DAVIS COUNTY ó With the National Republican Convention about to kick off and the National Democratic Convention still fresh on everyoneís minds, several Davis County voters may turn to local political party sites to see if they can keep the feeling alive closer to home. ##M:MORE##

Unfortunately, that may prove to be a bit of a challenge. The websites for both the Davis County Republican and Democratic Parties are mostly frameworks for basic content and contact information, without the active discussion and local perspective on national party issues that are the key to making politics come alive.

At the Davis County Democrats website, www.daviscountydemocrats.org, the main problem seems to be big start-up ideas without enough follow through. The blog advertised in one of the links is, in fact, completely empty (practically begging for some faithful Democrat to volunteer to fill it) and the siteís biggest discussion and analysis asset, the Concerned Writers Club, is hidden away where the bulk of people may miss it entirely.

Of course, hiding things away can be a fairly common problem. On the Davis County Republicans website, www.daviscounty.utgop.org, the best part is a link that delivers you to a completely different website, www.LeadershipthatDelivers.com. It offers dispatches straight from the national convention by the Davis County members in attendance, along with articles, videos, and comments that cover a variety of local political topics.

Unfortunately, our local Republicans seem to use this website only during convention season, as soon as itís done going back to the boring, bare-bones official site. The solution here would be to simply switch the two around, with the blog/video site serving as the partyís main electronic gateway and the plainer, more informational site relegated to a mere link.