via Workbench

New York Gov. Eliot Spitzer appears to have begun legal proceedings to take the domain names eliotspitzer.com and eliotspitzer.org away from Eric Keller, a New Jersey online candy retailer who registered them in 2001.

A Uniform Domain Name Dispute Resolution Policy (UDRP) arbitration began today regarding the domains at the National Arbitration Forum. Arbitrators will decide whether the domains were registered and used in bad faith, whether Keller has legitimate rights in the names, and whether Spitzer has used his name as a trademark in commerce. He must prevail on all three to take the domains.

Gotta love the intersection of politics and public relations - especially when sprinkled with an ever so subtle hint of desperation. Yesterday, former New York Governor George Pataki lobbed this Hail Mary in an attempt to further his quest for the White House:

Governor Pataki, breaking ranks with President Bush and the front-runners for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination, says he opposes the president's plan to send more than 20,000 additional American troops to Iraq.

I fear that, not unlike the political establishment(s) covered by the political blogosphere, much of what political bloggers do appeals only to the very tiny head of the political curve.

Question is, is there a way to appeal to the much larger tail?

It is my perception (and experience) that while the political blogosphere has succeeded in amping up the oversight function, it hasn't succeeded in actually making politics that much more meaningful and accessible to the "everyday Jane and Joe".

WSJ, Opinion Journal: On Blogging Fools & Imbeciles

E-Media Tidbits: Asian Connectivity: Earthquake Shaken, But Not Stirred

Lost Remote: Newspaper Companies: 50% Off

MicroPersuasion: All The Rage: NOT Pageviews

...So says Mark Potts, a journalist in recovery.

With one-and-a-half exceptions, can't say I disagree with Mark about the Washington Post's latest reshuffling.

First, the half: clearly, the folks at the WashPo have a very good sense that something's a foot; which is to say that they're not living in a complete state of denial. That's a positive!

The folks from the Personal Democracy Forum asked me this question:

[With the 2006 mid-term elections behind us, we asked a distinguished group of technologists, politicos, bloggers, and journalists to respond to the following questions: Was the role of technology in politics different in 2006 than in 2004? How did new technology most affect Election 2006, and do you see any lessons for 2008?]

And so, I gave them this answer (3rd one down).

So, I've been meaning to write a few thoughts about this LunchBox thing for a while... but have been otherwise disposed.

Last month, Room Eight (my utha blog) launched this daily 3-minute satirical vlogcast about New York politics (aka LunchBox). Not only did it mark my foray into the vlogosphere but separately, also proved to be quite a departure from Room Eight's standard, more insiderish fare.