Chuck Strahl started blogging at the kickoff of the campaign and so far, it’s one of the best MP blogs out there. The primary reason for an MP/candidate blog is to connect the representative with the constituents.
A poor politician blog will issue press releases anonymously and be devoid of any other content.
A half-assed political blog will be written by a committee (usually the candidate’s campaign team) and may occasionally include a short entry from the candidate themselves (but how are we to know the true identity of the author, we’ve already been let down by the committee blogging style).
A good blog is one that is directly written by the candidate and details issues that are important to consituents on a semi-frequent basis.
An excellent blog is one that does all of the things that a good blog does, however, does it on a more frequent basis (preferably daily). Also, while political details are also interesting, an excellent blog will humanize its author by describing his preference for Tim Hortons over Starbucks, will detail a personal and emotional moment related to the job, or will discuss other topics such as sports. A politician is a representative of the people. They should be a real part of the community and should relate to as many constituents as possible (takes the kids to early morning hockey practice, drinks Tim Horton’s coffee, scrapes the ice off the car windows etc.)
Strahl has been blogging for a week now and he already gets it. Keep up the good fight Chuck and be sure to blog about it.