Blogs - Political Suicide?

Re: Congressman John Conyers' (D-MI) Blog, Rep. Conyers posts a diary on DailyKOS.com

Politicians are now starting to use blogs as means to communicate with their constituents. This type of communications is obviously very new and I am afraid will have great complications for any given politician based on their management and use of the blog. Blogs could become political suicide for a politician if not maintained properly!

If used correctly, the blog can update constituents on daily activities, themes, messages, and votes. It could start a decent conversation between a politician (or his staff, who will end up writing and posting the blog daily) and the public.

However, if used incorrectly, a blog could do more harm than good. If a politician does not update and monitor their blog daily, then messages could get way out of hand, especially if opponents post to the blog daily and take it over. This could be political suicide.

The goal of any communications director for a politician is to control the message and not let the opponents gain ground by getting coverage of their own messages. The blog could help the opponent tremendously. Therefore, I give fair warning to politicians who want to use blogs as a means of communication with constituents. I would recommend a daily newsletter or email to a targeted list that will allow the delivery of a message and not a debate.

Isn't it hard to control a message on a blog for a politician? Is it political suicide?