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Towery: Conservative bloggers shaping GOP's future

Unless you're a political junkie, you may not know about Macon's Erick Erickson. But my guess is that people will come to know not only his name but what he symbolizes - the next generation of conservative leadership in America. And what a direction that could prove to be.

Over the years, I've known and observed some pretty obscure people who ended up making their way to the top of politics, including a once-unknown congressman named Newt Gingrich.

Erickson, who runs RedState.com, one of the most influential conservative blogs in America, has been on my radar screen for more than a year. With his recent appearance on TV's popular "The Colbert Report," Erickson is emerging from the blogosphere and into a whole new world of prominence.

Having done "funny" political shows like Bill Maher's, I have a sense of the challenge it is for a conservative to match wits with talented pros that are almost certainly on the political left. It isn't easy. But Erickson did just that, despite Colbert's efforts to paint him in an unfavorable light by citing some of the blogmaster's more controversial Web postings.

The point is that just a few years ago, blogs were thought of as a medium for political hacks and wackos to post whatever railings or other blather they felt like. Now blogs have morphed into a respected and influential way for those with political interests to both test and change the temperature of the political waters.

Conservatives already have established Web sites such as Townhall, Human Events and Newsmax. And there are plenty of liberal sites, such as The Huffington Post and Daily Kos.

Erickson was a practicing attorney when he started RedState, more or less as a part-time hobby. There are no syndicated columns or names of veteran news journalists on RedState, or on a sister site he runs in Georgia called PeachPundit. Instead, Erickson and a handpicked group of other regular bloggers post stories, observations and grapevine-variety news with lightning speed.

Occasionally, the posts might be speculative or only partially correct - and once in a while even profane. But Erickson and his band of bloggers generally get the dri

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