Local Blogging Counts – Traditional dead-tree and vacuum-tube media has dropped the ball and failed to hold elected officials accountable. The fifth estate has become the fifth column of American Democracy by facilitating malfeasance, pandering to power and enabling incumbents while dismissing challengers out of habit. It’s bloggers and online media which are doing the job of the traditional media did, before publishers sacked investigating to pursue profits.
Collaboration Works – While getting a diary up on the big board at DailyKos or the front page of Atrios gets the word out there, it’s a supportive network of bloggers that really builds enduring attention. Cross-linking between similarly dedicated bloggers in 2006 plays the roll of webrings did in 1996, raising traffic for all participants and building a common pool of knowledge. Collaboration supports bloggers who produce quality but not quantity, allowing less each to publish less frequently while the site stays fresh with content.
Google Matters – The question you ask matters. Today, if you search ‘Rohrabacher’ have to go to the second page before you find a link that isn’t critical of the Congressman (there is one from David Horowitz’s, but he doesn’t count IMHO). It’s basically a page full of of ‘neutral’ news pieces or “Who’s Who” pages. If you search ‘Rohrabacher+debate’ however, you get a page full of articles and blogs that really talk about the Congressman on the issues, his behavior and his record. Chris Bower’s Google Bomb The Elections has shown that it doesn’t have to be this way.
What – Googlebomb Dana Rohrabacher by linking his name to [URL].
Why – My own research with LongBeachElection.com (RIP) suggests there is a sizable percentage of voters who hit the net in the last week before the election. Dana got a pass online in the last election – results for ‘Rohrabacher weren’t as devistating as the truth would be. Don’t have to let that happen again.
How – Every time you write about Dana Rohrabacher, turn his name into a link to [UL]. In aggregate, each of these links should send this site to the top the Google’s ranks pretty fast. Dana likes to hide, and that means it’ll be easier to take the top spot than for the ‘miserable failure’. I figure 200 pages will put us in the top five search results on google.
What About My Site? – The home page of [URL] will list the pages which point here and a search tool indexing those pages. Some people claim that listening to Rohrabacher causes high blood pressure and a decrease in intelligence. Understandably, it’s hard to find someone to blog about him every day for free. But when you link here, we can aggregate the links and send traffic to anything you do write about him. We’ll keep summaries for search results, but anyone who wants to read the story will have to visit your site. The catch is, all this only works if you link here.
What Can I Do To Help? – Start using the link and spread the word. If you’ve got technical skills, there are some quick hacks we need. Also needed are a better designs, feature requests, and good ideas. To round out the front page we’ll include the top referers to this site and other unidentified goodies. Donations, of course, are always appreciated.