Adventures in Mayoral Blogging

So, as I'm watching this whole mayoral campaign unfold, I'm wondering: why do people voice their opinions on things like blogs or letters to the editor? Is it to support something or to rail against something else? And it even got me thinking: why do I blog?

My friend Brad Swenson is running for mayor and someone posted a comment on a local blog here about the election. It said: "That Swenson reminds me of everything I hate about people." That's it. What does that mean? What would compel someone to write something like that? What does it accomplish?

Is political blogging like talk radio where the extremists are the ones who call/write in and the masses just listen? Or do the masses tune out and remain uninvolved?

And then I wonder what the most effective response is as it relates to traditional politics. Is it possible to remain on the high road and get elected or does winning an election mean you have to get in the mud with everyone else? What do presidential campaigns tell us?

I've never been interested in the politics of politics, so I don't know. The only candidate I remember being really interested in was Paul Tsongas because he had a very different attitude about the game of politics (read a little about him here).

You can see what I wrote and what others are writing here in Fargo on Fargo Maven.