by JASMINE TOUTON
Observer staff

MANCHESTER, N.H. — Motivated fingers clack at keyboards. The florescent lights of the warehouse-like Saint Anselm’s College auditorium cast a yellow glow on the hundreds of reporters in the makeshift press filing center. A dozen flat-screen televisions flash ABC’s red and blue colors, signaling the start of the debate. The clicks, flashes, chattings and chucklings subside for a few moments. In the back row of long, wooden tables labeled “online,” with white computer paper and duct tape, chaos erupts again among bloggers and other non-mainstream media reporters. Most are under 30.

“I don’t, like, consider myself a good writer or anything,” said Brian Lawson, the 22-year-old sole author of break-out New Hampshire Presidential Watch, a non-partisan informational blog. “I’ve never taken a journalism class.”

OBSERVER PHOTO by Jasmine Touton
Bloomberg News producer Lisa Charnitski joins the crowd in the spin room after the nationally televised New Hampshire debates.

Lawson’s Dell laptop with a red and yellow Holyoke stuck just under his keyboard — he’s from Holyoke, Mass. — rests in a lineup of more than 20 laptops that belong to the blogging section in the rear of the auditorium. Bloggers are still a minority in the room, which also hosts broadcast, print and radio media sections, but their small congregation represents a shift in the political media world. Young bloggers jog back and forth down the aisles of metal folding chairs, sharing headphones and political viewpoints. A unique camaraderie has developed among underdogs of the media world, one that provides a glimpse of the future.

Lawson glances down the row of bloggers and says he recognizes only a few people from rallies and debates. However, the media has no trouble recognizing him. Several news organizations step up to put lenses and lights two feet from Lawson’s wire-rimmed glasses as he updates his blog. Dan Rather’s HDTV broadcast is featuring Lawson, who is preparing for a sit-down with Rather on Sunday. He’s pulled aside for two interviews by student reporters. Several other reporters from established media organizations chat with him while he checks out the Lay’s potato chips and Rice Krispie treats at the food table.

“You’re lucky to be sitting across from me,” Lawson jokes, shifting his small frame, topped with a plaid page-boy cap, to look up at the screen. He discusses Mike Huckabee’s chances with a nearby colleague and pauses to blog about a collective laugh that went around the room when Huckabee challenged Mitt Romney.

A blogger stops by and asks Lawson if he can get someone to fix the Wi-fi problems. It’s Dean Barker, author of the blog BlueHampshire.com, a progressive community blog for the Granite State. Barker sits back down among the Blackberries and cords that characterize the blogging table. A group from Why Tuesday? a blog devoted to reforming the election process, dons colorful ski caps and talks about what they’ll blog next. Everyone is in this together.

The interaction provides a glimpse into where the future of the political coverage may be heading — a young and collective brigade of bloggers ready to work together and cover the election in a different way, anywhere they can.

“I don’t know if I’m going to stay that long,” Lawson said when he first pulled up a seat at the online table. “I’ll probably leave halfway through and go back to my room later, where there is beer and food, and blog from there.”

Lawson didn’t leave until the Democratic debate ended and the last spinner had spun.