The folk hero of the No vote

Stephen Baker, writing today on the Business Week blog, says that blogs had a big effect on France's referendum on the EU constitution.

Baker highlights the influence of one particular blogger, law professor Etienne Chouard, whose (French-language) site got around 25,000 hits a day during the lead up to Sunday's vote and was widely linked to.

The Washington Post says Mr Chouard became "something of a folk hero to the No campaign" for his site, which he used to attack the constitution. The buzz from the blog got him invited onto television to spar with leading politicians.