Jason Pye's obsession is politics. If he brings up the subject, though, his girlfriend leaves the room.

So he found another outlet.

Frank Niemeir/Staff (ENLARGE)

Bill Simon uses his blog, Political Vine, to exhort fellow Republicans to uphold the party's values.

Keith Hadley/Staff (ENLARGE)

Amy Morton, a Macon Democrat, does her blogging on Georgia Women Vote!

Frank Niemeir/Staff (ENLARGE)

Andre Walker, an active Democrat, offers his personal views on his blog, Georgia Politics Unfiltered. When blogs are forums for political feuds — even within parties — the tone can be rough.

• Guide to the blogs

"I'm one person with a computer," he said. "My opinion counts."

When Pye, 25, isn't toiling as a customer service rep at an insurance company, he's weighing in on his personal Web site, JasonPye.com. He started his Web log a year ago, before he was elected chairman of the state's Libertarian Party, "so I don't get ulcers," Pye said.

"I'm not the type of person who can keep quiet."

Pye, of McDonough, is part of a small but talkative army of Georgians who seize on political news, gossip, innuendo and juicy morsels, from the governor's race to the most local of contests. In their blogs, they spread information, trumpet their views and duel with others.

"Blogging is sort of the modern-day version of the public square," said Amy Morton, 46, a Macon Democrat who blogs on Georgia Women Vote! Even though "most people don't read the blogs," they're potent forces, Morton said. "You can get information out immediately, and that's powerful."

Said Erick Erickson, 31, who runs the popular Republican-leaning site Peach Pundit, "It allows people in a way that they can't do through the newspaper or TV or the radio to participate in the political conversation — and fairly instantly, too."

Georgians by the dozens blog about politics, but it's hard to gauge their influence. A long list of their blogs, spanning the spectrum, can be found on The Buzz Report, where Gwinnett County GOP activist Buzz Brockway, 40, said he likes to blog "about exciting stuff like tax policy." He and others would argue that bloggers are engaged in something more than talking among themselves.

Democrat Andre Walker, 22, considers his blog, Georgia Politics Unfiltered, a handy supplement to mainstream news. "If you want some commentary on it, then that's what I try to do," said the Georgia State University student, who often blogs from campus computer labs and is a frequent guest blogger on other sites.

Some blogs attract more readers than others. On the high end, Peach Pundit averages about 1,200 visits a day, according to its site summary.

David Kline, co-author of the 2005 book "Blog! How the Newest Media Revolution is Changing Politics, Business and Culture," said the numbers aren't that important. "What's really important is that where you see political blogging you see influencers," he said. "They're the most active politically, and they have an impact. Maybe not as much as $10 million TV advertising campaign, but they can mobilize the activists."

Certainly politicians and political reporters are paying attention to the blogs.

Word is that Gov. Sonny Perdue's campaign staffers are barred from reading Peach Pundit at work, they were spending so much time on the site. Campaign spokesman Derrick Dickey wouldn't confirm or deny that.

Political blogs have evolved quickly.

"Blogs originally began as a political weapon for the two parties," said Matt Towery, CEO of InsiderAdvantage, an Atlanta-based political polling and electronic media firm. They "were lobbing bullets or grenades at the other party, and some would get into fighting among themselves."

Eventually a "new level" of blogs emerged, with lots of dialogue about what people think about candidates and issues, said Towery, a former Republican state legislator.

Still, political blogs aren't for the faint of heart.

Bill Simon, 45, a Marietta Republican who blogs on his site, Political Vine, and others, doesn't hesitate to go for the jugular.

"I go after Republicans who I believe are not holding the Republican standard," Simon said. During the primary, he lambasted former Christian Coalition leader Ralph Reed, who was seeking the GOP nomination for lieutenant governor. Simon went so far as to call Reed "the greatest liar of our modern-day era."

With Reed out of the running, Simon now turns his ardor to other matters. "Once a week or twice a week I get really riled up and I post," said Simon, who runs an advertising and sales promotion company when he's not blogging. "Sometimes people think I'm off my rocker, sometimes people agree with me."

Marty Ryall is campaign manager for Karen Handel, the GOP nominee for secretary of state, who was the target of a nasty blog attack. "The unfortunate part is that anyone can get on a blog and say whatever they want, whether it's true or not," Ryall said. "Sometimes it can make it out into the mainstream, where mass people are seeing it."

During a tough contest for the Republican nomination, Handel contended supporters of state Sen. Bill Stephens were behind a "whisper campaign" to falsely accuse her on blogs of being a lesbian.

Her husband, Steve, jumped into the fray on Peach Pundit.

"I know in politics that you have to develop some thick skin for some of the attacks that happen during a campaign," he wrote. But "it is extremely hard to sit by and see my wife of 14 years being called a lesbian."

With that, the offending comments stopped, Ryall said.

Will Hinton, 34, a commercial real estate consultant who lives in Brookhaven, despairs about the current state of political blogs. (Hinton, who considers himself a nonpartisan conservative, earned some fame among Georgia bloggers when he blogged that he would run against U.S. Rep. Cynthia McKinney if no one else stepped up in the Democratic primary. Hank Johnson did, and won.)

"I think both sides are equally guilty of trying to demonize their opponents instead of trying to find common ground," Hinton said. So in September he launched the site Good Will Hinton. His goal: "To foster dialogue and discussion between people on both sides."

Not everyone's intentions are so pure. Erickson, at Peach Pundit, said paid political operatives sometimes pose as ordinary citizens and try to infiltrate blogs. He tries to "expose them, block them or get them to admit who they're working for" after ferreting them out by tracking their Internet addresses or e-mails.

Such cloak-and-dagger dramas occur more at the federal than state level, said Erickson, who also blogs for RedState.com.

Despite occasional nastiness, when it comes to political blogs the good outweighs the bad, Ryall said. "It allows people to communicate with each other, and it's certainly a good venue for candidates to express their opinions and supporters to express their opinions."

Erickson, a political consultant and lawyer who lives in Macon, encourages differing opinions on Peach Pundit. For instance, Bobby Kahn, chairman of the Democratic Party of Georgia, is a guest commentator. And while Erickson himself is a passionate Republican, "I'm not afraid to say a Republican has done something stupid."

Sometimes, he said, readers who think he should toe the party line get so worked up they turn to an old-fashioned mode of communication.

They telephone him at home to complain.