Reston, Va. - The number of visitors to political blogs and news sites has skyrocketed during the 2008 presidential election season, compared with a year ago, according to new figures from Web audience measurement firm comScore.

HuffingtonPost.com led among a group of selected stand-alone political blogs and news sites with 4.5 million visitors in September, up 472%, while Politico.com attracted 2.4 million visitors (up 344%) and DrudgeReport.com saw 2.1 million visitors (up 70%).

"That most mainstream news outlets now have their own political blogs is a testament to their increasing reach and influence," said Andrew Lipsman, a senior analyst at comScore.

"However, several independent blogs unaffiliated with larger media outlets paved the way in this space and are really beginning to enter the mainstream public consciousness with this current election cycle."

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http://www.comscore.com/press/release.asp?press=2525