Bloggers on Dean Payroll Part of Long Dem History

[MtnBiker]

Friday, Jan. 14, 2005 7:13 a.m. EST
Bloggers on Dean Payroll Part of Long Dem History

In a deal reminiscent of Armstrong Williams' arrangement with the Bush administration, Howard Dean's presidential campaign has admitted that it paid two pro-Democrat Internet bloggers to keep them from supporting other candidates.

The two bloggers hired by the former Vermont governor were Jerome Armstrong, who publishes the blog MyDD, and Markos Zuniga, who publishes the popular DailyKos, the Wall Street Journal reported on Friday. They were paid $3,000 a month for four months.

During the presidential campaign, the DailyKos received as many as 1 million hits daily.
The deal was revealed earlier this week by Zephyr Teachout, the former head of Internet outreach for the Dean campaign, on her own Web log, Zonkette.

While Armstrong and Zuniga never expressly committed to support Dean in exchange for the cash, Teachout explained that favorable coverage "was very clearly, internally, our goal."

While Mr. Williams' arrangement was relatively unparalleled in GOP circles, the Democratic Party has a long history of cozying up to journalists, trading favors and bankrolling media operations in the expectation of positive media coverage.

As NewsMax recounted yesterday, celebrated liberal talk radio host Ed Schultz confessed to the "Today" show last January that his network was bankrolled by $2 million in donations from Democrats.

Al Franken's Air America radio network has a similar financial arrangement with party fat cats.

Liberal Democrat donor Sheldon Drobny founded Franken's network, sold it and then helped raise money when the original management was ousted.

Full story

 

[Annie]

I'm just shocked! Who would have figured that one out? Kos actually said in the summer, 2003, that he was 'consulting' with them, and was being paid a nominal fee-wasn't that he was being paid to put out Dean's message, right.

 

[MtnBiker]

Didn't Dean raise alot of cash from the internet? Quite a system they had going.

 

[Annie]

Didn't Dean raise alot of cash from the internet? Quite a system they had going.

He sure did, everyone else tried to 'catch up' GW did the best.

 

[Avatar4321]

Didn't Dean raise alot of cash from the internet? Quite a system they had going.

See my question about the online fundraising has always been this...How on earth can they verify that its Americans donating that money? I mean it seems like a convient way to get red chinese dollars into the American political system. I havent heard anything about the safeguards of this process.