By: Joe Strupp The New York Times' popular political blog, "The Caucus," which regularly ranks first among its 40 blogs, has been opening itself up to posts from non-journalists in recent weeks, first to college students via a Harvard program and today to voters nationwide.
"We?re starting a new feature today, called the Open Caucus ? a roundtable of people from different parts of the country who will join us now and then in online conversations about the 2008 presidential campaign, the candidates and the issues," Full-time Times blogger Kate Philips writes in an online note Thursday. "They hail from places far and wide; Arizona, Tennessee, Oklahoma, Missouri, Michigan, Ohio, Florida, North Carolina, Maryland, Indiana, Georgia and California.
"Most of them say they haven?t decided which candidate they will ultimately choose in the presidential race; some list themselves as independent in terms of party affiliation, a few are Republicans, and a few are Democrats," she adds. "Some concede that they vote across party lines from election to election."
Open Caucus comes two weeks after the Web site began a program with Harvard's Institute of Politics, titled: "Campus Voices."
The premise of both appears to be aimed at getting non-reporter's views on to the blog as the primaries near. The Times is posting questions for each and letting their answers be know.
The campus version began after the last Democratic candidates' debate in late October, in which students posted their observations to the blog.
"We put it up first and they feature it on their site," Phillips told E&P about the campus project. "We were asked if we would be a limited partner. I would like to get more campus and student voices involved."
The latest piece of the puzzle, "Open Caucus," launched today.
The first topic: "If you had the presidential candidates in your living room for 15 minutes, what issue would you most want them to discuss and why is that important to you?"
Among the answers:
? "I would want to hear how each candidate proposes to fix our nation?s health care so that every person, no matter what age, race, religion, or gender can be treated effectively when it matters most, doing so with minimum sacrifice to the advancement of medicine for providing ever-increasing quality care."
- Joel Rittenhouse, 21, a pharmacy student at Ohio Northern University in Ada, Ohio.
? "I would most likely ask them about education - funding it on a par with other industrial nations, paying salaries to teachers that are commensurate with other professions, in order that public schools can attract the best and brightest graduates - and keep them in the education system with appropriate salaries of which they can be proud."
- Julie Horwin, 55, an education consultant and retired teacher, Scottsdale, Ariz.
? "Considering the sheer size of the current batch of presidential candidates, my first concern would be 'Do I have enough chairs?' followed closely by 'Will Hillary steal my silverware?' After those initial logistical issues are addressed, I would like very much for the candidates to have a genuinely honest discussion on fiscal philosophy, and on how each one would win the global war on terror."
- John Weiss, a 41-year-old former Marine from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., who served in Operations Desert Storm and Desert Shield.
The blog is found
here
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