So in politicians’ blogging, it’s transparency, transparency, transparency? I don’t know. I like being able to get thoughts on what’s going on in the “inside” too, but it also is very important to me as a consituent to know more about you as a person, honestly.

In fact, I like the idea of my legislator blogging about their ideas on bills—why they’re good or bad, whether you agree with their intent or not, and how you might improve upon them. But just as interesting can be the personal tidbits that give us a window into people.

I do love the idea of legislator blogging transparency because it does give regular citizens much more access to understanding that they really do have the power within their hands to engage with their legislators on matters important to themselves, and ultimately, affect a change. That is the name of the game, after all, isn’t it?

But I’m not sold that most people don’t already have that access. I think they may just not know that they do. Perhaps, in that sense, the best thing about legislators blogging is that it widens the audience of constituents who have a window into their lives as legislators, and invites their concerns.

What doesn’t work sometimes? I think you guys are too busy legislator to quench the thirst of those who are hungry for more access to what goes on in Richmond. That’s why I also support a “Virginia C-Span” and why I loved the Assembly Access blog this year. There just wasn’t enough material on the subjects I’m interested in on the blogs to satisfy my thirst for this stuff though….

In any case, thanks for leading the way, Kris!

But that brings us to the heart of the matter for all writers, bloggers, journalists, novelists and otherwise: selecting your target audience? Are you writing for the chair of the 4th Congressional District Republican Committee and other political junkies who get excited by nuts and bolts? Are you writing just to your constituents? Or are you writing to a broader audience?

If you want to write to a broader audience, I would reiterate what others have said here already: show your human side. Help show the humanity in the process behind the nuts and bolts. The media tends to highlight the bickering, the back and forth, us-versus-them mentality, and a lot of people I know think that’s all politics is. I think a blog is a great way to publicize the unreported moments of decency, honesty, integrity, and civility.

Many politicians have said that the biggest legislative problem facing Virginia this session was the transportation crisis; I would argue that the larger-looming problem is that so many of us have a very negative impression of our legislators and the legislative process that goes into crafting our policy and laws. Were I an elected official, I would think that the best use of a blog would be to reach out towards that disaffected audience and encourage them to take an active interest in politics again by providing greater transparency into the humanity of legislative process.

Showing your human side (even not always talking about politics (gasp); your blog does a good job of this by the way)

actively engaging comments in a timely fashion (doesn’t have to be immediate but within 48 hours is good)

explaining why you support a particular issue or why you voted a certain way

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What doesn’t work

Having it as an extenstion of your campaign. (i.e. vanilla scripted posts, deleting or not responding to comments that do not support your “agenda”

Only updating sparingly (in my humble opinion for blogs to work they should be updated at least once a week)

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As far as keeping things civil. I think its a combination of good posts and good comments. I think the civil discourse starts with the blogger. If the blogger doesn’t use personal attacks or half-truths in their postings then naturally the comments will be more civil as well.

Note you can still post controversial topics but you need to do so in a mature adult manor and back up your points with facts instead of empty partisan rhetoric

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Enjoy the conference