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Showing posts from September, 2006

six weeks out

Like many of us here in the progressive blogosphere, I find the news coming out of Congress today tremendously disconcerting.  At the same time, I firmly believe that democracy is about both process (debate, discussion, public stands) and results (elections, Congressional votes, legal decisions). These two aspects of our democracy are deeply linked. As someone who has written numerous pieces raising energy and awareness about electoral activism I know just how significant elections are...and how important what we do and how we conceptualize what we do in the next six weeks will be for all of us. Here's a reality: in just a matter of days most absentee ballots will have been mailed out around the nation and the national mid-term elections of 2006 will have officially begun. I see what's going on in Washington with the "torture votes" as directly related to this reality. In my mind, our job is keep our eyes on the ball. Our job is to keep relentlessly building our

Local blog sleuths axe GOP Congressional Aide

This fresh off the Washington Post : "House Aide Resigns over Fake Blog Posts" A top aide to U.S. Rep. Charles Bass resigned Tuesday after disclosures that he posed as a supporter of the Republican's opponent in blog messages intended to convince people that the race was not competitive. Operators of two liberal blogs traced the postings to the House of Representatives' computer server. Bass' office traced the messages to his policy director, Tad Furtado, and issued a statement announcing Furtado's resignation Tuesday. And, yes, it was the sleuthing of Blogs United and Dailykos blogger Miss Laura of Blue Granite and Michael Caulfied of NH-02 Progressive (and Blogs United, but I'll let him say who he is on his own) that broke this story and uncovered Tad Furtado's astro-turf blogging from Bass's DC office. Think local blogs don't matter? Think we aren't a part of the story this fall? Think again. Hats off the intrepid NH bloggers. This

Blogs United: structure and openness

I've been doing a ton of work off the blogs on Blogs United. And, yes, that's cut into my blogging time. Just the truth. Here's where Blogs United is at today: We have a DFA-link site up. We have a Google Group up and running. We have a public Wiki with a number of cool features available for browsing...and many more to come. We have a small satellite presence on the Party Builder site. Wikis...as I'm learning...are a ton of work But I'm hopeful as the months progress that the Blogs United wiki will prove to be one of it's more innovative and useful features...we'll see. I'd like to address the Google Group here for one second. I've tried to make Blogs United as inclusive and open as possible. That means trying to: a) make sure as many people as possible know about the group and feel free to join and b) creating a public presence for the group in multiple ways (DFA-link and Party Builder networks, public Wiki, Google Group with clear portal

Blue Jersey

Blue Jersey continues to expose the Kean campaign...what a great headline: It's not Easy being Kean .

the politics of Peter Daou's invite list pt. ii

I very deliberately titled my last post on this subject with Peter Daou in the title. There's a point there that I think folks have been missing. Peter Daou works for Hillary Clinton, a U.S. Senator and presumptive Presidential candidate. It's his job to do outreach to the blogs. To criticize Peter in that capacity is, far from being unfair, par for the course. Criticism is to be expected in politics and comes with the territory. Had Peter been assigned to do a lunch with the Korean grocer's association of Manhattan, no one would have griped if the resulting photo depicted Clinton w/ Korean grocers. That wasn't the case here. This "bloggers lunch" and the photo that resulted from it, just did not reflect the diversity of the blogosphere or its leaders. Hell, it doesn't reflect the blogosphere that Peter himself linked to extensively in his admirable career at Salon.com. To do that meeting, with that outcome, both visible and invisible, was a mistake. F

blog toronado

Sweeping through blogistan: Blue Jersey has two great, must read posts about the GOP Kean campaign astroturfing their blog: Astroturf 1 and Astroturf 2 . If you're looking for evidence of the significance of local blogs...how about being directly attacked by opposing campaigns??? Ampersand at Creative Destruction has a really carefully thought-out run-down analyzing the mindsets behind the Clinton lunch . (Not a title I would have chosen however, there's been enough of that already.) Lynn Allen has an update from WA State while N in Seattle previews a new form of campaign ad: crop art! MN Publius has a good post on how the GOP attempted to vilify a Muslim Democrat running for Congress in Minnesota by associating him with... a man the GOP themselves embrace . There's good news from Virginia in Jim Webb's fight to unseat George Allen. And the fact that the the Sierra Club is now on board helps.

take a look at Michigan Liberal

Michigan Liberal is a regional liberal Soap Blox blog covering the great state of Michigan. You may have caught them the first time through the national blog coverage this story got... but if you take a closer look at the website, from the staff page to the page covering the races for the Michigan State House you'll find a regional blog that has built a powerful local infrastructure covering Michigan politics. There's also a healthy user diary section too. Anyone interested in local blogs or Michigan politics should take a look.

the politics of Peter Daou's invite list

Sometime earlier this month Peter Daou , a leading Democratic online writer and organizer (and current blog advisor to Hillary Clinton) organized a bloggers lunch where fourteen Democratic bloggers met with former President Bill Clinton in his offices in New York City. For any progressive blogger worth their salt this was a kind of 'dream date:' lunch with Bill Clinton and a group of peers for a freewheeling debate on the issues of the day two months out from a major election. According to the participants the event went really well. You can read the reports on their blogs: Christy Hardin-Smith of Firedoglake covered the meeting here Chris Bowers wrote about it on MyDD here and Jeralyn Merritt of TalkLeft's rundown can be found here . Now, as word of the Clinton lunch...and photos of it...spread throughout the blogosphere, a question arose: "Where were the bloggers of color?" First, blogger terrance of the Republic of T (who self-describes as "Black, Gay, Fat

on the Blog Beat...Sat. AM edition

How about a quick tour of local blog action from NM-01, MN-01, NY-24 and KY-03? New Mexico blog NM FBIHOP has a really nice run down of the culture of corruption angle. GOP Congresswoman Heather Wilson says her policy on taking dirty money like the $60,000 she raked in from Tom DeLay is just to "give it back." Sounds weak to me...but it turns out Heather Wilson is not even doing that. Blue Stem Prairie highlights a clear choice facing Minnesota voters in MN-01. On the one hand there's GOP incumbent Gil Gutknecht who has invited his buddy Newt Gingrich to help him campaign for a promise-breaking, "chuck the Contract with America" out the window seventh term in Congress. On the other hand there's Democratic challenger Tim Walz who's appearing this weekend with Congressman John Murtha. Gutknecht/Gingrich versus Walz/Murtha. That's a clear contrast for Minnesotans come Novemeber on issues as diverse as the war in Iraq to fiscal responsibility to p

time to get real

Chris Bowers has an excellent post up at MyDD about the existence of a "generation gap in perception" around the 2006 midterm elections. That post, in making a distinction between how those above and below the age of 40 see this election and the Democratic party, dovetails with an interesting conversation I had with fellow blogger Matt Ortega at Drinking Liberally Oakland last night. There is a missing ingredient that the Democrats need to find RIGHT NOW. That ingredient is precisely this: a level of backbone and a resolute focus on the GOP record embodied personally by Republican candidates. Democrats have failed to produce this ingredient in previous elections, and we've paid the price. We need to make a visceral connection with the voters about the price of this GOP Congress. We need to make this personal. We need to get real . To elaborate on what it means to "get real," Matt Ortega spoke convincingly about the recent anti-George Allen Vote Vets ad on b

midterms: less than two months out

Yesterday's primary results have been well-covered at MyDD and Dailykos . I'll be interested in following how local blogs in Arizona and New York spark up now that we have defined races in those two states. I've been busy working (I do make a living outside of blogging) and working on organizing Blogs United , so forgive my light posting. I do have a couple thoughts regarding the "state of the midterms." First, I think the coverage of campaign ads from YouTube is spot on. It's the perfect mix of short, sweet digestible content and amplifies two things that our campaigns really need help with: getting the message out and getting feedback about what does and doesn't work. Vis a vis the ubiquitous YouTube I say, "rock on." Second, there is motivated energy among activists on the Democratic side. However, at least from this pov, that energy has not crossed the chasm to activating the "next wave"...the sometime volunteers, the word-of

3 Sunday must reads

Here's three pieces that anyone following the fall elections should take a look at today: ahf8 has a diary up at MyDD called If we don't fight, we'll lose . Matt Stoller's criticism of the Lamont campaign is timely and has broader implications than just CT. And James L put up a post at Swing State Project last night highlighting the state of primary races around the country. It's essential reading. My impression of the pulse of the netroots is that all-Disney all-the-time has actually been a net negative. I'm sure GOP strategists are happy that netroots diarists are talking about Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright today and not vulnerable GOP incumbents . I wrote a piece yesterday on dKos called outrage and infrastructure . In retrospect, it was too gentle and considered. If you measure this weekend simply by the yardstick of whether the netroots pushed the name recognition of vulnerable GOP incumbents: this weekend is a huge loss . Most of the GOP incumbents

Blog-round-up-a-rooni

Just a few local blogs that fight back: Horses Ass reports that Darcy Burner Dem WA-08 is raising hella money in Washington State... Ohio's FIRST reveals that Dem Steve Cranley is on FIRE, with a new website and fresh energy headed into the fall campaign season Ohio Fifteenth takes a look at this Cook report rating that predicts that vulnerable GOP incumbent Deborah Pryce will have her hands full with Democrat Mary Jo Kilroy in central Ohio. Well, looks like " archive scrubber " Brodkorb's got his hands full with MN bloggers for now... ...and the Defenders of Wildlife are kicking up some dust in Pombo's district... Pacified at Square State isn't taking biased polls lying down . I guess Curt Weldon GOP in PA-07 really did say "we either fight them over there or in our supermarkets" to justify his support for Donald Rumsfeld. Curt Weldon, a Bush apologist... who knew ? Looks like TN Republican Senatorial candidate Bob Corker is a Debate Dodger

blogs united

My blogging has slowed since I've spent more and more time the last two weeks doing organizing for Blogs United. That work organizing, however, has paid off . Blogs United currently has 130 members on DFA-link and 90 participants in the Google Group email ring. (Up from 43 and zero, respectively two weekends ago.) There are currently 27 states represented and growing. If you are a local or regional blogger interested in participating...email me at kidoaklandactivism"at"comcast"dot"net. I started Blogs United at DFA-link last winter on the recommendation of Matt Lockshin. Matt has one of the sharpest analyses of the usefulness of locally-focused blogging of anyone I know. He's also one persuasive guy when he puts his mind to it. Witness the fact that he got me to start Blogs United! (How did that work?) Something Matt and I have had innumberable converstations about is the power of locally-focused blogging. I recognize, however, that even this term conf

the k/o list

Below you'll find an updated blog entry version of the k/o list. This list, as I've explained before , is a work in progress and a tool for you to use to read about some of the close races in this country where Democrats are taking GOP seats back from Republicans. I will republish it periodically before election day: the k/o list : updated Thursday 7th, 2006 Key: candidate name = Democrat running for office CA-11 = dkos Tag local blog name or L = local blog G = google blog search T = technorati search R = regional blog C = Campaign website $ = ActBlue page The West Harry Mitchell AZ-05 the Lofty Donkey G R $ Primary AZ-08 R Jerry McNerney CA-11 SayNotoPombo G R $ Phil Angelides CA-Gov GovernorPhil R Ed Perlmutter CO-07 SquareState G R $ Monica Lindeen MT-AL L R $ Patricia Madrid NM-01 NM-FBIHOP G R $ Tessa Hafen NV-03 LV Gleaner R $ Peter Goldmark WA-05 R $ Darcy Burner WA-08 Evergreen Politics R G $ The Midwest Bruce Braley IA-01

GOP hypocrisy round up: mendacity overload

Our tour of GOP hypocrisies large and small starts in the state of Nevada, detours through Colorado (CO-06) on the way to West Virginia, takes the Abramoff cesspool head-on, gets a taste of New Jersey medacity (NJ-07) and flips the meme and winds up with the story of Democratic lack of action in support of Claire McCaskill in Missouri. Mendacity overload: GOP Candidate for Nevada Governor seems to like holding other folks to standards he doesn't follow himself. Fresh hypocrisy brought to you by the Las Vegas Gleaner Colorado's Tancredo Watch posted this almost a month ago...but double standards don't get much more galling than this. Carnacki at the W. Virginia Grassroots blog points up this aspect of Bush family "niceties" ...a nice analysis. Dailykos diarist denegre has a great round up of that cesspool of GOP scandal that goes by the name the Abramoff 64 New Jersey blogger Dump Mike forwards this piece of outrage from NJ-07, where GOP Congressman votes himself

post weekend blog dynamo

All reports are that this election cycle will be one for the ages. Let's take a peek at some of the local races and blogs that everyone will talking about 63 days from now... Lynn Allen at Evergreen Politics examines the deep dirt on GOP Congresswoman Cathy McMorris who is being challenged by Democrat Peter Goldmark in WA-05. Hoosier Democrats reminds everyone that Indiana is a critical battleground state this fall: with three races where the GOP is in deep doo-doo. CT-05 blog fronts some MoveOn YouTube that points out Nancy Johnson's true loyalties. It was huge on dkos, but don't miss this post vis a vis Senator Allen and the meaning of "macaca" by RamR on Raising Kaine . That's WA-05, IN-02, IN-08, IN-09, CT-05 and VA-Sen in one fell swoop. And, while you're in a local frame of mind, don't miss this piece from the New York Sun .

More positive local press coverage of blogs

First it was Virginia , and next it was Montana ...and now it's North Carolina , where the Charlotte Observer covers the local blogging of the Southern Dem , a local blogger whose writing covers the race to unseat GOP incumbent Robin Hayes in NC-08. There's a pattern here, despite the awkward cluelessness of some political pundits (and the clear intention of the GOP 'talking points class' to brand local bloggers as "angry" this fall)...the local press is starting to get it. Local citizens who write about local politics are a positive force multiplier when it comes to generating interest in topics that local reporters cover. Local bloggers are very much a part of the story this fall , whether in Montana, Virginia or North Carolina , which is yet one more Southern state where there's more than one congressional race of interest this fall. Update: Check out this effort to recruit local journalists fresh off the press from BlueJersey.net. This is the dir

Sunday Blog Roundup-a-thon

Today's blog news returns to Kentucky (KY-03), Ohio Buckeye country (OH-15), takes a peek at New Hampshire (NH-02) and finishes out West in New Mexico (NM-01). Let's not waste time: Bluegrass Roots examines some recent polls in the Yarmuth v Northup race in KY-03. Read to the end for the on the ground assessment. Ohio 15th lays out the local case against GOP incumbent Deborah Pryce in true Ohio style. Speaking of local style, the Yankee Doodler continues to hone its laser focus on GOP incumbent Charlie Bass in NH-02 with a post-entitled: The Dog Ate My Iraq Accountability . My advice? Read it. Out here in the West NMFBIHOP reports on the lastest polling for New Mexico, and what those polls mean from the local point of view. Finally, be sure to keep fresh local blogs like... Take Back Cincinnati and Pete King Watch on your radar. On a meta note, I have a piece up on MyDD right now called Fear of a Netroots Nation . Try it for my take on the disconnect between how insi

Green Warrior needs Blogs Badly...

The tour de local blogs this Saturday starts in Colorado, (CO-07), visits Minnesota (MN-01), does due diligence in New Jersey (NJ-07) and finishes with a taste of Kentucky (KY-03, KY-04). If you didn't think that this election season was going to represent a politics of contrast, check out this great post by CO Democrat on a Colorado Republican plan to draft male high school students into the Border Patrol. Democratic candidate for the 7th Congressional District, Ed Perlmutter, denounced his opponent, Rick O’Donnell’s proposal to “help boys successfully become men of character” by drafting all teenage boys in their final semester of high school to serve as border patrol agents . Ollie Ox at A Blue Stem Prairie continues to prove that national level coverage of local races and issues is not the sole domain of "big blogs." That piece has it all: national analysis, engagement with local press and news, and links to fellow local blogs. Kudos. The excellent blog covering

MT Blogging and Jonah on How to Blog

Following up on that nice blog op/ed from Virginia two days ago, here's an excellent companion piece on the local Montana blogosphere from the Missoula Independent . (w/ photos.) This is a must read on one of the most interesting local blog environments in the country. Blogs mentioned in the piece include Left in the West , 4 & 20 Blackbirds , Wrong Dog , Pragmatic Revolt and A Chicken is Not Pillage . They are all worth a visit. You could say that the media CW is beginning to change about blogs and bloggers. At least in Virginia and Montana. Some folks in high places still don't quite get it . The water's fine, however, in the world of local political blogging, where readership is measured in terms of neighbors and local issues. And, as Jonah in NYC points out in a post that gives tips on How to be an Amateur Blogger , there's never been a better or easier time to start a blog. tags: local blogs