No sex please. I'm a blogger.

Tucker Carlson’s adorable little online student newspaper had a story today about bloggers who are accepting pay for writing stuff about political stuff (and, no, no linky Tucker. Go get a real job). The big reveal is that political campaigns occasionally buy advocacy ads on …political blogs. Go figure when there are so many highly trafficked Justin Bieber fanfic sites.   A few specific bloggers, mostly conservative, are mentioned but nothing earth-shattering or, for that matter, even large enough to go bump in the night outside of  something called Red County raking in big  eMeg eBucks for, well, something:

In December of 2009, Red County received $20,000 from the Meg Whitman campaign, which has sent the site $15,000 a month since then.

The money is ostensibly for advertising, yet by conventional measures the numbers don’t add up. According to Quantcast, Red County reaches around 125,000 unique viewers per month. Two new media industry experts confirmed that, given such a readership, Whitman’s ad purchase is “ridiculously” expensive, surpassing the going market rate for such ads by 1,000 percent or more.

That would make Red County the biggest waste of money since Chuck DeVore employed Josh Treviño. And before that, whomever employed Josh Treviño previously… going back to the dawn of time. And beyond.

Some of the named bloggers have responded. Dan Riehl, for example, admits he took the few hundred dollars the RNC didn’t blow on faux lesbian strip clubs and in turn provided them with “consulting” work. Presumably he wasn’t giving them financial advice:

Now, here is my question for the Daily Caller. If I’m lucky, I made 10 – 12 grand as a blogger last year after walking away from a six figure career to help build new media and work to take the country back for conservatism. I have to pay taxes on that. I have to worry about how I’m going to pay my rent every month and pay my health care out of pocket these days.

Then again maybe he was.

John Hawkins from Right Wing News admits he’s never been kissed asked :

Now, you may be saying, “Okay, so there aren’t a lot of bloggers working as consultants, but what about the allegation that bloggers are being paid for favorable coverage?” Here’s my answer to that: I’ve been a blogger for almost a decade and I’ve been a professional blogger since early 2005. In all that time, I’ve never even had anyone offer to pay me for favorable coverage on RWN. That should tell you something.

Yes. Yes it does.

How should I put this nicely?

Okay, how about this: You know how the NBA draft comes and goes every year and you never get drafted? It’s a lot like that.

Someone not mentioned, but who doesn’t like it when bloggers are being discussed and she isn’t mentioned, is Professor Althouse:

In case you’re wondering, no one has ever even offered me money to blog something. I wouldn’t do it, of course, but it never comes up — perhaps because I don’t live in Washington, perhaps because (as a law professor) I don’t look easily to tempt, and perhaps because it’s just not something that happens.

The “law professor” not “look easily to tempt” reason is pretty much destroyed by the very existence of Glenn Reynolds who could probably be had for a Happy Meal… even without the toy.  And then there is also a fourth unmentioned  reason.

Please see; Hawkins, John above.