Fitting right in at political conventions

"He has treated us as though we were NBC," said Hayes, who was happy to land a second credential at the last minute for a colleague, David Jones. He can't bring everyone who writes for bloggernews.net since he has at least 80 regular contributors: "Anyone who can write a sentence is welcome to blog the news."

Hayes, who'll drive the 60 miles from his home in Colorado Springs to attend this week's event in Denver, thinks many bloggers will bring a sharper focus to the coverage. "A blogger who writes about farming will ask delegates about farm policy," he said. "You'll never get that with the mainstream media because they're always focused on the horse race."

Live blogging during the speeches will become one of the most prominent features the new media will bring into American homes these next two weeks, he and others said.

"It's like when you sit on the couch with your friends watching and making jokes, but there are only four of you," he said. "With a blog, there are 4,000 or 40,000 talking about the implications as things are being said."

online To see an archive of Andrew Ratner's columns, go to baltimoresun.com/onblogs