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It's kind of rough and thin on compelling content, but at least LATimes.com is trying some new stuff. Snapshots from Election Day have been posted so far from four separate staff writers. The Opinion section plans its own "invitational free-for-all" after the polls close at 8 p.m. (running on Movable Type blog software, outside the restrictive Tribune operating system.) Staffers primed the pump this afternoon by posting an old column by Gregory Rodriguez, a newly named Times contributing editor, and a link to Mark Alan Stamaty's cartoon last weekend. The name on the early posts is that of an editor in the section, Michael Soller, who's also married to City Hall reporter Jessica Garrison. [** The entries will be edited and posted by a Times staffer. Ground rules reprinted below.] The blog's short links list has already spurred a tsking reaction from blogging.la, which was left off. Meanwhile, the Times' site is also still running blog-like diaries from Cannes and the network TV upfronts.
Also at LATimes.com: The automated software that feeds the site dumped a story about the state Department of Corrections into the page for the paper's own corrections. It's been there all day. Brady Westwater notices and jumps to a bunch of conclusions, which usually means Kausfiles gives it national legs. [ * Fixed: As of 3:50 p.m.]
Tuesday notes: At his blog, Matt Szabo explains that he's no longer technically a Republican, though he called himself one on the Al Rantel show this morning...Cathy Seipp interviews HuffingtonPost producer Andrew Breitbart. They're friends, but he sounds cautious with her...Over at the Huffington blog, Diane Keaton posts about today's election and muses on the low turnout...Asked at RonFineman.com about his columnist T.J. Simers, Times sports editor Bill Dwyre says, "Simers generates the most complaints. Nobody is neutral. They either love him or hate him. I'm leaning towards love, but I'm still somewhat undecided. In his own, garbled, disjointed, anti-lovable way, he is a huge talent. It is all shtick. His greatest fear is that everybody starts to get it and nobody gets mad. But I keep telling him, these are sports fans, many of whom see their teams or their favorite players as the main thing in their lives, and once you get that serious, you will never be able to understand why a guy like Simers is constantly jerking your chain."
** After the jump, the ground rules given to the LAT election bloggers.
Thank you for agreeing to participate in the Los Angeles Times’ invitational online discussion of the mayoral election: “Blogging the Mayors Race.” The conversation begins officially when the polls close at 8 p.m. and will continue as long as people have something interesting to contribute—we’ll probably stop posting live in the wee hours but will start posting again Wednesday morning and will let the debate run for at least 24 hours and maybe longer.We plan to publish a brief sampling of the discussion in Sunday’s Opinion section.
Your initial contribution may be up to 250 words, but please limit any future postings to no more than 100 words. We want this to be an invigorating conversation, not a series of soap-box speeches. We will try to keep editing to a minimum, but we will edit for accuracy (if we can’t readily verify something we can’t publish it), fairness, and taste. Please be original (don’t repeat what you hear on television) provocative and responsible.