Our latest straw poll has not only spark the interested in over 9,000 voters in the blogosphere, but it also has caught the eyes of some our counterparts on the left.

The following observation come from American Prospect.

This straw poll of Republican bloggers [...] reminded me of this and of just how different Republican bloggers are from the mainstream of the Republican Party. There's been a surge of support among Republican bloggers for Newt Gingrich, and whereas a recent Iowa poll showed Rudy Giuliani and John McCain to be the two strongest potential candidates at this early date, the bloggers back Giuliani, Gingrich, and Mitt Romney as their top three. Are GOP bloggers an early-warning system for Republican candidates in the same way they are for Democrats? Does McCain have the same blogger-outreach, party-activist problems as Clinton? Only time will tell, but it is interesting to see that it's not just Democratic bloggers who differ from their party's mainstream on '08 candidates.

I've believed for some time that bloggers can be a good indicator of who can will be favored in primary elections. Political bloggers have an active interest in politics (obviously) and are like to be primary voters. The general public however, a much smaller percentage are likely to vote in a primary. Naturally, the way bloggers lean will be a fair good indicator of how primary voters will swing.

The key difference I see between the conservative and liberal bloggers is that liberal bloggers are much more out of the mainstream and seek more direct control and influence over their party. Their effectiveness in raising money for liberal Democrat candidates has certainly increased their influence and had some impact on the Democratic Party's recent shift further to the left.

Conservative bloggers, while less effective as fundraisers for the Republican Party, help promote the conservative message and act as an alternative to the liberal media.

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