ABC News: Who Is Behind HillaryIs44.org?

ABC News: Who Is Behind HillaryIs44.org?: "Says Who? An Anonymous Blog Supporting Hillary Clinton and Slagging Off Barack Obama Is Raising Questions for Bloggers and Readers. Is Clinton's Campaign Behind It?" By NADINE RUBINJune 27, 2007 Political bloggers have unlocked a whole new method of communication for Presidential candidates. It is a medium that has formed and evolved since the last presidential election offering the candidates a convenient way to disperse the information they want us to read and offering the public an authentic independent voice. But with the appearance of the anonymous HillaryIs44.org the idea of blogs as the voice of the people is being challenged. HillaryIs44.org is all for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton becoming the 44th President of the United States, but in pushing for her success it attacks her rivals, particularly Sen. Barack Obama. The blog encourages readers to send in "confidential tips," ostensibly to further scrutinize the latter's campaign conduct. And in doing so, it begs the question: Is Clinton's campaign or someone in Clinton's campaign behind it? "I wouldn't be surprised. It's a very dense effort and some of the stuff smacks of political insider knowledge," Professor David D Perlmutter told ABC News. Perlmutter is associate dean for draduate studies and research at William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications at the University of Kansas. He has also recently written "Blogwars: The New Political Battleground," a book that looks at HillaryIs44.org. "Hillary has been a bit late in embracing blogs, but now she's going at it with a vengeance," said Perlmutter. "We knew she was serious about them a few months ago when Bill Clinton took a couple of bloggers to lunch." But Perlmutter added: "Put it this way, I would be surprised to find that it's a couple of fourteen year olds fooling around in the basement, but then again that doesn't necessarily mean it's Chelsea. There are many politically aware people out there." In her Opinion Journal column in the Washington Post last week, conservative commentator Peggy Noonan wrote that the Web site "reads like The Warrior's Id ... In tone the site is very Tokyo Rose....its primary target and obvious obsession is Barack Obama." A story called "Obama's Dirty Mud Politics," in the same authoritative voice as the rest of the Web site, writes: "The Barack Obama campaign has been caught peddling dirt against Hillary and Bill Clinton. Obama is desperate to rescue his failing incompetent campaign so he is slinging mud." HillaryIs44.org has been online since mid-April. Noonan's commentary last week has created the current buzz. The site's "mission statement" reads: "We will keep an especially sharp eye on 'progressives' or Democrats who repeat Republican talking points to undermine Hillary or any of our candidates." Activist Voices Peter Daou, Internet director for Hillary Clinton's, D-N.Y., campaign and a former blogger for dauureport.salon.net told ABC News that when it comes to blogs he doesn't "look for a downside." "It cannot be a bad thing for the political process for people to express themselves and share views in a public place," Daou said. "Sometimes people agree and sometimes they disagree, and that is what is so wonderful." The person ?