Blogs Just Won't Die - To the Chagrin of Politicians

After the 2004 elections, which John Kerry lost only because of blogging (to hear him talk about it), the "experts" predicted the demise of the blogger. The blog pheonomenon was over.

But, it ain't happenin' - at least, not yet. In fact, in Michigan, blogging is still "ruining" lifer-politician careers.

A blog brought him down.

It still hurts, three years later.

The relentless criticism of Dante Lanzetta on a gadfly Web site forced him to spend more than $25,000 righting his name after he suffered through what he calls outright lies about his record as Birmingham's longest-serving city commissioner. He believes the blog is the reason for his failure to be re-elected in 2003.

That's a lot of influence for a single Web site...

And, they're popular.

Bhambuzz.org founder Clinton Baller, Lanzetta's nemesis a few years back, said 2,000 people are registered on the site, entitling them to post comments and reply to others. He said that since early 2005, the blog has attracted nearly 410,780 visits.