Instant Influence – A new generation of web scribes is shaking up state capitol politics.

Unlike newspaper and TV reporters, Internet bloggers are not allowed on the floor of the Texas House of Representatives. That’s why Eileen Smith usually sits upstairs in the public galleries, the “cheap seats,” she likes to say, looking down on the action below.

One evening in May, Smith rests her hands on her laptop as the House gets sucked into a marathon debate on a doomed bill to create school vouchers. She types away whenever she hears something quote-worthy. Which is to say, she types only when she comes upon an argument she finds absolutely ridiculous.

Here’s how it plays the next morning on Smith’s Web site, “In The Pink Texas.” “DAMN, if they’re not still talking vouchers,” Smith writes. “They all looked much better a few hours ago. The reps are sweating, their hairdos are all messed up — now I get it…floor debate is like sex to them.”

She continues, tongue in cheek, with digs at Speaker Tom Craddick and Representative Kent Grusendorf. Smith jokingly calls Grusendorf, the voucher plan’s sponsor, “Schoolmaster G.”

By CHRISTOPHER SWOPE

Full Story: http://governing.com/articles/7blogs.htm