What a mess this could turn out to be. The Politico reports here that OpenLeft.com is actively trying to encourage primary challengers against what the blog's operator calls "Bush Dog" Democrats. Apparently "Bush Dogs" are Democrats in Congress who sided with President Bush on Iraq.
The blogosphere defintely has the potential to shape the political agenda, but I'm not convinced this is the healthiest way to do so. This blogger is basically stepping into the role of a party committee. By encouraging candidates to run and then committing resources (publicity in this case instead of money) to them, the blog becomes a quasi-party. But if everyone can do this, suddenly the party fractures into a million self-interested hacks and no candidate can possibly have a mandate from his or her partisans.
The other factor of concern here is that these "Bush Dog" Democrats tend to be sincere moderates in sincerely moderate districts. The kind of districts that would vote Republican in November if the Democratic nominee's agenda went too far to the left. Dangerous for the Democrats, very dangerous.
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