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author On Politics

Richard Borreca


Blogs bring new
dangers to stumping


Agonizing over miss-ed boyfriends and chubby thighs, two state House candidates this year, poured out their hearts to their diaries.

In a Hawaii version of Bridget Jones' Diary, one dissed her boss and made catty remarks about her co-workers, while the other worried over the banal "single-under-30" set.

Both of the young career women probably hoped that their efforts would stay safely tucked away, to be read only by the closest friends.

But thanks to the latest Internet trend of putting diaries online, the world briefly shared clubbing, eating, drinking and whining with the two. The phenomena is called "blogging," short for keeping a Web log or journal available on the Internet.

Because it was meant to be a personal diary, I won't mention names, but portions of both blogs were passed from office to office at the Capitol with the expectation that the salacious parts would find a home in the campaigns of the two newcomer's opponents.

For aspiring politicians the moral is clear: If you put it on the Internet, expect someone to find it, including your opponent. My Internet-savvy advisers say that also goes for e-mail.

Blogs, like other youthful indiscretions, may do more to upset friends and parents rather than prevent you from running for president, but the politically aspiring biographer still might want to hit the "delete button."

On the other hand, the politically inspired blog is becoming the fashionable accessory to every politician's smart Web page.

Rep. Brian Schatz (D, Tantalus-Makiki) operates his own blog on his Web site, www.brianschatz.com, that features the standard campaign statements, pictures of family and position papers. Schatz embellished it with his own blog, giving his analysis on current events.

Mercifully sparing us from the usual blog staples of listing favorite pizza toppings, DVDs or the five things needed on a desert island, Schatz posts his thoughts about the campaign, documents attempts to get a debate with his opponent, Republican Tracy Okubo, and gives his recommendations for Board of Education candidates.

"I've gotten several e-mails thanking me for it, but the challenge is keeping something fresh posted," Schatz said.

Another way to blog and not offend is by simply posting pictures. U.S. Rep. Neil Abercrombie's political Web site, www.neilabercrombie.com, includes "Neil's mobile blog," which is an online photo album with captions.

Abercrombie even includes photo offerings from his camera phone, although having to review repeated pictures of Howard Dean may be as enjoyable as viewing the in-laws' pictures of the Little League team's trip to Muskeegie.

Dean, however, was successful with his own Web site and blog; it helped him raise more than a $1 million to prime his presidential campaign. Schatz says there haven't been any local reports of politicians successfully using the Internet to raise money, but he calculates that Hawaii is "one election cycle behind" in high-tech campaigning.

For the rest of us, it may be better to hide the key to the diary and go to starbulletin.com for political news.





See the Columnists section for some past articles.

Richard Borreca writes on politics every Sunday in the Star-Bulletin. He can be reached at 525-8630 or by e-mail at rborreca@starbulletin.com.

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