In wake of Dakota Alliance triumph, FEC to issue further regulation

CBS has published an article discussing in part the effect of the Dakota Blog Alliance on the hottest Senate race in the country: "Blogs: New Medium, Old Politics."  Excerpt:

Internet blogs are providing a new and unregulated medium for politically motivated attacks. With the same First Amendment protections as newspapers, blogs are increasingly gaining influence.

While many are must-reads for political junkies, are some Internet blogs also being used as proxies for campaigns? In the nation’s hottest Senate race, this past year, the answer was yes.

Little over a month ago, the first Senate party leader in 52 years was ousted when South Dakota Republican John Thune defeated top Senate Democrat Tom Daschle. While more than $40 million was spent in the race, saturating the airwaves with advertising, a potentially more intriguing front was also opened.

The two leading South Dakota blogs – websites full of informal analysis, opinions and links – were authored by paid advisers to Thune’s campaign.

The Sioux Falls Argus Leader and the National Journal first cited Federal Election Commission documents showing that Jon Lauck, of Daschle v Thune, and Jason Van Beek, of South Dakota Politics, were advisers to the Thune campaign.

The documents, also obtained by CBS News, show that in June and October the Thune campaign paid Lauck $27,000 and Van Beek $8,000. Lauck had also worked on Thune’s 2002 congressional race.

Both blogs favored Thune, but neither gave any disclaimer during the election that the authors were on the payroll of the Republican candidate.

No laws have apparently been broken. Case precedent on political speech as it pertains to blogs does not exist. But where journalists' careers may be broken on ethics violations, bloggers are writing in the Wild West of cyberspace. There remains no code of ethics, or even an employer, to enforce any standard.

A CBS reporter complaining about "dirty tricks" and "ethics"?  When will the hilarity end?

I began my blog a year before Thune declared his candidacy.  I became a consultant for Thune in July of 2004, a year and six months AFTER I began blogging.  From the beginning, I have always been very clear about my political predilections.  I consistently told readers of my blog that I was pro-Thune.  If my blog was a "proxy" for the Thune campaign then it can fairly be said that the Argus Leader and CBS have been proxies for Democratic campaigns since time immemorial.  The difference is that I tell everyone I am not an objective observer.  To this day, the Argus Leader and CBS hold themselves out as objective observers.  I think blogs in general have pretty much exploded that notion.  Yet the "mainstream media" continue to splutter about "dirty tricks" and "ethics" and make a nauseating show of wrapping themselves in virtue. 

Oh, and what a relief it is to know that by excercising my fundamental right of political speech, no laws were apparently broken.  You'd think that would go without saying. Not, apparently, anymore.

SDP becomes a group effort

Professor Lauck has closed up shop at DVT, and will continue blogging here at SDP.  Be sure to read his inaugural post immediately below.  Other new bloggers will be joining up, too, so keep coming back here for your daily Dakota Alliance dose.

Meanwhile, legendary KELO anchor emeritus Steve Hemmingsen has another great new contribution up at his "Weighing In" website (or is it a blog?) headlined "The Opera Ain't Over."  I've never met Hemmingsen, but my instinct has always been that he's a good guy (which I thought would come across in past posts I've written about him), so I'm a bit puzzled by his comment to the effect that the Dakota Alliance is "mildly anti-Hemmingsen."  Anyway, read Hemmingsen, and welcome aboard, Professor Lauck!

The Economist mentions Dakota Alliance

The Economist has an article in this week's edition headlined "Dropping the Anchorman" about the effect of the blogs in this election year.  Relevant graf:

All through the recent election campaign, the new media outsmarted the old media when it came to setting the news agenda. Republican strategists admit that the Swift Boat veterans' attacks on John Kerry, largely ignored by the old media, would never have got anywhere without the online Drudge Report. Drudge was also instrumental in turning the “60 Minutes” story into an embarrassment for the Democrats, not Mr Bush. Local bloggers also had an effect; in South Dakota, for instance, they repeatedly highlighted Tom Daschle's partisan record in Washington, DC, something that the Democratic Senate majority leader's friends in the local print media had never laboured to expose.

UPDATE: DVT points to an article in World Magazine that also mentions the effect of the Dakota Alliance under the headline "Year of the Blog."  Excerpt:

Not only nationally oriented blogs have an influence. In South Dakota, local blogs took on Senate Minority Leader Tom Daschle in his reelection bid. Their scrutiny of his record and their championing the cause of his opponent, Republican John Thune, made him the second Senate leader to be brought down by bloggers.

From the mailbag

A highly valued reader writes in:

It's interesting to note that 'blogs are a "pull" type of media. People have to work to find your 'blog. Local TV and newspapers are "push" media and a person has to make an effort to escape them. You don't sell advertising. You aren't stealing their reader/viewrship. The logical thing would be to ignore you.

But, like an overweight Linda Ronstadt criticizing people for having their heads in their mashed potatoes, they rail about your credibility, your influence over elections, and your dishonest abuse of free speech. (They don't provide any evidence of your dishonesty, even when your every word is archived on the Internet.)

You and the Dakota Alliance pointed out the "Sioux Emperors" have no clothes. Show their Dakota Alliance tattooed butts on your Web sites and know that people aren't laughing at your ink.

Ryne McClaren and the Dakota Blog Alliance

Ryne McClaren has an excellent post about, among other things, how he stumbled upon the South Dakota blogs. Excerpt:

As the South Dakota Senate race started to heat up, I stumbled across a guy by the name of Jason Van Beek. As you know, I'm from South Dakota too, so this was a pretty big deal. I sent him a complementary e-mail, we linked each other, it was exciting. (You had to be there I guess.) Next, Jon Lauck and Steve Sibson came to my attention. Then Quentin Riggins. Hell, all of the sudden there were a bunch of South Dakota bloggers. Somebody came up with a name for this little group of misfits, and the Dakota Alliance was born. They asked me to participate, and I was glad to. Randell Beck, meet the blogosphere. Not long afterward, I was linked by Instapundit, Andrew Sullivan and Mark Steyn's web page while blogging about a Randell Beck meltdown. My hitcounter topped out at around 15,000 hits in just a few hours. Ho-ly shee-it. Next the group added The Bird, Wally Waltner and Wes Roth. We had a conference. Jay Reding came. Jay Reding! John Hinderaker too! The Argus Leader ran a front page story on us, and their editor had some sharp words for what we were doing. A good time was -- and still is being -- had by all. And again, the rest is history. But let it be known that when future state races are blogged with a great national ado, a group of people from the sticks were first. So here we are. The President was re-elected. John Thune knocked the legs from under Tom Daschle, the Senate Minority Leader. Republicans made gains in both houses. Was it because of blogs? Who knows. We sure as hell didn't hurt any of our candidates, that's for sure. We might have even brought new eyes to bear on issues that wouldn't otherwise have been noticed or discussed (see also: Rathergate; Kranzgate; Mansiongate; Hug-gate; and other -gates too numerous to mention.)

Rush Limbaugh on the TRO

Rush Limbaugh mentioned a "blog in South Dakota" today on his show, and talked for nearly 10 minutes about Daschle's weak temporary restraining order.

Easy on the new guy

A warm welcome to Wes Roth, the newest member of the Dakota Blog Alliance, who will be providing aid and comfort to Ryne McClaren in covering South Dakota politics from a West River perspective.

Dan Rather and David Kranz

At any moment, CBS will release a statement to "clarify" the Bush Guards document story. This is the story in which Dan Rather used forged documents to raise questions about President Bush's Air National Guard service. It's fitting to note that Dan Rather is a hero to David Kranz, the dean of South Dakota political reporters. In 1974, Kranz wrote a laudatory column about Dan Rather for the Austin (MN) Daily Herald. The telltale column is pictured below:

Thirty years later, Dan Rather's credibility has been shredded, and David Kranz's credibility has been shredded. What a fitting conclusion to these two posterboys for liberal bias in the mainstream media.

A warm welcome to Wally

The ranks of the Dakota Blog Alliance have swelled once again, this time with the addition of South Dakota expatriate Wally Waltner and his blog, Irreconcilable Musings. Welcome aboard, Wally! Now if we can just get a hold of Jay Reding, we can really round out this alliance. Jay, e-mail me ASAP.

DVT gets 20,000 unique hits

Congratulations to DVT, who received a spectacular 20,000 unique hits yesterday. Consider the Argus Leader's 53,310 daily readers, and that gives you some idea of the impact that blogs are having on the political scene in South Dakota. Twenty thousand people read about the latest shenanigans of Randell Beck, the Argus Leader's executive editor. It staggers the imagination.

Keynote address at the DBA conference

John Hinderaker at Power Line notes the Wall Street Journal's mention of the Dakota Blog Alliance Conference. Here's a picture of John delivering the keynote address at the conference:

In his post, John has some kind words for the Dakota Alliance bloggers, which are very much appreciated, and the sentiment is mutual. A large part of the success of the Dakota Alliance can be attributed to John and his colleagues at Power Line.

More pics from Dakotafest

Aside from the Daschle v. Thune debate this morning, there was also the Diedrich v. Herseth debate in the afternoon. Here's a picture of Larry Diedrich shortly before he headed to the debate.

PUC candidate Dusty Johnson also worked the crowds at Dakotafest:

Detroit News blogs about Dakota Alliance

John R. LaPlante, a freelance writer who posts to the Detroit News weblog, says political blogs can have an influence in thinly populated states in a post headlined "Blogs Spice Up Political Journalism." Excerpt:

While it is easy for bloggers to over-estimate their importance, they can have an influence, especially in thinly populated states. Where there are few outlets in the tradtional media, the voice of one or more individuals on blogs can be especially powerful. This may be the case in South Dakota, where a collection of individuals is challenging the state’s dominant newspaper. Citing instances of political bias favoring Sen. Tom Daschle, the Dakota Blog Alliance Conference is calling on the Sioux Falls Argus Leader to create “a permanent ombudsman … to review and assess public complaints.”

This spurs a recollection of an interesting comment made by John Hinderaker at the conference about the role blogs played in the ouster of Trent Lott as Republican Leader of the Senate. Hinderaker thought the true measure of the blog's influence would be if they were to play a role in the ouster of the Democratic Leader of the Senate. That, of course, remains to be seen.

The Detroit News, like the Argus Leader, is a Gannett newspaper.

Dakota Blog Alliance Conference roundup

First, be sure to read the Sioux Falls Platform, the document announcing an agenda for reform at the Argus Leader.

Kudos to Quentin Riggins for organizing a successful conference. Be sure to read his post "Chicken droppings the rest of the story."

DVT has posted a photo of the Dakota Alliance bloggers, and notes the upcoming announcement of the newest member of the Dakota Alliance, Jay Reding.

KSFY television covered the conference, as did KELO and the AP.

Sibby discusses Greg Belfrage's description of a "marriage made in heaven," the synergy between blogs and talk radio that cuts through the liberal bias in the mainstream media.

Ryne McClaren has a long drive back west.

John Hinderaker at Power Line has a post headlined "A Day in South Dakota."

Last, but not least, thanks to Long Shots Bar & Grill for providing post-conference adult beverages and appetizers.

UPDATE: Instapundit notes the Alliance "looks like they're becoming a force in South Dakota politics and journalism."

Dakota Blog Alliance Conference concludes

Well, today was spent meeting and greeting fellow Dakota bloggers at the Dakota Blog Alliance Conference. It was a privilege to finally meet John Hinderaker of Power Line in person. John very generously spent a big part of the day here in Sioux Falls, participating in the various presentations at the conference and delivering a very nicely done keynote address. Thanks for coming in, John.

Dakota Blog Alliance Conference

Be sure to attend the Dakota Blog Alliance Conference.

Sibby reports on Daschle's visit to Mitchell today

Sibby has a posted a report with a photo of Daschle campaigning in Mitchell earlier today.

The newest member of the Dakota Alliance

Everybody give a warm welcome to Quentin Riggins, the newest member of the Dakota Alliance. Quentin just finished his first year of law school here at The University of South Dakota, and will be adding his opinions and analysis of the South Dakota political scene. Welcome aboard, Quentin!