In three weeks, I will be attending the Netroots Nation Convention in Austin, Texas on behalf of Delaware Liberal. This convention was formerly called Yearly Kos, and was held previously in 2006 in Las Vegas and in 2007 in Chicago. It’s title was changed from referencing Daily Kos since the nationwide blogosphere is so much more than Daily Kos or the other big national blogs like MyDD, OpenLeft, Huffington Post, or Talking Points Memo. It now includes the many state and local blogs across this land, like Delaware Liberal. While I reporting to you live from the convention, I will also be on the following panel:
Sat, 07/19/2008 – 1:30pm, Ballroom F of the Austin Convention CenterOne of the challenges facing the Netroots in creating a progressive movement is the transformation of Netroots activism into grassroots action. This panel will discuss the benefits and challenges in working within the Democratic Party on the state and local level. This discussion will include a primer on how to get involved, as well as a discussion on the resistance one may face “crashing the party.” The goal of this discussion is to encourage more Netroots community members to actively engage in politics on the state and local level.PANELISTS: Brian Keeler, Chris Bowers, Jason Melrath (me, Delaware Dem), Dante Atkins, and Steve Thibodeau
“Crashing the Party” is one of the main jobs in front of us as progressive Delaware Democrats and Independents. We have in our party many dinosaur Democrats, like Sen. Harris McDowell and Thurman Adams. Progressive heros like John Kowalko are few and far between, even in our own party. In 2010 and 2012, we must mount primary challenges to these dinosaurs that have outlived their extinction. This will require a grassroots effort, but we have become experienced in grassroots efforts recently. The long awaited Bluewater Wind deal is evidence of that, and I will be speaking about your and Tommywonk’s tireless efforts over the last two years to keep the public and the media informed, to keep pressure on our representatives, and to keep the deal alive.