Oppo comes out of the closet

By Libby This is interesting. It used to be that the politicians pretended to be above the fray and research on the opposition was conducted and disseminated with great secrecy. Well, the intertubes have changed all that. The Massachusetts Dems unveiled a new website today on all things Mitt, called appropriately enough RomneyFacts.com. RomneyFacts.com lays out a wealth of documents: personal financial disclosure statements he filed as governor; policy proposals he put forward in his 2002 campaign; several old campaign ads; and a unique searchable database of campaign contributions from his entire political career. The Democrats may have been slow to catch on to the Web 2.0 thing but they're catching up quickly. A Democratic consultant class type notes the value to Dems of engaging the new media. "The use of citizen bloggers to convey the information is a tool that campaigns and parties can use in the same way that historically Republicans have relied upon right-wing radio to perform a similar function," he said. He's right about that of course, but the Dems shouldn't get too cocky about it. Despite some heavy hitters on the progressive side of Blogtopia who center their efforts on advancing party interests, there's a lot of us little folk out here are going to hold both parties to the same standards. There's no free ride.