Monday, April 17, 2006

MTB Is Blowing Up

Meet the Bloggers made its first mainstream media jump this weekend with a feature story in the Lorain Morning Journal (tip to Scott for alerting us all.) The writer, Alex Parker, did most of this thing right. A beat writer on the Ohio 13 race this year, he saw the chatter on the blogs and decided to investigate. He interviewed the bloggers writing on the race, including Redhorse, Scott and yours truly, learned about MTB, and interviewed George, Tim and I believe Bill. This past Saturday he attended the Tom Sawyer session. He interviewed Sawyer about the experience and Foltin about why he won’t sit down with us. Anyone following the growth of blogs in shear numbers and influence should read the story.

It’s always amusing to be inside a story and see the little goofs. For the record, Brewed Fresh Daily is Cleveland-based, Momus was closed for Easter weekend and opened specially for MTB and I’m a newbie at education advocacy, not a veteran. I wonder if George accidentally got his first name wrong or if it’s a sly comment on the minor errors.

For someone who has been honking about MTB, this moment brings a satisfactory glow. I only hope some of the other MSM outlets follow suit and give us some ink. More than that, I hope they use the interviews to research election stories. The truly great moment will come when some part of the Q&A breaks mainstream, and helps inform the broader electorate about a candidate, for good or ill. That’s ultimately what we’re in it for.

That’s what we’re it in for, but we don’t mind the possibility of making a little money in the process. After all, we’re not Communists. To that end, George and Tim are putting together a Meet the Bloggers ad network. The Pages will be participating along with many, many other state blogs, so you will probably be seeing some ads somewhere. I never, I mean never, imagined I’d make a dime off this thing, so the actual take can be pretty modest and still exceed expectations. They are looking to make it as big as they can, so if you have a blog and are interested in participating, contact George through BFD. MTB also has sporty new logo.

Isn’t this a great time to be alive? It just seems like the possibilities of this new technology are endless and nothing can spoil . . . Oh Bill! Way to throw a wet blanket on things.

Meanwhile, I’m completely verklempt over how to write up the Tom Sawyer interview. I need a moment. Tom Sawyer or Becky Thatcher for Congress – discuss.

4 comments:

George Nemeth said...

Wouldn't it be great if I was that clever?

Anonymous said...

why do so many Dem candidates in Summit County drive foreign cars?

Judy Hanna - Volkwagen

Kevin Griffith - Volvo (probably not his since he has no income and still gets an allowance)

Steve Dyer - Mitsubishi and Toyota

Nice of them to support our American automakers and local workers!

Scott Piepho said...

Interesting question, A. You might want to ask them about it since I have no idea. If, as if appears, you are asking a tendentiously pro-Cafaro question, I would point out that the examples you cite actually undermine the case for CC's SAW program. Of the four brands you list, at least three: VW, Volvo and Toyota -- are priced higher than comparably-equipped American models. They are more popular because they are better cars. They are better cars because they are better engineered. Because the American companies stopped sinking money into R&D when they decided in the nineties that they could just ride the SUV gravy train forever. Ooops.

If you want me to defend these guys, I won't. This isn't the Democrats Do Everything Right Always Blog. I can't really think of a blog like that, though I can point out plenty of Republicans Do Everything Right Always blogs. And if you want a Unions Do Everything Right Always Blog, look here.

Scott Piepho said...

Interesting question, A. You might want to ask them about it since I have no idea. If, as if appears, you are asking a tendentiously pro-Cafaro question, I would point out that the examples you cite actually undermine the case for CC's SAW program. Of the four brands you list, at least three: VW, Volvo and Toyota -- are priced higher than comparably-equipped American models. They are more popular because they are better cars. They are better cars because they are better engineered. Because the American companies stopped sinking money into R&D when they decided in the nineties that they could just ride the SUV gravy train forever. Ooops.

If you want me to defend these guys, I won't. This isn't the Democrats Do Everything Right Always Blog. I can't really think of a blog like that, though I can point out plenty of Republicans Do Everything Right Always blogs. And if you want a Unions Do Everything Right Always Blog, look here.