At Editor & Publisher, Joe Strupp ponders why bloggers have not rushed to attend White House briefings.

After Gannon was regularly given a daily press pass for two years, some were concerned that allowing him in would open the gate to anyone with access to a Web site. Fears ran rampant that anyone with the $35 to buy a domain name could get within a few feet of the president.

Others saw this as an opportunity for bloggers and others who write for less-than-mainstream Web sites to go beyond complaining about Washington politics and do something about it by trying to put White House Press Secretary Scott McClellan on the spot....

...But has the online onslaught occurred? Since the Gannon/Guckert saga first erupted last winter, the wave of Web writers has not appeared. White House press regulars say few online types have been crashing the daily press party.

"Things are pretty much what they've always been," McClellan told me in mid-October, noting that Brewer appears to be the only recent online-only participant. "From my own perception, it is not something I've noticed." Adds Hutcheson, "I am not aware of anyone from the blog community or online who is there."

Some reasons offered by observers for the lack of blogger attention include:

• "press briefings are not all that interesting"
• people "need to work at real jobs during the day"
• "the daily briefings may not provide the excitement many bloggers and online writes crave."

Personally, I think it's because we already know what the official White House message will be: Hail the Conquering Hero. When you have an administration that never admits a mistake, crows about its close-mindedness, taunts those who disagree, and promotes avarice and incompetence, it's pretty obvious that the only news coming out of White House briefings will be how the White House refuses to deal with reality or be straight with the American people.

And that's hardly news.

Maybe with the next administration, where there's a president who can actually think on his/her feet and answer questions of substance, and a press secretary who plays more of a role than (really really bad) used car salesman, bloggers will want to take part.

As it is, there are more relevant things to follow and cover and write about than BushCo PR.

As for the briefings, I think credentialed part-time blogger and editor-at-large for Washingtonian magazine Garret Graff put it best:

"There is not a lot of reason for bloggers to go."

No kidding.

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