By: Dave Astor The Lone Star Iconoclast's Web site had more than 10,500 visitors as of 10:30 this morning -- up tremendously from about 250 visitors on a typical day. That's because today's "Doonesbury" listed the URL of the now-famous Kerry endorsement published by President Bush's hometown weekly.
"I'm glad more people are reading the editorial who wouldn't have read it otherwise," Iconoclast Editor-in-Chief W. Leon Smith told E&P, adding that today's 10,500-plus figure is from just one of the site's three servers.
Its endorsement of Kerry brought the Iconoclast worldwide publicity as well as all kinds of condemnation and praise.
Smith said several hundred people in or near Crawford, Texas, canceled their subscriptions after the editorial ran. But a few locals started subscriptions, and many other people from throughout the country signed up for mail subscriptions. The net result is 747 Iconoclast subscribers as of this week vs. 920 from before the editorial, according to Smith. But as much as the Iconoclast welcomes out-of-town readers, Smith noted that local advertisers prefer local readers who can patronize their businesses.
Actually, many local businesses pulled their advertising either to protest the paper's editorial or because of pressure from other businesses or residents. Different advertisers -- including ones congratulating the Iconoclast on its courage -- have arrived to pick up the slack, at least temporarily. Some of the new ads are running on the Iconoclast's Web site, which is now being read by thousands of people from all over.
Smith has also received about 3,200 e-mails, many from out of town, since the editorial. He said the e-mails initially ran about 80/20 in favor of the editorial and have lately been supportive by more than a 90/10 margin.
As is well-known, the Iconoclast had endorsed Bush in 2000. "When he was governor of Texas," said Smith, "I didn't support everything he did. But he was a uniter and not a divider. He hasn't done that as president."
"Doonesbury" is nearing the end of an Oct. 11-16 sequence in which it publishes a new URL every day. Each Web address steers readers to a piece critical of Bush and his policies from a writer or source that might have been expected to support the president.
Garry Trudeau's comic appears in about 1,400 newspapers via Universal Press Syndicate.
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