Republican and Conservative political analysis and commentary

Hello and welcome to ElephantBiz.com, my new blog for Know More Media focusing on the business side of Republican Party politics.

First, the obligatory "who I am" stuff...

The short version is I'm a writer with extensive experience in journalism and blogging, mostly about business, public policy and politics. I've had my own blog, BillHobbs.com, for five years.

I am currently self-employed as a media relations and blogging consultant, doing both traditional media relations work and also coaching clients in the use of weblogs and other social media as public relations tools.

Before that, I was a media relations specialist and blogging coach in the office of University Marketing & Communications at Belmont University, where I did a variety of traditional media relations work and also lead the University's efforts to connect with the world via weblogs. I coached the director of Belmont's Center of Entrepreneurship, Dr. Jeff Cornwall, on the creation and publication of his weblog, The Entrepreneurial Mind, which raised the profile of the University's new Entrepreneurship program and helped make it the fastest-growing major on campus in its first three years in existence.

Also while at Belmont I worked with Robert Cox of the Media Bloggers Association to organized the BlogNashville conference, which brought 250-300 bloggers from around the country to Nashville in May 2005 for a three-day conference focused on blogging and journalism, training bloggers in computer-assisted research and reporting, and other facets of the new grassroots interactive journalism. I am a founding board member of the Media Bloggers Association, an organization that you'll be hearing a lot more from in 2007.

I often speak to business and professional groups about the interaction of weblogs, public relations and media.

My career in journalism has included full-time, part-time and freelance work for newspapers and magazines, covering a wide variety of stories from the business beat to country music to health care. I have written news or commentary for a variety of general-interest and niche newspapers, magazines and online publications, worked as a press secretary for a Nashville mayoral candidate, edited three business books, and helped launch an online news database company

I've also done policy research and op-ed writing for a now-defunct Tennessee political think tank of a conservative/libertarian bent.

I was born and raised in the suburbs of Philadelphia, Pa.., and studied history and political science at Lipscomb University in Nashville from 1982-85. I served as a legislative aide during the 1985 session of the Tennessee General Assembly. I attended Abilene Christian University in Texas from 1985-1987, graduating with a B.A. degree in mass communication.

I live in the suburbs of Nashville with my wife and two children.