Blogging for dollars

Matthew Klam writes about the blogosphere in the New York Times Magazine today, noting how this electoral cycle has essentially given blogs a new role. He profiles top bloggers Josh Marshall, Ann-Marie Cox (Wonkette), and Markos Moulitsas (Daily Kos)--all of whom now make a living off of blogging, and whose blogs get hundreds of thousands of hits a day.

As I noted months ago, Markos is half-Salvadoran (on his mother's side), and he spent ages 3-9 in El Salvador. This story notes that he left the country in the 1980s after "rebel soldiers" circulated a photo of him and his brother, apparently a signal to his parents to leave unless they wanted something to happen to their children.

There's also a clue here as to why I'm not so successful as a blogger, why I fall into the category of "hardly read," among the estimated 2 million blogs currently in existence:

Left-wing politics are thriving on blogs the way Rush Limbaugh has dominated talk radio, and in the last six months, the angrier, nastier partisan blogs have been growing the fastest.

That may be true, but I'm not sure that's the best way to understand the success of someone like Josh Marshall. How about: articulate, historically informed, focused, and open to critical debate (i.e., willing to admit human errors).

After writing this, I saw a reference by Kos to a blog entry by Elizabeth Edwards (wife of John) on the official Kerry-Edwards blog, who in turn references another blogger about blogging:

The blogs sound like the people I choose as friends: smart, informed, funny, curious, and imperfect.