That's where
comes in.
The right-wing conservative blogosphere knows the importance of local blogging. If you haven't read it yet, then you need to read Chris Bowers and Mat Stoller's The Emergence of the Progressive Blogosphere. Pay especial attention to the parts where they discuss the right-wing advantage at the local blog level here and here.
Conservative Advantages:
1) Local focus. Conservative blogs are more likely to take a local focus than progressive blogs, and to create strong, local blog rings.
When I started a local non-personal group blog (
SoapBlox/Chicago) with the intention of providing a place for local bloggers to share discussions on a quality software platform like the one here at dKos, I did so because I knew that there were a lot of good, local, progressive bloggers covering the scene where I live. It was a brave idealism that overlooked the natural tendancy we all possess called pride of accomplishment. The bloggers who were the best wanted rightly to stay with their "own" blogs. Actually we see the same thing here at dKos, only in reverse. If you become famous and popular here then you tend to want to create your own blog.
My own personal motives in starting the blog were not to get my own writing out to an audience, but instead to have one easy place to see all my favorite local bloggers and to stay connected locally. Luckily Lefty Blogs has stepped in to fill that need. I now have one easy link to a summary of what every local progressive blogger is writing and easy connections from there to the full article.
I am promoting Lefty Blogs here because, as a progressive blog consumer, it is filling a hole in our blogosphere that if we fail to address it, we will not be able to become the effective counter to the SCLM, MSM, "right-wing noise machine" that we need to become in order to move our progressive adgenda forward.
Everyone here at dKos needs to have a local component in their blog diet. If you are not paying attention to your local scene, then you risk becoming a marginalized member of the progressive community. We can't afford that. We all need to be players at all levels.