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Sunday, January 23, 2005
Sacto Meeting
Posted by Bob Brigham"What you're seeing is the transformation of the old party into the new party, which is the Internet party, which is going to fund the party." -Bob Mulholland
I've written about Mulholland before. Let's give the guy some props, he credentialed me and let me plug a mic plug into the mult box so I have press pool audio of the event. Mulholland was the first person to credential bloggers when he asked Kos and Jerome Armstrong to blog the 2003 Democratic Convention. Cheers to Bob...go check out Bob's Blog -- it is a model other state parties would be wise to copy. Mulholland isn't some 20-something geek, but an old school political hack who has realized that the internet allows him to take advantage of his political instincts and great writing to slap around his adversaries. Mulholland is the example of why old school political operatives shouldn't be scared of the net, the tools that made them successful in 20th century politics will allow them to triumpth in 21st century politics (if they are willing to allow their message to spread in real-time).
I say this because of the dynamics for DNC Chair. Many in the press are too simple-minded to see the race as more than a left-right battle. But the dynamics have always been more aptly described as reform vs. status quo; advancing vs. treading water.
The reform vs. status quo dynamic is now manifesting itself in a value-the-netroots vs. hate-the-netroots division. Frost and his staff are said to "hate" the netroots and I had a Roemer staffer tell me he has "no affinity" for DailyKos (most popular Democratic blog) and MyDD (blogfather's blog). I had scheduled an interview with Roemer to get his view on the Mercatus Scandal but I ended up blowing him off. You see, Nancy Keenan, the head of NARAL, snubbed Roemer last week. Nancy Keenan has been hero of mine and is a western Democrat legend -- I figure if it is good enough for her, it is good enough for me.
The small donor is the backbone of the 21st century political party. Frost and Roemer are politicians looking for a job so they don't care about the netroots -- and they won't get netroots money!
I have hours of audio and a lot more to say. But I can tell you two things out of today's Western Caucus:
much more to come
Posted at 01:09 AM in Activism, DNC Chair, Netroots | Technorati
Comments
good job, Bob. Look forward to the rest.
Posted by: Big Dog at January 23, 2005 03:20 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
Great work, Bob.
You made my day at the office even more interesting than I had thought it might be.
Looking forward to reading the rest.
Tim
Posted by: Tim T. at January 23, 2005 10:52 AM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment
The race for DNC chair is indeed more than just left vs. right or "reform vs. status quo."
Martin Frost "hates" the netroots no more than someone like Joe Trippi "hates" the netroots. In other words, Frost doesn't hate the netroots. Frost is someone who can lead the party and, most importantly, is a Democrat who knows how to WIN anywhere in the country. If it can lead to victory, Frost will effectively use the 'net to help Democrats nationwide.
Posted by: NTD at January 23, 2005 10:47 PM | Permalink | Edit Comment | Delete Comment