Not that I am jealous or anything... Wired has an article about the role of blogs in political campaigns. Ben Chandler, the new Democratic congressman from Kentucky, used blogs extremely effectively in his recent campaign, turning "a $2,000 investment in blog advertising into over $80,000 in donations in only two weeks". Popular polibloggers like Atrios, Josh Marshall, Daily Kos and Calpundit, who provide the drug of choice for those around America and the world who are addicted to political news, commentary and gossip, can create a buzz around a candidate, providing not only media coverage leading to name recognition, but also access to readers' wallets. Such is the effectiveness of this advertising that these top tier blogs are able to charge in excess of a thousand dollars a month to place ads in prominent positions on their pages. Considering the expense of advertising in traditional media outlets, investments of this kind is very cost effective. We will certainly see more and more candidates take notice of the net in the future.