I haven't succumbed to the Perez pull, but I know many - especially women - who have. And I think you're right. What he and other bloggers like him have to say does get read, so it must make an impact somehow. (I have a good friend who reads it daily and is not very political... I'll have to see what she says about this.)
I think there are pros and cons about the non-political political blogs. Having written about politics for the Silicon Valley Moms Blog, a group that's savvy but not entrenched in politics, and then shifting the political writing over to MOMocrats, those of us who wrote for both have noticed the discussion becomes more nuanced at MOMocrats. And then there are a group of MOMocrats that write for Huffington Post, which is even more specifically geared toward the fine grain details of political activity, so I see it as a spectrum with value in each type of blog.

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My Political Blog
My Political Blog, specialized in Online Campaigning can be found here: http://www.kampagnen-fabrik.de
Though it is posted in German, it might be interesting for you?
Patrick