Jan 22, 2005 - 23:26:02 CST
Sen. Tim Mathern is keeping a personal diary about the Legislature, only anyone can read it."My son Zach is ill. Josh is working. And my dear wife Lorene washed my clothes!" the Fargo Democrat wrote just after the Legislature began its 2005 session on Jan. 4.
Mathern is one of six senators who are writing blogs, an abbreviated term for Web log, as a way of describing life in the Legislature this winter.
Some of the Senate's bloggers incorporate personal details into their short postings. Mathern has mentioned a weekly morning prayer meeting that lawmakers hold in the Capitol. Last Friday, Sen. Tom Seymour, D-Minot, posted a description of driving home in a snowstorm after the Senate adjourned early that afternoon.
Sen. Tom Trenbeath, R-Cavalier, discussed his former aversion to technology.
"I am a reforming Luddite. Five years ago I would proudly have proclaimed that fact, and eschewed technology as a tool of the devil," he wrote. "Now, I have three e-mail addresses and just enough knowledge of the Web to get myself in trouble."
Blogs have become more influential within interest groups, professions and the political world in recent years, although blogs on North Dakota subjects are still uncommon.
Rep. Earl Pomeroy, D-N.D., used a widely read liberal blog, the Daily Kos, to solicit contributions for his re-election campaign last year. A handful of bloggers were given press credentials to cover the Democratic and Republican national conventions.
In South Dakota's U.S. Senate race last year, a group of political bloggers who supported Republican John Thune are credited with helping him defeat incumbent Tom Daschle, the Democratic minority leader.
Seymour observed blogger influence firsthand two years ago, during his first Senate session, when blogs spread the word about legislation to require touring bicyclists to buy a $50 license to legally ride outside a city.
When news about the bill sped through the online cycling community, it was doomed, Seymour said. "(Cyclists) came up and testified and killed the bill," he said. "It was exciting."
The five senators began blogging when the Bismarck Tribune sent e-mails to every lawmaker, asking each if they were interested in keeping a blog. Keith Darnay, the paper's webmaster, said he thought the feature would draw more visitors to the Tribune's legislative Web site.
"Blogs are the item of the hour right now," Darnay said.
Only six senators responded -- Mathern, Trenbeath, Seymour, Tim Flakoll, R-Fargo, Dick Dever, R-Bismarck, and Tony Grindberg, R-Fargo. Dever has posted once since the Legislature began Jan. 4, and Grindberg's blog has no postings.
Max Laird, a Grand Forks teacher and former president of the North Dakota Education Association, said blogging by government insiders is unusual. Laird ran unsuccessfully last year for state superintendent of public instruction, and has since established his own blog, called "A Teacher's Take."
"These are people in the fishbowl, writing the blogs, rather than people outside the fishbowl looking in," Laird said.
Technorati, a company that tracks the blogging trend, follows almost 6.3 million blogs. Recent surveys by the Pew Internet & American Life Project, published last month, estimated that 8 million adults have created a blog, although the survey also said 62 percent of Internet users do not know what the term means.
Seymour is not new to blogging. The Minot State University professor has been talking online for 10 years, and he follows a collection of academic blogs. But most lawmakers are unfamiliar with blogs, Seymour said.
"It's a new medium for them," he said. "They are just getting tuned in."
That description fits Mathern. He'd watched Zach, his 17-year-old son, spend all his free time talking to friends on the computer and was curious about the new technology.
"When I was a kid, teenagers were on the telephone," Mathern said.
Of the six senator bloggers, Mathern is the most prolific. He updates his journal about every other day with posts about religion and politics, observations on the Capitol and tidbits about his family life.
"It's a way to get information out, and a way for citizens to have pretty direct communication with legislators," he said. "I probably reveal more (on the blog) than what I say on the Senate floor."
Seymour said he gets more e-mail messages than phone calls, and he says many constituents are informed by online news and blog commentary, especially professions such as health care and education.
"It's really a new tool for the constituent. They're out there watching these things when they're posted," Seymour said.
Flakoll, who has posted teacher compensation data and information about legislation he is sponsoring, said the subtleties of regular communication are difficult to convey on blogs.
"You don't get a sense of inflection," he said. "Were they smiling? Were they upset?"
The senators haven't been frequent posters. Only Mathern has posted more than a few times since the session began. Said Darnay: "No one has really come out and been loud and colorful."
Senator blogs:
www.ndlegislature.com
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