If you are a follower of American politics, and specifically the Presidential race, you may enjoy the Chuck Hagel blog. This blog is following the campaign of Chuck Hagel for President in 2008 and is an unofficial blog formerly at the center of a grassroots movement to encourage support for the Hagel Candidacy in 2008. Since the blog has started however, Chuck Hagel has since announced that not only is he not seeking a third term in the U.S. Senate, but he is not intending to run for any office at all in 2008. This is not to say that this blog can not find appeal or an audience, as any facet of any Presidential race official or otherwise still marks a place in American History, so we take a look at this blog that is a follower of the Chuck Hagel career. You can see the most recent in his career in any of the following of the author’s bloggeries: Hagel not running in 2008, Watch Monday’s Announcement Live, Monday – Hagel to announce Future Plans, and American Public Media: “Drafting a Presidentâ€.  
You will find navigating this blog very easy. Posts in this blog are left marginalized with black text on a beige background with links being highlighted in orange. There is a right navigation system that contains a picture of Chuck, a form if you’d like to join the Hagel Movement, Official Hagel Sites, Hagel Related Pages, Election Resources Menu, Iowa Links, New Hampshire Links, South Carolina Links, Michigan Links, a Blogroll, and a Categories Menu containing a variety of topics such as Education, Energy Policy, Audio, 2006, Environment, Foreign Policy, Fundraising, and so many more. You will also find in this navigation bar a disclaimer stating that this blog is not an official Chuck Hagel website and is an unofficial blog.Â
I will give this blog a 3 but I think even with the change of recent events this blog could do well if it makes some changes. Activity and appearance seem to be the biggest issues for the blog right now. The blog clearly has a healthy readership with over 40,000 hits on its counter and readers coming in from all over the globe. I think an About Page would give this blog a personal voice as though it is clear this is an unofficial blog, the background of the author may help create a more personal connection between the blogger and the readership. Content scores are good as the content is very readable and user friendly and well written overall. The appearance of the blog is appealing though I would suggest a few more relevant pictures with each post to perhaps add some additional meaning to the history making headlines the author writes about. I think this blog scores well for uniqueness as well given the timely nature of the blog in concert with the Presidential campaign. I also think the blog has a good potential given its readership and healthy comment base and thus would probably benefit from more frequent activity to sustain that readership despite the fact that Chuck Hagel is not running for Presidency. There are many things the blogger could do to follow Chuck Hagel’s current career and still highlight his political life without focusing entirely on the campaign trail. Overall this is a good blog that could do very well if it sustains its readership.
-Chrissie