The BlogHer'12 Conference Returns to New York City

The 2012 BlogHer conference got off to an impressive start with an official opening address from no less than the President of the United States -- live via the Internet. With signage behind his right shoulder that read, "Women for Obama," the Commander-in-Chief congratulated organizers and attendees on the biggest BlogHer gathering to date. Delivering comments that combined stump speech material (the benefits of Obamacare for women and children) with friendly conversation ("Michelle and the girls say 'hi'"), Obama underscored his view that "women were not a monolithic block." Before signing off he wished the crowd "a wonderful conference."

Elisa Camahort Page, co-founder of BlogHer, thanked the President for the respect he was showing the assembled bloggers. In an email to me she qualified that the "community is omni-partisan, with members from across the ideological spectrum." I had contacted Camahort Page to confirm the report I heard that Romney had also been invited to speak. She responded, "The Romney campaign tried to make it work, but could not nail down his direct participation in time. They sent his director of Women's Outreach, Courtney Johnson, who was on the "Using Online Tools To Get Women into Office" panel. She noted that Obama staffer Buffy Wicks was also present and contributed to "How Washington Works and How Women in the States Can Make a Difference." Camahort Page cited that in 2008, BlogHer featured writing from numerous high-level surrogates from both campaigns on the site -- and that they expected the practice "to continue in this election cycle."

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