Republicans Try to Woo Youth With Blog Guide

Worried that their heavy-bombing, hard-wired, stiff-suited image could lose them younger generation votes in next year's elections, US Republicans are trying to reboot their act: they want to blog their way to victory.

The so-called "blogger outreach" programme was launched last week by the National Republican Senatorial Campaign committee. A 39-page internet guide contains handy tips for candidates hoping to plug into the blogosphere in 2008.

Lesson number one: YouTube is a make-or-break force in national politics, not a plumbing outlet or an embarrassing, middle-aged lower abdominal complaint.

Senator John Ensign, a Nevada Republican, said the blogs offensive was necessary to neutralise a Democrat advantage.

Mr Ensign told the Politico newspaper that superior internet savvy was leveraged by the Democrats into a Congressional majority last year. "It is critical that Republicans not let Democrats continue [to have] an edge on us," he said.

The guide draws particular attention to the fate suffered by the former Republican senator George Allen in Virginia. He directed a slur, known as the "macaca moment", at a young opponent that was captured on video and viewed nationally. His campaign tanked.

Always assume you are being recorded, and record your opponent, the guide states. Forget old-fashioned leaks to newspapers; campaign press secretaries should feed their news to bloggers, to create electronic "buzz". "Every campaign should film their candidate and record his/her every move," it says.

Following such advice to the letter could prove problematic for high-living Republicans with complicated love lives or so-called "Newt Gingrich tendencies", top-dog bloggers say.

But it could do a lot to revive public interest in politics.