John Kerry Blog Conference

On Thursday afternoon, Sen. John Kerry (D - Massachusetts) held a "blog conference" with a number of Massachusetts bloggers, including Bob Neer of Blue Mass. Group, Mike Ball of Marry in Massachusetts, and this observer - Bob actually liveblogged the session.

This was the second "blog conference" held by the Senator. Sen. Kerry's first "blog conference" was held in April 2007. That session was an extended - and enlightening - discussion. Thursday's session was less substantive - though Sen. Kerry (prompted by a question from Bob Neer) did present a good overview of the issues that he believes are important to Massachusetts as he seeks re-election to the Senate this year. These include the economy, immigration, energy, national security, and the environment.

On the economy, Sen. Kerry said that he had proposed a provision in the recently approved stimulus package that would have addressed the crisis in mortgage foreclosures. This provision was struck out of the legislation, however.

On immigration, the Senator expressed frustration with the politics of the issue. He said that the temporary worker visa program - important particularly to the economy of Cape Cod - was being "held hostage" to Bush administration priorities.

The Senator said that he is "fully engaged" with his re-election campaign, "taking nothing for granted." He is back in Massachusetts this weekend in conjunction with his drive for signatures on his nomination papers.

(A note about terminology. This observer is attempting - without much apparent success - to create a neologism. "Blog conference" is intended to mirror the usage of "press conference." We'll see if it eventually catches on.)