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“The father of the political blog.”

According to a recent article in the New Yorker, “Amateur Hour – journalism without journalists,” there are currently 12 million bloggers in the United States. Thirty-four per cent of them consider blogging to be a form of journalism.

They’re changing the way news and opinion is created and disseminated. How did this start? Who started it? Why?

Arguably, the first political blog was created in 1998 by Jack McEnany, a veteran journalist and novelist, now living in New Hampshire.

“In 1998 I purchased the URL NHPrimarySource with the idea that I would publish an online newsletter about the NH first-in-the-nation presidential primary”, says McEnany. By the time it was all done, I had 25,000 people reading it every week, huge overage bills from my ISP, an exhausted grayish pallor, and some nasty experiences with hackers and crackers. Sam Smith at The Progressive Review dubbed me “The father of the political blog.”

McEnany is the co-author of Bode Miller’s autobiography, Bode: Go Fast, Be Good, Have Fun, Villard/Random House 2005, and the author of forthcoming “Brush Ape” from St. Martin’s Press.

His work has appeared in The Nation, The Humanist, The Progressive Review, Macleans, Exquisite Corpse, Ski Racing, NBCOlympics.com and he’s a co-recipient of the New England Press Association’s award for commentary.

“I took the 2004 cycle off to write a book, which was infinitely easier. But I’m back. The NHPrimarySource URL is gone (some cyber-squatter in Louisiana scooped it up when I wasn’t paying attention), but that doesn’t matter. The spirit remains the same at LostNation.TV. The technology and design are, however, a far sight better,” according to McEnany.

LostNation.tv offers political news and satire, with an emphasis on the 2008 presidential election and the New Hampshire First in the Nation Presidential Primary. Original political cartoons and stories from 1998-2000 NHPrimarySource are favorite destinations for site visitors. “Soon we’ll be adding exclusive video interviews with presidential candidates. “This keeps with our goal of providing content that’s smart, thought-provoking and exclusive,” says McEnany.

“We’ve recently added a feature called ‘“pop-up politicians”’ to LostNation.tv. Thanks to our friends at The Sunlight Foundation, site visitors can easily access bios, campaign financial info, and voting records for every member of Congress.” Other contributors to LostNation.tv include Joe Bergeron, webmaster/designer and John Klossner, illustrator.

-- By Joseph E. Bergeron