It happened today when the Sunlight Foundation put out a plea to bloggers to expose the senator who placed a secret hold on the Senate Campaign Disclosure Parity Act, a bill that would require senators to file their campaign finance reports electronically. It’s a good bill, sponsored by Sen. Russ Feingold, to bring more transparency to government.

But after stirring up a dozen popular bloggers across the political spectrum, we learned tonight (courtesy of David All) that there isn’t a secret hold on the bill. Across the blogosphere, the damage was already done. Liz Mair at GOP Progress all but accused Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell of blocking the bill. Several others likened it to the Coburn-Obama fiasco of last year.

Thankfully, the most popular blogger of the bunch, Glenn Reynolds of Instapundit, has posted an update. How many others will follow his lead? Hopefully all of them. Even if this is just confusion about Senate syntax, it’s essential for bloggers to get the facts correct.