Earlier today I was at the annual Take Back America conference, hosted by the Campaign for Americas Future. It's the liberal counterpart to the annual Conservative Political Action Conference. Today's agenda included a panel discussion by five leading voices in the online progressive community: Ari Melber, Chris Bowers, Tracy Russo, Digby, Terrance Heath and Pam Spaulding. Highlights after the jump...
Take Back America Blogger Panel
This weeks Take Back America conference in Washington has brought more than 2,000 progressive activists together to discuss how they think Democrats can best position themselves to win the White House and increase their congressional majorities this fall.
Along with prominent political leaders like Sen. James Webb (D-VA), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Jesse Jackson, were some familiar faces from the liberal political blogosphere. At the same time Barack Obama was delivering an important speech on race in Philadelphia, a panel of five influential bloggers and netroots activists explained, and sometimes debated, the role ordinary citizens can play both as activists and as counterparts to the mainstream media.
"Things that blogs focus on in great detail may not translate to the general public," said Tracy Russo, a Democratic strategist and former online press coordinator for the John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign. However, Ms. Russo said the campaign benefited heavily from the support of online activists and stayed in daily contact with more than a dozen top-tier bloggers, much in the same way a campaign touches base with more traditional journalists.
Nation Magazine correspondent Ari Melber moderated the panel, and said he believes progressive bloggers became a necessity for Democrats nationwide to counteract what he described as a Republican Party that operates outside the conventional rules of politics. "They [Republicans] make those referees - the press and the judiciary - largely irrelevant." He said bloggers relentlessly confronted the establishment, when the Bush administration attempted to enact Social Security reform and divert attention away from the war in Iraq. "We cannot allow the reporters and the politicians to pretend the rules havent changed," he said.
Bloggers from both sides of the spectrum are often described as harboring more partisan views than those reflected by the two major parties. That point was brought up during the discussion when Mr. Melber noted that with John McCain having already won the Republican nomination, and Barack Obama currently winning the battle for the Democratic nomination, both parties appear to be embracing candidates that are less politically abrasive than previous standard bearers. But not everyone on the panel agreed that voters are hoping to transition to a different style of politics.
"I don't see bipartisan, moderate, or third party candidates doing very well electorally." Said Chris Bowers, who runs OpenLeft.com, one of the more influential liberal blogs. Bowers said he thinks opinionated bloggers have found a large audience because the views of openly liberal voters were not being reflected in the media or from most candidates for office.
One of the reasons online activists are criticized for their sometimes polarizing stances is that bloggers have had a mixed record when it comes to propelling their preferred candidates into office. Russo said while the support from the netroots is essential to a presidential campaign it is often easier to get more direct results when giving money, and other resources, to congressional candidates. Using the example of Donna Edwards recent primary victory over former Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD), Russo said $500,000 in online fundraising could be an entire campaign right there, for a congressional candidate, whereas a similar amount generated for a presidential candidate could be raised in a single day, by a national campaign.
Putting their differences aside, the panelists were largely in agreement about their favorite target: the media. "I think its funny that you see a lot of discussions taking place on the blogs that end up as stories in the mainstream media," said Pam Spaulding, who writes the Pams House Blend, website. Another panelist, who writes under the pseudonym Digby Hullabaloo, said she believes blogs help counter what she considers a lack of depth in the medias coverage of politics.
"The blogs have been there from the beginning, pursuing stories she and other bloggers believe the larger media largely ignore," she said. One example she gave was a letter-writing campaign last month led by Firedoglake author Jane Hamsher, which produced more than 15,000 complaints to local newspapers over an Associated Press story examining the patriotism of Barack Obama.
Despite their undisputed success raising money and pushing certain issues to the forefront of the national political debates, theres a danger in any new constituency taking itself too seriously. When asked if she believed the blogging community could have propelled John Edwards to the White House Russo joked, "I truly believe if we had more recommended diaries, we would have taken it."
Along with prominent political leaders like Sen. James Webb (D-VA), Rep. John Conyers (D-MI) and Jesse Jackson, were some familiar faces from the liberal political blogosphere. At the same time Barack Obama was delivering an important speech on race in Philadelphia, a panel of five influential bloggers and netroots activists explained, and sometimes debated, the role ordinary citizens can play both as activists and as counterparts to the mainstream media.
"Things that blogs focus on in great detail may not translate to the general public," said Tracy Russo, a Democratic strategist and former online press coordinator for the John Edwards 2008 presidential campaign. However, Ms. Russo said the campaign benefited heavily from the support of online activists and stayed in daily contact with more than a dozen top-tier bloggers, much in the same way a campaign touches base with more traditional journalists.
Nation Magazine correspondent Ari Melber moderated the panel, and said he believes progressive bloggers became a necessity for Democrats nationwide to counteract what he described as a Republican Party that operates outside the conventional rules of politics. "They [Republicans] make those referees - the press and the judiciary - largely irrelevant." He said bloggers relentlessly confronted the establishment, when the Bush administration attempted to enact Social Security reform and divert attention away from the war in Iraq. "We cannot allow the reporters and the politicians to pretend the rules havent changed," he said.
Bloggers from both sides of the spectrum are often described as harboring more partisan views than those reflected by the two major parties. That point was brought up during the discussion when Mr. Melber noted that with John McCain having already won the Republican nomination, and Barack Obama currently winning the battle for the Democratic nomination, both parties appear to be embracing candidates that are less politically abrasive than previous standard bearers. But not everyone on the panel agreed that voters are hoping to transition to a different style of politics.
"I don't see bipartisan, moderate, or third party candidates doing very well electorally." Said Chris Bowers, who runs OpenLeft.com, one of the more influential liberal blogs. Bowers said he thinks opinionated bloggers have found a large audience because the views of openly liberal voters were not being reflected in the media or from most candidates for office.
One of the reasons online activists are criticized for their sometimes polarizing stances is that bloggers have had a mixed record when it comes to propelling their preferred candidates into office. Russo said while the support from the netroots is essential to a presidential campaign it is often easier to get more direct results when giving money, and other resources, to congressional candidates. Using the example of Donna Edwards recent primary victory over former Rep. Albert Wynn (D-MD), Russo said $500,000 in online fundraising could be an entire campaign right there, for a congressional candidate, whereas a similar amount generated for a presidential candidate could be raised in a single day, by a national campaign.
Putting their differences aside, the panelists were largely in agreement about their favorite target: the media. "I think its funny that you see a lot of discussions taking place on the blogs that end up as stories in the mainstream media," said Pam Spaulding, who writes the Pams House Blend, website. Another panelist, who writes under the pseudonym Digby Hullabaloo, said she believes blogs help counter what she considers a lack of depth in the medias coverage of politics.
"The blogs have been there from the beginning, pursuing stories she and other bloggers believe the larger media largely ignore," she said. One example she gave was a letter-writing campaign last month led by Firedoglake author Jane Hamsher, which produced more than 15,000 complaints to local newspapers over an Associated Press story examining the patriotism of Barack Obama.
Despite their undisputed success raising money and pushing certain issues to the forefront of the national political debates, theres a danger in any new constituency taking itself too seriously. When asked if she believed the blogging community could have propelled John Edwards to the White House Russo joked, "I truly believe if we had more recommended diaries, we would have taken it."
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