns deigned to send representatives to the BlogHer conference, a non-partisan gathering of women bloggers whose organizers had invited all the presidential candidates to either appear before attendees, or send surrogates. The two campaigns whose leaders understood the significance of the gathering were those of Democrats John Edwards and Hillary Clinton, both of which sent surrogates. (Edwards sent his highest-powered representative: his wife, Elizabeth.)
What a difference less than a week makes. Or perhaps it's the gender of the participants. For here at the Yearly Kos conference -- a gathering of progressive bloggers whose white, male contingent appears to comprise the majority of attendees, all of the Democratic candidates appeared, together on a stage in a forum moderated by Matt Bai of the New York Times Magazine and Joan McCarter of Daily Kos.
For the record, when the candidates were asked, via e-mail, by blogger John Pontificator if, upon winning the election, they would appoint an official White House blogger, all except Mike Gravel* said they would. (Gravel said he would do his own blogging.) Clinton thought a few seconds before raising her hand, and said, "Why not?" Then Edwards announced: "I will have an official White House blogger, and her name is Elizabeth Edwards."
--Adele M. Stan
*Thanks to Cheyanne for fixing my spelling.
For more on how women bloggers get missed -- and dissed -- by candidates and media, check out Jennifer Pozner's piece at Women's Media Center.
2 comments:
Did you mean to write GRAVEL as in Mike Gravel? the senior who refers to himself as "the potted plant" they put out in left field during the presidentail debates? This man cannot seem to garner any kudos or respect. For God's sake he was a catalyst in getting the Pentagon Papers published. His YouTube videos are absolutely outrageously the best. He's old, but he knows his stuff and is very candid when it comes to remembering U.S. history.
Bombs and all.
Cheyanne--
My bad -- state of sleeplessness typo. Thanks for the shout-out. And you're right about Gravel. He really did something amazing when it came to the Pentagon papers.
--Adele
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