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YahooWelcome! Join BlogHer's coverage of Election 2008:
* Show us your vote: Did you take a picture or video of your vote? Post it here - or learn how before you go
* Swing states: If you're from a swing state, we want to hear from you!
* Voter access: If you have trouble at the polls, we want to know about it
Again, welcome -- and thank you. Almost two years ago, when Senators Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton declared their presidential candidacies within one week of each other in January of 2007, women who wrote and read political blogs could expect a mostly male echo-chamber and blood sport on sites where snark reigned and, all too often, misogynism and racism were de rigeur.
Women who blog have changed that. Today, the number of political blogs by women listed in BlogHer's directory has ballooned from 379 to 2,664 since January 2007, and we've watched posts about politics and policy appear on blogs about food, parenting, entertainment -- every other subject. The most-trafficked post on BlogHer.com is about the presidency. Seven of our top ten posts in the past year are on politics and the economy. One of my favorite Twitter posts made during the Republican National Convention sums it up:
Tacomamama on Twitter
i am not a political blogger. i am not a political blogger. i am not a political blogger....runs over to blogher to comment again
11:37 AM September 02, 2008
Women -- the majority of voters since 1964, who have shown up in greater percentages than men since 1980, are a huge factor this year -- online and off. As a community of bloggers, we've interviewed candidates and party leaders, asked their spouses and supporters to share their opinions, debated health care, Iraq and the environment and the economic crisis. We've demanded better treatment of veterans, better treatment of voters and much, much better journalism. We've grappled with identities of gender and race, and gender versus race - and so much racism and misogynism and hate.
The result has pushed BlogHer's community guidelines -- and our contributing editors -- to the limit and occasionally spammed us to the hilt. As someone who has covered presidential campaigns since 1992 and driven home with tears streaming down my face after every single one, (from exhaustion, from the experience, from the sheer human mess of it and occasionally from disappointment), I can tell you: I think this level of emotion about something that matters so much is normal. Heaven help us if we don't care about what we're doing. So many women want this election to unite Americans, to bring us together to solve our problems as a nation. And after this campaign, we want to heal.
So allow me to ask: What did you do today and what will you do tomorrow?
(If you've blogged the experience on your site, please do add a link so we can come read you...)
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Keeping fingers crossed ....
PunditMom November 4, 2008 - 8:15am
For me, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that Obama will win. But since I AM a political mom, it has been so great to see so many women -- whether they consider themselves to be political or not -- to write about their thoughts on issues and candidates. Imagine how many more will feel comfortable doing that in the next presidential election?
And even though I feel like I am coming down with the flu, I am headed out to vote! :)
PunditMom