Are some Virginia bloggers trying to make news out of a non story??

Shaun Kenney has a post up accusing the Webb campaign of writing research "BOOKS" about some Virginia bloggers. He even list, by name, some of the bloggers that the Webb campaign supposedly "targeted" (if you choose to call it that):

Chad Dotson, Jim Hoeft, Ben Tribbett, Waldo Jaquith, Josh Chernila, Lowell Feld, Jim Riley, J.C. Wilmore, Jon Henke, and a host of others.

The Liberal Progressive would like to congratulate each and every one of you!!!

Kenney goes on to write:

These are not your typical background checks either... a significant amount of money was spent crafting the kind of opposition research one would typically find on a candidate running for public office.

I'm by no means calling Shaun Kenney a liar, but I'd like to echo Eileen, among others, in asking Shaun to prove it, and tell us where this is coming from.

On another note, I think Shaun MAY be making a bigger deal out of this than need be. I've never worked on a campaign myself, but from what I've been told by MY "sources" (who HAVE worked on several campaigns including Webb's) this type of thing has become common campaign practice since the rise of the blogosphere's influence. In fact, I bet the Allen campaign did it too, and there is NOTHING wrong with it!

Why shouldn't a campaign gather as much information as it can on any individual who could potentially (and in Ben Tribbett's case, actually DID!) have a major impact on the campaign.

Think about it, how ridiculous would a campaign staff look if a well known blogger was releasing damaging information against it, and the campaign was CLUELESS as to who the person even was. The Webb campaign, and ANY other campaign would be negligent to NOT educate itself of the goings on in the blogosphere, and the people who have major influence within it. The blogosphere is constantly buzzing about the "LACK" of attention some bloggers perceive it is getting, well, YOU FINALLY HAVE YOUR PROOF THAT CAMPAIGNS DO TAKE BLOGGERS SERIOUSLY!!! Deal with it.

So once again, CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL OF THOSE WHO MADE THE LIST, YOU OBVIOUSLY HAVE A GREAT DEAL OF INFLUENCE IN VIRGINIA TO HAVE WARRANTED THE ATTENTION FROM CAMPAIGN STAFF LIKE THIS!!!!

In the end, perhaps the "big" story here is that we have yet MORE PROOF that the influence bloggers (can) have in politics is growing at a larger rate than some people may have thought.

I'd also point out that I have waited WELL OVER two (now going on three) hours since the entry appeared on Kenney's blog, to give him time to answer calls to reveal his sources. However, there is still no word on where this might be coming from, only speculation. Of course, I'll be updating as more information becomes available.