This report from the crack den brings to mind an hilarious scene from an episode of season three of Angel, titled “Provider.” Angel is coming to understand that the burdens of fatherhood include the need for regular infusions of cash, something most Champion businesses eschew while saving the weak and helpless. He remarks that making money is going to be his number one priority as a new father, only to be reminded by his co-Champions that they also have the concern of a new evil player in LA, and that as always, the weak and helpless are his charge from the Powers that Be. He accepts these responsibilities as the group’s “three number one priorities.”

I feel a similar sort of confusion when I contemplate the possibility of Democratic victory this fall, and what can and should be accomplished by a Democratic Congress. What is more important? Investigating Republican corruption? Impeaching Bush? Ending the War? Reigning in corporations? National heath care? All of these are important concerns, and there are more issues on the list than I can easily name. If I were in charge, I think I’d have to put three things at the top of the list which are perhaps not intuitive: voting reform, campaign finance reform, and bringing true balance back to the media.

Focusing on that last, it seems clear to me (and I’ll assume most of you) that without some kind of return to the Fairness Doctrine, much of what the Democrats would like to and should do will be made much harder. I can’t count the number of times I’ve heard stories about this or that Democratic politician cringing in fear, afraid to “do the right thing” or speak out, because of how they will be presented in the media. I bitch a lot about the Beltway bubble, and the disconnect that the pundits have from reality in the rest of America. But I don’t deny they have power, or that they frequently use it to shut down Democratic voices, and to frame the debate on the issues in favor of the Republicans. A quick review of Media Matters should be all anyone needs to understand just how bad the problem is.

So, if the Goddess is kind and we do get a Democratic majority this fall, I think bloggers should accept the responsibility and challenge of helping the Democrats better understand the problem. We have proven, time and time again, that we’re as savvy, talented, dedicated, and quick thinking as any of the K-Street crowd or consultant class. We’ve also proven that, even though we’re still small in number, we’re a rapidly growing alternative media, and people who rely on the blogosphere are valuable, highly informed, and motivated. Those qualities can and will continue to translate into Democratic victory; at the polls, in the coffers, and on the issues.

Bloggers have a special relationship with the media. We know they read us, steal from us, fear us, and often hate us. That’s good. What we need to do is relentlessly remind the Democrats that the traditional media are not their friends, and that a dozen years of payola and incestuous mingling with the Republican party means the media is unlikely to “go Democratic” any time soon.

Bloggers need to press Democrats to do the only thing that will work when it comes to bringing the corporate media to heel: legislate. A renewed Fairness Doctrine is a good place to start, along with serious pressure upon the FCC and other government agencies responsible for regulating the media to bring back politically neutral media entities. It’s a big challenge, I know. But as should be obvious to anyone with a working brain, the corporate media isn’t going to regulate itself.

Blogs can and do serve multiple purposes politically, I like to think we can walk and chew gum at the same time. But because of our unique perspective and experience with (being) the media, I think we should agree to make media reform a top priority in 2007. Without media reform, much Democratic effort will be blunted, and the likelihood of another Republican presidency looms large.

Short version: I can accept Hillary as president, although she’s not my first choice. But who here thinks she will be little more than a lightning rod for irrelevant and poisonous discourse, largely do to the media circuses she engenders? Think on how different it would be if there were a neutral media at work in the years she spun up her presidential campaign. Smart Democratic leadership will recognize this, and get busy on reform as part of a “hundred days” style legislation blitz.