Larry Kaplan, the medical doctor and former Wellesley School Committee member who is taking on incumbent Alice Hanlon Peisch for the 14th Norfolk district state rep seat this September, is spreading his message about healthcare reform, environmental issues and transportation reform in a door-to-door campaign. But he’s also knocking on cyberdoors via the Web in an approach unlike any we’ve seen since the Swellesley Report started up in 2005. His site, designed by his son, features a blog. And unlike many bloggers who start strong then peter out, Kaplan has kept up a pretty steady stream of posts (to date, the conversation via the blog has been one-way…no commenting by readers allowed). He could use a copy editor, but hey, couldn’t we all, and he’s not running to be an English teacher after all…

Meanwhile, Peisch has a more traditional web site, but she reaches out to the public in her own way. For some face-to-face time with Peisch, she has office hours at the Wellesley Free Library on Aug. 11 from 9-10am.

Peisch, by the way, scored points with the media when she introduced a bill that would protect reporters from revealing confidential sources. From the Weekly Dig:

A bill protecting reporters who don’t reveal confidential sources is essentially dead for the session.

The bill’s sponsor, Rep. Alice Peisch, D-Wellesley, says such legislation could uncover stories that otherwise wouldn’t get to print. “It’s important that reporters are able to assure their sources that they do not need to reveal their identity,” Peisch says. “Largely because I think that’s critical to getting information out to the public.”

“Shield laws” offering reporters statutory protections already exist in 33 states and D.C., but, Peisch says, no protections exist in the Massachusetts Constitution or at the federal level.