John McCain’s blogger outreach guy, Patrick Hynes (originally from Ankle Biting Pundits), has made a debut on the official McCain blog. Stop in and say hello after you read “Biography as character witness.”

Congratulations to Patrick for the well-deserved recognition in the Washington Times today, too!

Even as talk radio was brutalizing Sen. John McCain in the Republican presidential primaries, conservative bloggers reached a respectful truce with the Arizona senator over touchy issues and gave him what the campaign called a “tremendous positive psychological” boost.

The main reason: Mr. McCain’s blogger outreach, the most extensive of any presidential campaign in either party, helped keep him afloat in the dark days last summer when the major press was sizing up his campaign grave. During those times, Mr. McCain got attention and digital ink from the bloggers he invited to biweekly conference calls, and got a chance to talk policy.

I’ve always said it was Hynes whom I credit for bringing me around, just as the article says. His impact on this election has been immense, and I expect it will serve him well in the future. I’ll write more about this later. For now, go read.

Patrick Ruffini