Liberal Leadership Blog Issue Ticker (September 1 to October 27)

Analysis of Liberal Leadership Issues discussed in the Blogosphere

Executive Report:

Five specific issues dominated discussion around the liberal leadership race in the blogosphere from September 1, 2006 to October 27. The top issues, with average number of blog posts/week, are: Afghanistan (49), the economy (43), the environment (36), education (29) and women (28). At the start of the campaign Rae's campaign highlighted four of these five issues on their website (education being the exception). By comparison Rae's chief rival Michael Ignatieff prioritized only the economy and Afghanistan on his website. Ignatieff's focus on "climate change" was by comparison discussed 8 times a week on average.

Issues that were prioritized by the leadership hopefuls but not taken up as much in the blogosphere included Child Care (19), Health Care (19), Climate Change (8), National Unity (6), and Agriculture (2).

Top Tier Issues in the Blogosphere

Issues that have received the most total posts over time.

• Afghanistan
• • The issue topped the list of most discussed issues 5 out of the past 9 weeks.
  • Discussion of the issue is prone to huge swings in coverage, from very hot to very cool (in all likelihood driven by news reports from Afghanistan)
  • Averages 49 posts per week since September 1, 2006.
• Environment
• • Even though the issue is important to certain candidates, blog posts were largely responding to government policy announcements
  • Averages 36 posts per week
• Economy
• • Like Afghanistan, this issue was week over week either very hot or cool.
  • Average over 40 stories
  • Since Oct-6 this issue has seen a steady increase in the amount of posts
  • The economy has been the top issue in the blogosphere three times in the past 9 weeks

Middle Tier

Issues that have fallen to under 20 posts since October 27

• Health Care
• • Averages roughly 19 posts per week over the course of the campaign
• Child Care
• • First four weeks averaged about 19 posts, but has seen much less discussion since Sept 28.
• Education
• • Relatively stable coverage week after week, averaging approx. 29 posts/week
• Women
• • At the outset, on Sept-1 this issue was the second most important, with 47 posts
  • Averaging 28 posts per week
  • Week to week sees significant swings in amount of posting, mostly relating to female candidates dropping out of the race

Bottom Tier

Issues that have been under 20 posts for the entire period:

• Liberal leadership renewal
• Agriculture
• Climate Change
• National Unity

Average weekly Blog postings per Issue Sept 1st to Oct. 27th

(rounded to nearest whole figure) Descending Order

Afghanistan : 49

Economy : 43

Environment : 36

Education : 29

Women : 28

Child Care : 19

Health Care : 19

Climate Change : 8

National Unity : 6

Agriculture : 2

Liberal Leadership Renewal : 0

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