Local politicos pump up advertising on liberal Virginia blog

photo by Lucas Hale

Today is Primary Day in Virginia, with voters casting ballots for local and legislative races. State Senate hopeful Adam Ebbin, and Delegate candidates Stephanie Clifford and Alfonso Lopez, spent the last couple weeks vying for the attention of local Democrats by running ads on state blog Blue Virginia.

Blue Virginia gets over ~100k page views each month from Virginia’s most fired-up and active liberals. The blog seems like a natural fit for local Democratic candidates hoping to reach the right kinds of voters. I asked Blue Virginia founder Lowell Feld about local politicians buying blog advertising:

What I find interesting is how many Democratic candidates do NOT put up ads on the leading pro-Democratic blogs in their states. I mean, candidates spend enormous amounts of money on direct mail, radio, TV, consultants, whatever, but they don’t think it’s smart to advertise on blogs – and other social media, for that matter – where they can reach the activists – the people who lick the envelopes, knock the doors, make the phone calls, donate the money to their campaigns? I’ve never fully understood that, especially when advertising on blogs is usually very inexpensive, certainly compared to other alternatives.