Other articles by Daniel Scarpinato:

Political Notebook by Daniel Scarpinato : Little fraud is seen in attempts to vote twice Bee portrays Giffords as soft on immigration Political Notebook by Daniel Scarpinato : Backstage drama adds some spice in Dist. 26 Giffords, Bee on $700B package: She backed it; he wouldn't have US Dems assail Bee over brother's school buses Ballot issue on marriage still a hot button Giffords, Bee trade barbs in Sierra Vista Political Notebook by Daniel Scarpinato : Ariz. dodges much of the mud being slung on TV Political Notebook by Daniel Scarpinato : As Giffords takes break, Bee ellipses cause a stir Some ads misleading in Bee-Giffords race

Finance and Accounting
Patient Financial Coordinator Construction
ROR Construction
Residential Framing Carpenters Customer Service
LA Z BOY
CUSTOMER SERVICE REPRESENTATIVES Health Care
PATIENT COORDINATOR Health Care
Children's Pulmonary Specialist
MA/Peds Specailty Ofc Trades/Construction
CIMETTA ENGINEERING
WELDERS Sales and Marketing
Everready Glass
Glass Sales

Call it moonlighting.

By day, Michael Bryan is an attorney. But nights and weekends, you'll usually find him hanging out at political events and public meetings.

He's a blogger, and since launching "Blog for Arizona" in 2003, Bryan has watched the practice go from being viewed as a "marginal, cranky kind of thing to do" to being just another way for people to get their news.

"I'm treated like a journalist by most people I talk to who know I have a blog," said Bryan, a Democrat who isn't shy about showing up at Republican events. "They'll actually say, 'Well, is this off the record now.' That's something you do with a journalist."

This isn't the first election in which bloggers like Bryan have played a role, but there are signs their influence is growing.

In Southern Arizona, bloggers are now coming out from behind the safety of the computer screen — running for office and being hired by campaigns.

Arizona Sen. John McCain has said that if elected president, he'll communicate directly with bloggers to send his message to the masses. Last month, the Democratic Party announced it will be giving bloggers credentials at its summer convention.

And on issue after issue — whether it's teachers having their students say the Pledge of Allegiance in other languages or votes taken by members of Congress — local bloggers are taking an aggressive role in circulating information in a faster and sometimes riskier way than ever before.

Though they might sometimes find the unfiltered nature of the Internet an annoyance, politicians and campaigns say the phenomenon cannot be ignored. And bloggers argue that with thousands of hits a day, they are not a fringe voice.

"It's become a much more acceptable, or even necessary, channel of communication in politics," said Bryan, who has used his blog to take members of his own party to task. "A lot more operatives are seeing that blogging is a vital tool for communicating with constituents."

Likewise, Democratic blogger Ted Prezelski — proprietor of "Rum, Romanism and Rebellion" — has seen his blog become one of the most recognized in the state since starting it in 2005. The Washington Post recently named it the top blog in Arizona, and Prezelski has been told that Gov. Janet Napolitano even reads it.

But Prezelski, who made an unsuccessful bid for the Legislature in 2006, is careful not to overplay his impact.

"I think there's bloggers out there that think they're a bigger deal than they are," he said. "The blogs that are just some guy spouting about whatever he has a problem with, I don't think those get a lot of readers.

Greg Patterson, a former Republican legislator and author of the blog "Espresso Pundit," is a vocal critic of the mainstream media, which he says consistently ignore issues or cover them inappropriately. It was his blogging about statements on the state's 9/11 memorial that resulted in legislative hearings.

While many bloggers are reluctant to call themselves journalists, Patterson is not.

The media, Patterson says, do "not seem to understand why (they are) dying and don't understand their lack of credibility."

At the other end of the spectrum, Matt Foraker, of the left-leaning blog "Sustainability, Equity and Development," sees himself in a similar watchdog role.

But "I'm not at all complaining against the mainstream media," Foraker says. "It's just they have different rules and they need to play by a different game, and as a result there's areas blogs can go that mainstream media . . . can't as quickly."

However, some think those rules are important.

Kevin R. Kemper, an assistant professor of journalism at the University of Arizona, said that while blogs may have influenced the mainstream media, the battle for readership will be won by those who provide credible — not just fast — information.

"There are some blogs that put out credible information on a regular basis. There are some blogs that publish crap, and readers tire of crap," said Kemper, who will teach an opinion-writing class this summer that incorporates blog writing. "They want solid, meaty, credible, trustworthy information."

And Kemper contends that traditional media are in a better position to deliver that.

Local bloggers say they are respectful of the facts.

Republican Trent Humph-ries, who is running for the Legislature this year, started his blog during the 2006 race for retiring U.S. Rep. Jim Kolbe's seat.

"We're just like reporters. We have a brand, and if we abuse that brand, if we go forth and do hit pieces on people that aren't warranted, that hurts our brand, too," Humphries said.

But many still see blogs as an underground form of expression, and one that gets attention only from those who are politically involved.

But Bryan says it's not an issue of how many people are reading them — it's who is reading them.

"Journalists read the blogs. Political activists read the blogs. Politicians read the blogs," Bryan said. "While we may have a smaller readership than the daily newspaper, the people who are reading it are who make it influential."

On StarNet: View the blog by Daniel Scarpinato as he keeps Tucsonans abreast of all the happenings around the political scene at go.azstarnet.com/politicalblog.