Scoble breaks new ground with Edwards, invokes my envy.

I think Robert is breaking new ground in his early coverage of the Edwards campaign. Despite what a few people have written, he is not there to help Edwards, but rather to report on the campaign.  He is rubbing elbows with traditional media and giving readers a sense of what it's like to be there.

There are many blogging journalists there, but Robert is the only one whose roots are in the geek neighborhood of the blogosphere. If he does as well as I think he will, you'll never know whether he's for or against Edwards. But he may impart some observations and information that will help me decide on whetrher I am for or against the candidate.

Occasionaly, I get asked whether or not I envy Scoble. He's so much better known than I am, gets to speak more often than I do, has 10 times my readership.  The answer is almost always no. I am extremely happy with the way the Naked Conversations experience came out for me.

But in this one particular case, I completely and totally envy Robert.  i wish I was there.  i wish I were one of the boys on the press bus sitting next to the Washington Post reporter.

Comments

[Tony Chung]

Hi Shel, I think it's great that Robert is out there covering this. A pleasant surprise.

[Jane Genova]

Scoble's being there is yet another sign that Edwards is being taken seriously.

[Michael Markman]

Watching the fallout from Scoble's presence and coverage will, in some circles, be of higher interest than following the story of Edwards' campaign. Robert is doing a great job.

There's a fascinating paradox unfolding here. "Scoble Covers Edwards" is, on the surface, yet another example of an unfortunate trend in political reporting. Whether from bloggers or MSM, too much is spent doing meta-coverage: campaign strategies, web 2.0-ness, horserace coverage, critique the ads, etc. Superficially Scoble's coverage looks like more of the same—he's telling us what a campaign looks like from up close.

Except that what Edwards is up to is a very savvy strategy for defeating meta-coverage. Edwards is being so open in so many channels, that meta-coverage inevitably comes back to Edwards hiimself. It's an approach plays to Scoble's strengths.

It won't matter whether Scoble is for or against Edwards—or if Scoble's readers can figure that out. Edwards success or failure is not in Scoble's hands. It's totally up to John Edwards.