Next year...

YearlyKos 2007: Kos in Hollywood.

Thanks to you Chris! Followed everything like white on rice on - line and on C-span and haven't been this inspired or impressed or optimistic in recent memory.

Rest well dear Chris - you've earned it. Onward and upward!

Good for you, man. Power to the People. And to long hair! And to software! And ISPs. And keyboards and screens.

about being involved in Carol Shea-Porter's campaign in NH-01.  What a marvelous group of ordinary people running a grass roots campaign and wow-ing voters with our enthusiasm and creativity.  And of course with our wonderful candidate, a woman who speaks her mind!

I am sad I couldn't go to the conference in Vegas, but I'll do all I can to make it to ones in the future.  I'd love to hear more about it, since I couldn't go.  I hope there will be more things shared by y'all who went, so we can learn from your "take away."

I am also glad you are going to do trackings of the Senate race.  Fellow netizens, keep looking more closely at the Akaka race.  It's a reverse Lieberman situation - Akaka (the incumbent) is anti-War, and Case (the challenger) is pro-Bush's war.

Oh!  And I hear Akaka just got the endorsement of Democracy for America.  That's good.  But overall, I hope folks will watch this race.  I am suprised the Lieberman race is getting all the attention, but Akaka very little.

oh man... I think I'm gonna pee

that says a lot. We're for real, and I too have been saying that for a while as well. To those who doubt it or are trying to lower expectation of the Netroots, just remember - that's Mr. Gangly-Longhair to them (I thought hypenated was better).

One suggestion: Next year hold the conference at the end of June.

Congrats on a successful event.

Chris, you are pointing out something that is very important IMHO.  Politics has been framed as being too difficult for the average person; politicians are remote from the people they serve.

You and the netroots will change this so the "people-powered politics" we really need can emerge.

I've been on reading sites like MyDD, Kos and DU for years now. I started searching for like-minded outraged people shortly after the 2000 election fiasco when nothing I felt or sensed was being reflected in the MSM.

Now that the netroots are flexing some muscle, I kind of feel like one of those people who say "Oh, yeah, well I saw such-and-such (insert now famous band) in (insert long ago year) at (insert tiny little intimate club name) before they were famous."

I was glued to C-span.  To finally hear voices, and put faces with names!  too cool.

Keep up all your good work.  Its wonderful to be part of something creative and "now".  

What is great about the blogs is the forum.  Blogs are not limited by space like print media, or time like broadcast.  The links take the reader to all kinds of comprehensive info.  The reader can't help but be informed, armed, and enthusiastic.  There can be no lies, no spin, no mis-information for long, because the sphere will jump on it and debunk it in seconds.  no letters to the editor a couple of weeks later.  no correction on the inside of pg 4..........

The blogs are our 'WAR ROOM'.  

Chris, you speak well in public and I liked the chart you showed that had Hillary Clinton's support compared to the amount of time a person spends in the blogosphere. It shows we can influence opinion, but to do that, a lot more people have to access us.

Yes, size does matter.

Chris

Do you feel that the netroots can be organized to action in a manner more pointed than what is has been to date?

Second, how can the netroots be more connected with the grassroots activists on the ground in precints around the country?

 Chris, thanks for being so accessible. I'm sure just about everybody in the conference at some point wanted a piece of you and most of the other, er, "noblemen", as Salon might put it, but you were very gracious when I approached you at the Warnervaganza and asked you about running for my local central committee.

 Thanks to the Kos and MyDD staff and all the organizers for a truly phenomenal weekend. I'm a bit depressed that it's over, even though I'm still on vacation, in sunny San Diego... :)

 Can't wait to get to work when I get back east, though...

Chris

My impression is that while the netroots form their own political community, their  community (which consist of numerous sub-communities)is, in so many ways, a rather provincial and somewhat self-contained community: a little self-contained bubble of sorts where the is much "preaching to the netroot choir".  A lot of "preaching"; a lot of complaining; a lot of judging; a lot of "theory talk"; but from what I have seen their is little discussion or debate about the art of practical politics.  I don't think I have ever seen a site dedicated to where there is discussion of "best practices" or creative "grass roots gardening'" strategies.  

What are some creative strategies for "nurturing progressive political community at the local neighborhood and precinct level"?  What are some "exclusivity gestures" for cultivating progressive political community.  To whom should we be reaching out?  Hard core Democrats?  Nominal Democrats?  Liberal Republicans? (In South Dakota -- of all place -- there was a state-wide Republican for Daschle group.) Independents?  Greens?  How do we reach out at the local neighborhood level.  Give me your best shot.  What practices works and what practices doesn't. How do you nurture a grass roots Democratic Party? In other words, how do you motivate "progressive leaning" political couch-potatoes (nominal Democrats) to become actively involved at the local level.  And if it is your goal to enroll nominal Democrats (including those who sit in front of their lap-tops all day with their backs to their neighbors), what are the "roles" you have to offer when you begin the "enrolling process"?  Are you going to get in a frenzy about organizing "Block Captains" to drop off four-color campaign lit that will immediately be placed in the circle file? Or what about a "political garden party" where EVERYONE in a four block radius is invited (the idea about "everyone invite" is that we might want to quit "preaching" to the converts whom we know and begin reach out to those we don't.  What would be a possible strategy for netroots to "actually reach out" to those they do not know without their invites landing in the unopened "junk mail" file? Here is another question:  "In its voter ID efforts, has the DNC adopted a non-grass roots strategy that has the effect of objectifying the voter (as an object) and then mounting GOTV efforts to "harvest votes" (the voter) much the way that loggers engage in clear cutting of forest.  Are your netroot gardening buddies interested in the practical politics and issues like vote harvesting?

Chris, these questions come out of my personal experience as the previous Program Director and now the Outreach Director of one the most DFL State Senate District in Minnesota (in terms of total Democratic votes; % of Democratic votes; and % of voter turn out).  The problem we face is that most of our Democratic constituents are so disconnected from one another that they are unaware of most "political should mates" in their own apartment building or on their block (except the hard-core who have put-up political lawn signs).  I have seen no evidence that the "netroots" have been able (or shown any interests in) addressing this problem of "political disconnectedness" at the local neighborhood and precinct levels - this, despite the fact that all politics are local).

Yes, the e-mail is an important tool for campaign communications, the website can be an important resource for the campaign.  But I see little discussion on blogs about how and when to use these tools, and when they might be effective or ineffective in helping nurture progressive political community at the local neighborhood and precinct level.  Sometimes I wonder whether the "netroots" have ever actually engaged in the dirty work of developing a campaign plan and working that plan.  The lack of discussion of the art of practical politics suggests to me that netrooters are not interested in that practice.  For example, here is a very serious political problem: "How do you mount effective Voter Registration/GOTV Campaigns in All-Doors-Locked/No-Posters-Allowed condos and apartment buildings?  This is a serious problem that our DFL districts face (and that the DFL endorsed candidates face).  This is a serious problem not only in Minnesota but across the country.  But where are the discussions that address these problems taking place?    Chris, where among the netroots are these discussions taking place?  Are they taking place?  Or are discussions about the art of practical politics to mundane for those for the netroot crowd?

Sorry to be the Sage of Bad News.

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