Blogging hits the ballot in California.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, voters in the Golden State will chose nominees for the state’s U.S. Senate general election.\u00a0 And while most of the media oxygen for the race (already fighting for air against the uber-expensive GOP gubernatorial primary) has been sucked up by the Republican electoral 3-way, Democrats must thin their herd as well.\u00a0 Only two Democrats are saying “no ma’am”<\/a> to another term for incumbent Barbara Boxer: a disheveled, quixotic blogger and a vainglorious Hollywood “producer”<\/a> whose campaign seems to be an excuse to post pictures of him with famous people<\/a>.<\/p>\n Guess which of the three scored a profile by the New York Times<\/em><\/a>:<\/p>\n No, this is not your typical Senate campaign command center; but then again,\u00a0[Mickey] Kaus is not your typical Senate hopeful. His lair speaks more to his career of the last 10 years \u2014 prolific blogger and professional curmudgeon \u2014 than the one he\u2019s currently aspiring to. As the one-man show behind Kausfiles on Slate, Mr. Kaus was one of the first political bloggers, after a print career that included stops at publications like Newsweek and Harper\u2019s…<\/p>\n \u201cIf you\u2019d asked me is he ever going to run for Senate, I\u2019d say, \u2018Are you crazy?\u2019\u00a0\u201d says Michael Kinsley, editor at large of The Atlantic Wire and a longtime friend. \u201cHe seems like a classic blogger \u2014 someone who is happier in front of his computer than he is out kissing babies.\u201d<\/p>\n But Mr. Kaus has thrown himself into his quixotic campaign with surprising earnestness, undeterred by his prospects (grim) and general diagnosis (insane). He is the first person to admit that he has absolutely no chance of becoming California\u2019s next Senator, but contends that this is not really the point. He says he is running as a protest candidate in order to draw attention to his pet issues.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n California has often been viewed as political laboratory – from recall elections and an ever-expanding list of\u00a0constitutional propositions –\u00a0even if most of their creations have taken on a Frankensteinesque quality in recent decades.\u00a0 So it might as well be that the strengthes and limitations of the first fully blog-based candidate be demonstrated on a West Coast ballot.<\/p>\n Much like\u00a0the blog, Kaus Files, that launched him into prominence within the punditry, Mickey Kaus’ candidacy has been rife with political paradoxes.\u00a0 Instead of focusing on areas where he agrees with the Democratic base,\u00a0Kaus\u00a0is solidly running to Boxer’s right on unions and immigration. \u00a0Attacked as a closet Republican, Kaus invokes Paul Wellstone is his campaign’s sole TV advertisement<\/a>.\u00a0 Treating his campaign as a Dave Barry\/Gore Vidal joke candidacy one minute, the next Kaus is writing serious political manifestos<\/a>.<\/p>\n