According to Chris Cillizza's "The Fix" blog in the Washington Post:
New York Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton has pulled off a major coup in her evolving relationship with the liberal blogosphere.She has hired Peter Daou, author of the Daou Report (a blog on Salon.com) and the director of blog operations for the 2004 presidential campaign of Massachusetts Sen. John Kerry. Daou will join Clinton's senate race fundraising committee, "Friends of Hillary."
Meanwhile, the New York Times writes that this hiring decision "underscores the degree to which bloggers +óGé¼GÇ¥ the authors of Web logs, or blogs +óGé¼GÇ¥ have begun to transform American politics."
For those who hate, fear, loathe, or otherwise detest blogs and bloggers, this is terrible news. According to Daou, "the 'nascent power base' of liberal bloggers 'is only beginning to make its presence felt' and will 'reach fuller potential with the participation of Democratic leaders.'"
Oh, the horror, the horror! Ha.
Seriously, though, if this isn't a sign that Hillary Rodham Clinton is running for President in 2008, what else is? As Chris Cillizza writes, appropriately enough on his blog:
Clinton's decision to bring on Daou -- coupled with the hiring of Jesse Berney, another liberal blogger -- shows a recognition on her behalf that blogs will play a crucial role in choosing the 2008 Democratic nominee and that she has work to do in the courtship of this increasingly important interest group.
Blogs will play a crucial role in choosing the 2008 Democratic nominee? Wow. Did Chris Cillizza really write that? Can blogs truly have gained so much influence since the first major Democratic political blog - Jerome Armstrong's MyDD - was launched just 5 years ago? Personally, I find it hard to believe. But who knows, the time's they are a changin' and all that. Amazing.