"The bloggers"

What happens when a group of conservative bloggers are invited to an event that gives them the chance to mingle with state politicians?

Well, not much at first. Representative Joel Kleefisch graciously invited a group of us to a fund raiser last night. Joel had a strong turnout over all, and with bloggers in particular. Chris, Phelony, Casper, Aaron, Fred and I showed up. In the early part of the evening, I'll admit that I didn't really know what to do with myself. This was my first opportunity to mingle with elected officials, candidates, their families and their supporters. While I know that the Wisconsin blogosphere has arrived to a certain extent, it can still be tough to tell who it has arrived with. While I wanted to introduce myself as a blogger, I didn't want to create an awkward situation in which the person I'd just introduced myself to has to ask what a blogger is.

We mingled with people as a group and small groups through out the early evening. I know Chris and I were pleased to offer a couple of impromptu remedial blogging courses with people who were interested by blogs but did not really have much experience with them yet. About midway through the evening several of our elected officials said a few words, and at that time Joel briefly pointed out the bloggers to everyone. At that point I think we all entered our element a little more. We became "the bloggers."

It was quite enjoyable to talk with people with various levels of blog knowledge and awareness. We had some in depth political conversations, we helped spread the word about blogs, and we had the opportunity share some of our knowledge about this medium. For any of my fellow bloggers out there that have not had the opportunity to mix with many of the people we write about on a daily basis, I highly recommend that you do so when an opportunity arises.