This study sought to contribute to our understanding of politics and new media by examining potential of political news blog usage to have a direct and indirect impact on political participation. The indirect impact was hypothesized to be through such three variables as political discussion, political knowledge, and news use. The three-wave panel data gathered in the state of Ohio around the 2006 mid-term election was used to test the hypotheses. A model was proposed where blog usage, along with three other variables (political discussion, knowledge, and news use) came from wave 2 and political participation came from wave 3. Baron and Kenny's method was used to test mediation; lagged variables were used whenever possible in construction of regression equations. The results showed that blog usage had marginally significant direct relationship with political participation, where people who read blogs tended to participate in politics more. Also, the data was consistent with the hypothesized indirect impact of blogs on political participation through political discussion. However, neither political knowledge, nor news use mediated relationship between blog usage and political participation. The study extended the literature on political participation and communication by showing a marginally significant relationship between blog use and participation, as well as showing blog reading to be linked to political discussion. Particular electoral context of the 2006 Ohio campaign and political news-production practices explained why hypotheses about indirect impact of reading blogs on participation through political knowledge and news use were not supported. Implications for the communication field, as well as for democracy were discussed. Several future research directions were suggested.