Politics and Technology, the blog from our friends over at Mandate Media, posted yesterday about a campaign blog that is "doing it right" — none other than the great people at the Chris Bell campaign for Texas governor. According to Kari Chisholm, The New Mainstream blog features writing that is "smart and punchy, with plenty of links to external sites, and occasionally funny." It is, in short, everything a campaign blog should be.

I would love to say that we taught the Bell campaign everything they know, that they have wallpapered their offices with our "Best Practices for Being a Successful Blogger" and that they call us daily for fresh new ideas. And they might even tell you that's the secret to their success if you asked, because they're such nice people. more

I have found two very cool sites in the last few days that have monoplized a good amount of my time - so if I owe you a phone call or something, apologies.

The first is http://maps.huge.info, a site based on Google Maps that allows you to click on any region to find out the zip code that it belongs to. No more searching the US Postal Service site for a zip code look-up, no more asking around the office if anyone knows the zip code for some random neighborhood in upstate New York. (Although Emily probably does, she is smart that way...) Whether you "throw a dart" at the map on the site, or search for a specific zip code area, beware - it is totally addictive. more

There was a buzz around the EchoDitto office yesterday when Tom DeLay was indicted by a Texas grand jury on one count of conspiring to violate Texas state campaign finance law.

There would have been a buzz for us in this office about DeLay no matter what, but we were all the more interested in the news because of our work on Rep. Chris Bell's campaign for Texas governor. Chris Bell is the guy who filed the original ethics complaint against Tom DeLay last year, breaking a seven-year "ethics truce" in Congress and helping lay the groundwork for the events which have unfolded since. more

As Hurricane Katrina slams into the Gulf Coast states, our thoughts are with those living in and around the area.

There are several blogs out there keeping up to date with what is happening with Katrina. CNN's Miles O'Brien has a "blog," although with no comments and no RSS feed, it's more like a story about the hurricane that he just keeps updating — sort of like what they do on the air anyhow. Still, it is somewhat interesting to get a behind-the-scenes look at a network's coverage of something like this. more

Believe it or not, not all stories about oil these days are in areas where the U.S. has troops. Chevron is being sued by a group of villagers in Nigeria who claim that the oil company is behind an attack on two of their villages in January 1999 which killed several villagers and burned the villages to the ground. For years Chevron has denied the claims.

Hard to prove you say? Yeah, about that. A new document has been found that shows a receipt for the attacks with the description: "Services carried out by Capt. [redacted] and 22 Soldiers whom left from Escravos/Madangho to [illegible] attacks from Opia village". Way to go Chevron. more

I was delighted this morning to receive an email about D.C. Mayor Anthony Williams' new blog. It launched on Monday and has one entry and eight comments so far, from D.C. residents and one from as far away as Wisconsin. Most of the comments are asking the Mayor questions about particular issues they are concerned about in D.C., but some are just fun like the one that asks: "What is your favorite bottle of wine and where is it produced?"

The first entry from the Mayor assures readers that the views expressed really are his, and the tone of the entry sure makes me think he at least wrote it, if he didn't actually physically post it. I wish more officeholders would get into blogging — it is such a natural and easy way to touch base with constituents and make them feel like they are being heard. more

It takes a lot to get someone like me to stop and read an email from the many mailing lists I'm on. Even if the subject line is interesting, my work moves at broadband speed and I usually just don't have the time. But today, for the first time in a long time, I read an email from beginning to end. It was an email from Elizabeth Edwards expressing her support for Cindy Sheehan and her efforts to meet with President Bush in Texas.

What was remarkable about it was the fact that Mrs. Edwards drew parallels to her own son, Wade, who died in a car accident on April 4, 1996 -- exactly eight years earlier than Casey Sheehan, who died on April 4, 2004. As someone who followed the 2004 presidential election closely, I know that the Edwards family are intensely private about Wade, his death and their grief. I saw John Edwards on more than one occasion decline to discuss his son in interviews in 2004, so this email really made me stop what I was doing and read. more

On my "What I've Been Reading Lately" list is the book The Working Poor, by David Shipler. From the description of the book on Amazon.com:

The Working Poor examines the "forgotten America" where "millions live in the shadow of prosperity, in the twilight between poverty and well-being." These are citizens for whom the American Dream is out of reach despite their willingness to work hard. Struggling to simply survive, they live so close to the edge of poverty that a minor obstacle, such as a car breakdown or a temporary illness, can lead to a downward financial spiral that can prove impossible to reverse.

It has been an amazing book to read, packed with stories of real people trying to survive day-to-day life in America, discussions of the multi-layered challenges they face and lots of good statistics I can throw out during dinner with my Republican brother-in-law. more

Wow. Just left the main ballroom at the Take Back America conference, where Bill Moyers was the opening speaker for todays plenary sessions. He showed a segment from one of his shows, so the lights were dimmed, which meant no one could see me on the verge of tears at several points in his speech.

Mr. Moyers gave a wonderful, impassioned speech about the wealth inequity in this country, the "mugging of the American dream" and how the Republicans are keeping it that way. He called America a "nation wired for everything but the truth" and outlined for us the ways in the which the Republicans are back - "with a lock on all branches of government and most of the media". more