Mr. Smith goes to Bloggerville

Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, Pee Wee Herman, and presidential candidates. Sooner or later they all turn out to be big dispointments when the truth comes out. So Howard Dean, the doctor turned Adrian Veidt, is taking money from the BigCos after all and it makes you wanna cry? So Wesley Clark, the general turned statesman, is napalming the grass roots folks that got him in the race to begin with and now people are jumping ship? So Arnold Schwarzenegger, the bodybuilder turned Terminator turned governator, will now be running the fifth largest economy in the world and people seem shocked that he was an ass grabber in the past?

"If exceptionally wise and able men were required to run our democratic system, we'd have a lot of explaining to do to the other fools around the world, from Zimbabwe to North Korea, upon whom we are always urging democratic institutions." - P.J. O'Rourke, "No Apparent Motive"

Political candidates will eventually break your heart just like Sarah Jones in the 3rd grade and the Chicago Cubs. You put them on a pedestal and you honestly believe that because they have a weblog then you have some kind of cosmic connection with them. Political candidates are rock stars in suits and you're just another groupie. When the tour bus rolls into your town you hope and pray that Dick Gephardt will pick you out of the crowd, take you backstage, and show you his healthcare reform policy.

"Man is by nature a political animal." - Aristotle, The Politics

It should come as no surprise to anyone that politics took weblogs out of the realm of geekdom. Everyone has political views, to one degree or another, and the ability to air those views using weblogs was bound to happen. Remember that the personal is political. That finally gave the media something to cover about weblogs that didn't have to do with technology. Even some of the earliest bloggers can't resist the temptation to offer up their own $.02 on various political issues. Now the presidential candidates are running their own pseudo-blogs.

"Politics is supposed to be the second-oldest profession. I have come to realize that it bears a very close resemblance to the first." - Ronald Reagan

But when the these candidates and their pseudo-blogs don't meet your expectations do not be forlorn. Elections are popularity contests. The most popular candidate wins, not necessarily the best one. At the moment these campaigns need as many early adopters as possible to help spread the word. (That means you.) Eventually the candidates are going to do something, say something, or be accused of something that makes you feel dirty for having been in bed with them. Their hope is that you're still going to want to be part of the popular crowd come election day.