Huffington Post, the political blog founded by Arianna Huffington that features contributions and individual columns from a wide range of liberals (including Hollywood celebrities), is on the verge of announcing a $5 million investment from Japanese venture capital firm Softbank and venture capitalist Alan Patricof. Apart from the financial aspects behind this investment, one must look to the political ramifications as we enter the mid—term elections and begin the process of finding Presidential candidates for the 2008 race. In light of potential Democratic Presidential candidate Mark Warner's courting of bloggers at the Kos—fest a few weeks ago and his hiring of Kos co—founder Jerome Armstrong to be his internet strategist, we might wonder how this investment might play out as we approach 2008. The reason? Well, apart from Huffington Post having a wide viewership among Democratic partisans, Alan Patricof, one of the new investors, happens to be a close friend and...(Read Full Post)