The liberal media establishment is lavishing praise on Democrats for their embrace of bloggers and new-media tools. Within the past 24 hours, both the Associated Press and Los Angeles Times have written glowing reports about the wonderful things liberals are doing.

Conservatives, it seems, need to do a better job of getting the word out.

The AP’s story about Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s interaction with bloggers could have just as easily been written about former Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, who welcomed bloggers to his Capitol office last summer. Just like Pelosi, Frist also employed a staffer (through his PAC) who dealt with bloggers.

Each week since last May, the Heritage Foundation and Human Events have hosted a weekly meeting on Capitol Hill for conservative bloggers. Members of Congress or their staffers regularly participate. Just last week, the White House sent a representative to address the group.

Also, what’s so impressive about Pelosi’s hiring of a new-media director when Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell has already done the same thing? Jon Henke has been blazing a trail for the past month on Capitol Hill. Sen. Jim DeMint, chairman of the Senate Steering Committee, has a seasoned blogger on his staff, too.

And when you look at who has been more successful in terms of actual accomplishments, let’s not forget it was N.Z. Bear of Porkbusters who propelled a bill on government transparency from obscurity in the Senate to the President’s desk last fall. Conservative bloggers scored another victory earlier this month when DeMint took on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid to win a vote on an earmark reform amendment.

The Los Angeles Times’ attack on conservatives suggests we’re far behind in terms of incorporating all the latest gadgets. But what the Times fails to note is that the three leading Republican contenders haven’t officially declared their candidacies. And even so, Mitt Romney does have Web 2.0 features, such as Mitt TV.

While I‚Äôm a strong believer that conservatives need to do more, liberals don‚Äôt have a monopoly on the blogosphere — far from it, in fact.