Ohio Righties In A Mattfight: With Claws Out, Matt Naugle Scratches Matt Hurley Off His List

CINCINNATI (TDB) -- Matt Naugle, who was Ken Blackwell's official campaign blogger during the Cincinnati Republican's ill-fated 2006 run for governor, is on the warpath against another GOP blog. Naugle says folks should tune out Matt Hurley's Weapons of Mass Discussion -- "let's ignore these vulgar basement dwellers." Both Naugle and Hurley are fixtures in the Ohiosphere, and they endlessly hammer liberals and Democrats. But it seems some of the partisan vitriol may be spilling into an internecine turf battle.

So far, there's been no response from Hurley, who has been gaining prestige in the world of conservative bloggers as a voice from Ohio. Hurley operates out of Butler County in the state's SW corner. Naugle says Hurley's blog is for dunderheads:

"If there are any conservatives in Ohio who are seriously interested in blogging about state politics, please shoot me an email (matt-at-naugblog.com) and I'd be happy to help you set up your blog."

Is it jealousy -- or self-promotion -- at the heart of it all? Feuds can be good for business, as Olbermann's swipes at O'Reilly have shown. Hurley is rated the most influential blogger in Ohio this week on BlogNet News while Naugle is No. 5. (The Daily Bellwether is usually somewhere in the mix on the same Top 20 list. But not this week because there were no posts for nine days during a Bellwether sabbatical.) Suspicion here is that the feud between the GOP bloggers is genuine. Naugle probably breaks more news than Hurley -- Naugle broke the story about former Democratic Attorney General Marc Dann's problems la femme last November, long before anyone else. He appears to believe that Hurley's blog is dependent on press releases more than any independent reporting.

[UPDATE: 9:45 pm -- The alert folks at Democratic-left Plunderbund (No. 6 on the BlogNet News influence list) have more on the back story. And it is an entertaining yarn about the blogspat's evolution throughout the day.]