Howard Dean's presidential campaign "hired two Internet political 'bloggers' as consultants so that they would say positive things about the former governor's campaign in their online journals," according to former Dean aide Zephyr Teachout, the Wall Street Journal reports.
Glenn Reynolds uses the story to stir up the question of "blogger ethics" and links to a long series of reactions around the blogosphere. Two days ago, I personally emailed the two bloggers in question -- Jerome Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas Z˙niga -- to get their side of the story and think they should be given the benefit of the doubt. Armstrong quit blogging while a consultant and Moulitsas disclosed the relationship clearly on his site.
Meanwhile, Teachout backs off her original remarks.
Update: See Memeorandum for a round-up of posts on this topic.