E-Politics ...

"During a panel discussion on new media, Chuck DeFeo, vice president and general manager of the Web site Townhall.com, and Huffington Post founder Arianna Huffington talked of how the bustling culture of blogs and online magazines was enhancing the political climate.

DeFeo said the Web is the natural evolution of the independent, participatory printing press heralded by earlier political leaders. "What we are finally seeing," he said, "is a realization of that ideal that Adams and Jefferson and Paine and before him Voltaire and Plato had… that ideal of having everybody have a shot at participating in this discussion."

Townhall.com was the first conservative Web community when it was launched in 1995. Today the site has hundreds of regular commentators and almost 9,000 grassroots bloggers.

Huffington may represent the other end of the political spectrum, but she agreed with DeFeo's conclusions about the role of citizen journalism."