Where Utah Democrats Rule
Utah may have a few influential Republican bloggers, such as state Rep. Steve Urquhart and the Senate Site, but the blogosphere at this point is a Democratic haven.
Yes, even in Utah.
The first Utah Bloggers conference took place at the Sandy campus of the Salt Lake Community College last night and more than 120 people attended.
Republican state Reps. Craig Franks and Greg Hughes sat way in the back trying to learn how to blog, while state Democratic Party Vice Chairman Rob Miller and Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidate Christian Burridge (both bloggers) sat front and center.
But it was Pete Ashdown, the Democrat challenging Orrin Hatch, who stole the show.
He presented along with a group of primarily business and tech bloggers.
Ashdown writes lengthy blog items on his campaign Web site, pashdown.com,
some about politics, some about how his campaign motor home broke down again.
He not only received some healthy applause from the obviously left-leaning group, but a few chuckles by agreeing with a participant that raising money online can be difficult, even for a political campaign.
"When you talk about earning 23 cents a day, I can relate to that absolutely," he said.
-- Matt Canham
Yes, even in Utah.
The first Utah Bloggers conference took place at the Sandy campus of the Salt Lake Community College last night and more than 120 people attended.
Republican state Reps. Craig Franks and Greg Hughes sat way in the back trying to learn how to blog, while state Democratic Party Vice Chairman Rob Miller and Democratic 3rd Congressional District candidate Christian Burridge (both bloggers) sat front and center.
But it was Pete Ashdown, the Democrat challenging Orrin Hatch, who stole the show.
He presented along with a group of primarily business and tech bloggers.
Ashdown writes lengthy blog items on his campaign Web site, pashdown.com,
some about politics, some about how his campaign motor home broke down again.
He not only received some healthy applause from the obviously left-leaning group, but a few chuckles by agreeing with a participant that raising money online can be difficult, even for a political campaign.
"When you talk about earning 23 cents a day, I can relate to that absolutely," he said.
-- Matt Canham
9:06 AM
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6 Comments:
Hey Matt, glad you came to our conference! I may be wrong, but I don't think that the support you saw for Pete was due to a 'left leaning' audience so much as it was a technologist audience. Pete is a technology champion and technologists consider Orrin Hatch to pretty much be an enemy of technology - even though he claims the opposite. Pete has a huge tech following and that is where a lot of his support is coming from. I myself am a strong conservative and I just might vote for Pete - it'd be a vote AGAINST Hatch, but I'm not firm on that yet.
Stole the show? I thought Pete was surprisingly quiet up there for a guy running for office.
You should have asked more questions Charley. :-)
I think that politicians that yammer on and on and don't answer the question are annoying. I'd rather get to the point and move on.
Moving on...
Matt, it was good to see you at the Utah Bloggers Conference (sitting RIGHT of front center since location seems to be important at these events). I enjoyed the conversation with the gang of democrats I was sharing a table with in the back of the capacity meeting hall at the Larry Miller Entrepreneur Center (SLCC). Long-time blogger Jesse Nix was very helpful to answer my elementary inquiries regarding the intricate environment of the blogosphere. (He, too, was sitting in the back.)
Ryan Money (HireVue) also offered helpful, seasoned advice about what a novice needs to look for when getting started in the world of blogging.
Thanks to all those who organized this technical (and social) forum for their efforts to get the word out. I felt my time was well spent and look forward to our meeting in six months. Maybe I'll try to sit closer to the MIDDLE next time.
I was really glad to see just how many UT bloggers were willing to turn out. Events like this are never sold on the panel but on the ability to network and meet. For my four blogs worth, I thought it was a great event for a first try.
Thanks for covering this. I didn't know it was left leaning but I'm not complaining. I'm in Utah Valley where as I say there is only one Starbucks and about that many democrats.
All I can say is bloggers tend to be opinionated, open-minded and smart too!
Going to link to your story on my blog now...going to the conference has set new records in my blog traffic.
Janet
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