So the Democrats caught quite a bit of heat for "disinviting" some bloggers who had been told they would be credentialed for the convention. The Democrats claimed an oversight about the capacity available; Jeff Jarvis quotes today's New York Times editorial on the subject which suggests about 20 bloggers were turned away.

Well, apparently they found a few more spots, because there are now five slots open and reserved for bloggers --- or anyone else --- who win a fundraising contest:

To celebrate the beginning of the Campaign for a New Majority and the launch of Majority Makers, we are giving away FIVE TRIPS TO THE DEMOCRATIC CONVENTION IN BOSTON!

That's right, the top five "NetRoots" fundraisers on Majority Makers will receive a Convention package, including:
Round trip transportation to Boston;
Four nights accommodations in Boston;
Convention credentials; and,
An invitation to a very special convention event.

I guess we have to conclude that using those five slots to "un-dis-invite" 25% of the bloggers that were jerked around either didn't occur to them, or was deemed not worth the effort.

I received the heads-up on this campaign via a DCCC email titled "Got credentials?", which read:

This program strikes us a perfect fit for the blogosphere, which knows well that George W. Bush couldn’t have carried out his program with a Democratic Congress -- and “President Kerry” won’t be able to enact his agenda without one! The need to net just 11 seats puts this goal within reach this fall, and you’ll be hearing more from us on refining the system after the convention. In the meantime, have at it and good luck.

(Scare quotes around "President Kerry" are from the original text --- and what exactly is it with that, by the way?)

And here's a wacky side question: I thought that credentialed attendees at the conventions had to go through some kind of background / security check. So how can the Democrats be simply handing them out to contest winners?