65. Erick Erickson (69)
Former lawyer, member of the city council in Macon, Georgia and master blogger who leads a core team of 25 writers at RedState.com. Readers include Rush Limbaugh and just about anyone who matters in the Republican party. When Representative Eric Cantor decided to run for Republican Whip, he announced it on RedState.
Erickson’s “Operation Leper”, designed to marginalise John McCain aides caught smearing Sarah Palin, illustrated the power of RedState, which draws much of its strength from its image as a voice of the heartland, far outside the Washington Beltway. Erickson, 34 and a blogger since 2003, has shown a sense of humour, too. He appeared on the Stephen Colbert show to confess that describing retiring Justice David Souter as “the only goat f****** child molester to ever serve on the Supreme Court” was “not my finest hour” on Twitter. He had not realised, he said sheepishly, that Twitter went to more than just his friends.
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