Here’s an ambitious online extension of a print operation: Observer Media Group, parent company of the New York Observer, has embarked on a plan to cover local politics through a network of Web sites in all 50 states.

Politicker.com (“inside politics for political insiders”) now has 10 sites up and running–PolitickerNJ.com, PolitickerME.com, etc.–and will be adding more soon.

As Politicker’s management told the New York Times, each state “bureau” will be a typically lean Web operation relying primarily on one or two reporters:

“[Managing Editor James] Pindell will hire young journalists, send them to state capitals
with little more than a laptop and a BlackBerry, and let them build
each state site.

“What the young reporters lack in experience, they make up for in passion about politics…”

Each Politicker site describes itself as “a virtual watercooler for the state’s political elite…a necessary daily
stop for politically minded web surfers.”

Will a big enough audience–and advertising market–gather around this watercooler? It will be interesting to watch.