"Their distance from professional media, in part, is what gives blogs their identity. Bloggers' voices are often more conversational, and profane, than newspaper or magazine fare. And while blogs have been known to amplify little-noticed news events, such as Senator Trent Lott's 2002 praise of his colleague Strom Thurmond, blog postings don't always hew to old-school standards of sourcing and fact-checking. There's usually no editing at all, which many bloggers take as a point of pride. "It's not corporately controlled. There's nobody telling you what you can or can't write," said George Peterson, 22, a recent North Carolina State University graduate who runs a blog called dirtygreek.org. (It's named after his college nickname, draws about 100 visitors per day, and consists of "sort of all the thoughts that run through my head.") When he learned that bloggers could get convention credentials, Peterson decided to apply. "It would just be a really neat thing to cover, since I don't get to be a real reporter," he said. "It's the second-best thing, I guess." So far, he's one of a couple of dozen independent bloggers to apply, on behalf of websites ranging from the small to the substantial. A Republican convention spokeswoman said the party has not decided whether to offer credentials to bloggers.