This is hardly news to those familiar with the dynamics of the blogosphere .. and increasingly as the capabilities of blogs become easier to use and their uses expand in reach and scope, their impact is evolving.

Two recent interesting and pertinent areas in which blogs are proving to be responsive and have significant impact are:

1. the recent nomination of John Roberts as a potential replacement on the Supreme court of the USA (SCOTUS) following the resignation of Sandra Day O'Connor, and

2. the mounting evidence that Karl Rove was a central participant in the outing of CIA covert agent Valerie Plame and parallel efforts to smear her husband Ambassador Joseph Wilson after he publicly questioned the veracity and wisdom of the Bush Administration's claims that Saddam Hussein attempted to procure yellowcake uranium from Niger in the late '90's or early 2000's.


In the first case, a significant number of serious blogs were constructed - by lawyers, legal and political analysts and partisan supporters from both the right-wing and left-wing - and they jumped into action. They pushed back against the seemingly purposeful distraction, leaked by the White House, of the probable nomination of Edith Clements, followed by the actual nomination of Roberts.

These blogs also began a disciplined and methodical examination of his experience, his decisions as a circuit court judge, and parsed the various explanations offered by the White House as to its political strategy in choosing such an inexperienced judge. the white House is countering this action with television ads portraying Roberts as a flawless, family-loving and righteous candidate.

Leading examples are SCOTUSblog, The Supreme Court Nomination Blog, and Supreme Court Watch ... all three of these and a number of others have been discovered almost immediately (mainly because they have been developed by people (bloggers) who already operate widely read blogs).

In the second case, of course there has been a significant amount of blogging activity focused on political discourse for quite some timne now. But there has also been a clear and dedicated focus in the blogosphere on keeping a certain amount of close attention on the developing scandal which revolves around Karl Rove's potential indictment on criminal charges for breaking US laws.

Some of the widely read blogs which continue to work at piercing through much of the disinformation and spin that is accompanying the evolution of this issue are the Whiskey Bar (Free Thinking in a Dirty Glass), Josh Marshall's Talking Points Memo, and Hullabaloo.

This is just the most recent example of widespread evidence that thoughtful, informative, charismatic and well-written blogs are having a growing impact on mainstream journalism, mainstream media, the political dynamics of a fractious country, and the ways that business is coming to terms with an interactive environment full of demanding and informed customers.

There are increasingly numerous examples of what has come to be called "citizen media" springing up everywhere, and new advertising real estate is being created based on the growing attraction of peoples' attention, right and left, and around the globe.

Advertisors are paying more and more attention, and the opportunities are growing rapidly for new tools and services that empower individuals and help them participate actively in this emerging environment.

.