[Crossposted at Blue Hampshire, Daily Kos, MyDD, Open Left]
I just wanted to share my thanks to everyone involved with Yearly Kos in Chicago this past weekend. It was a great event and an excellent opportunity to meet some of the folks here at Swing State Project (including DavidNYC) for the first time. We'll be sharing more videos of our campaign events and my thoughts on the issues over the coming months.
I had a whirlwind trip through Chicago for Yearly Kos this past weekend, and it was great to be with people who care about changing our nation's direction — and are willing to work hard to make that happen. I met some truly impressive people from all parts of the country — local and national bloggers, activists, former Clinton administration advisors, motivated citizens — and all of them are rolling their sleeves up for positive change.
One of the sessions I attended was of particular interest to me and other residents of the Texas 10th. It examined the prospects for Democrats in winning Republican-controlled House seats. Stan Greenberg, who ran polling for Bill Clinton, pointed out that Democrats have a solid lead over their Republican opponents, even in traditional GOP-held seats. Furthermore, this trend is likely to become more pronounced over the next year. This confirmed what I've discovered when talking to people in my district, Republicans and Democrats alike: the Bush White House has lost the public trust, and the lockstep support of its agenda by Congressional Republicans is getting us nowhere. People want change, not more of the same.
One of the highlights was the gathering of all the candidates at the Netroots Candidates Celebration on Friday evening. There were at least 20 of us, most of whom are running for US Congress. And seeing their enthusiasm, sincerity, and talents made me proud to be in their company:
A shot of the candidates that attended the event:
It also turns out that bloggers I met at Yearly Kos have remarked on the race for the Texas 10th. Matthew Yglesias of the Atlantic Monthly wrote about it:
I am already looking forward to next year's gathering. I'll bet there will be 50 candidates there in the summer of 2008, all of whom will have their Republican opponents quaking. America wants a fresh start, and the people I met in Chicago are just like the ones I meet here in Texas: they're ready to make it happen.
(Bumped – promoted by DavidNYC)
I’m curious to know which SSP readers (if any) are headed to the YearlyKos Convention this week. I’ll be going, so I should also take this opportunity to pimp the panels on local blogging I’ve organized. There seemed to be quite a bit of enthusiasm for the topic, so we wound up creating three roundtables:
Panel No. 1 (Friday, 1pm) features bloggers Mark Nickolas (formerly of Bluegrass Report and now of Rocky Mountain Report), Matt Lockshin (of Say No To Pombo) and Michelle Leder (of Take 19). SSP alum and local blogger extraordinaire Tim Tagaris will moderate.Panel No. 2 (Friday, 2:30pm) features Mike Caulfield of Blue Hampshire, Philip Anderson of The Albany Project, and Wendy Norris of Colorado Confidential. I’ll be moderating this panel.
Panel No. 3 (Friday, 4pm) features David Kravitz of Blue Mass. Group, Karl-Thomas Musselman (of the Burnt Orange Report), and Matt Singer (of Left in the West). Kossack and Blue Hampshirite Laura Clawson (aka MissLaura) will moderate.
If you’ll be at the convention, please drop by one (or all!) of these panels. They’ll be informal, low-key affairs and undoubtedly we’ll discuss topics of interest to many SSP readers – stories from the campaign trail, what worked (and what didn’t), where the future of local blogging is headed, etc.
And if you’re attending YearlyKos, let us know in comments!