| Ask the Speaker
Nancy Pelosi
We stood tall with those who passed Social Security and those who passed Medicare and we stood tall and passed healthcare reform. President Obama said "I'm happier than I was when I was elected" after healthcare. He wishes he was here, he understands the importance of the netroots, and now, President Obama.
OBAMA video. Keep making your voices heard, keep holding me accountable. Change is hard, but change is possible. Remember the fundamental truth of our democracy. Change doesn't come from the top down, it comes from the bottom up. From the netroots, from the grassroots. Keep up the good work!
Q and A:
Cheryl Contee
Nancy Pelosi
Q: Will we see progress on ENDA? A: Been part of my being since I got to Congress. We've been working very hard. Trying to get clarity of language. It has to be done. It's embarrassing that we even have to do this. Fits comfortably on the path we're on. We did fully inclusive hate crimes. ENDA was next on my agenda. Others wanted DADT first and we got that done,. I hoped for a moratorium on discharges from the military. I need your help to get the biggest possible vote on ENDA. We're against discrimination against anybody and everybody. Our bill will be fully inclusive.
Q: Who's blocking progress? Who should we target? A: Positive targeting. Encourage supporters, get everybody enthused. We won by 40 votes on DADT. Let's do that again. Your impatience is justified. Let's work together and get it done.
Q: Youth Promise Act? Dream Act? When will education become a high priority. A: Nothing more important than opportunity for young people. We never know what can happen in the Senate. As far as education, we have a strong commitment to education. Saved taxpayers 60 billion dollars, 40 billion of that in community colleges, Pell Grants. DREAM Act is very good. Differences in opinion on how to move forward. We're committed to comprehensive reform. We're going to split up the bill.
Q: Are you opposed to raising the retirement age? A: Yes. We've got to be fiscally responsible. Be tough on spending, have pay as you go. We're moving to reduce the deficit. If we want to have a conversation about social security solvent? What do we need to do to get it solvent? Accept the fact that as we make social security more solvent. Make me do it. Make us do it.
Q: Q on Jobs A: Stimulus bill. We passed the unemployment bill in DECEMBER. Republicans want tax cuts for the rich, 700 billion unpaid for but unemployment benefits need to be paid for.
Q: Crack/powder A: Already passed the Senate (everyone laughs) taking it up this week.
Q: Will we get a climate/energy bill this year? A: My biggest priority. Established a select committee. The Senate can't walk away. National security issue, competitiveness issue, moral responsibility. Time is running out, not an issue we can walk away from. I don't know what their bill will look like, we look forward to conference. We passed legislation already a year ago. Sooner or later this has to happen, the sooner the better because all the threats continue and get worse. We're not going away on this. Take charge of out selves and our role in the world.
Q: Do you expect the House to vote on the Fair Elections Now Act? A: We need your help. You can't take up a bill unless you're going to show strength. You need to tell members this is fundamental, this is important. This is in the people's interest. Removing the perception that donors are more important than poor kids. Call, write, blog, tweet, make your voices known. Visit the offices. Make us do it. Passed the DISCLOSE Act. I like to show strength.
May I just say. The leverage changed for consumers with wall street reform. With healthcare you can't be denied for a pre-existing condition. The leverage has changed. 100 days from tomorrow is the election. We want to have no regrets. We took the responsibility. Not because of a party, not because of a politician. Because of the 1 in 5 children in poverty, people who need jobs. Not just back to work, people who have not been to work. No longer will problems on Wall Street cause devastation on Main Street. The leverage has changed.
Q: Women in politics, first female speaker A: I think Donna and Jan would agree running for office is not for the faint of heart. I wrote a book about this, Know Your Power. Have confidence in who you are, no one is like you, you have a contribution to make, nothing better for our political process than the increased power for women. Don't anyone diminish you. 5 kids in 6 years, the talent that took. Kudos to men doing your patriotic duty and encouraging women in public life. At last women have a seat at the table. But we want more. I stand on the shoulders of many who went before. I know many are standing on my shoulders. We understand our responsibility. We have a very diverse demographic. We succeed because we listen to each other. Gender, generation, geography, ethnicity. We build bills together. I see that here, too. We like bipartisanship, but we will go alone if we need to. We will not go back.
Mid-Term Watchdog: 10 Steps to Own State and Local Electoral Coverage
Wendy Norris
Carla Axtman
Tracy Viselli
Erin Neff
Robin Marty
Black hat vs white hat blogging
Carla Axtman
White hat: Positive for a candidate/cause. Black hat: Oppo, etc.
Pick that role. Don't switch between them, confuses your audience. Cements your style and your reputation. Facilitates your sourcing, if people understand where you are coming from you'll get better sources.
White Hat: For things, motivated by positive activism. Not motivated by say, what the Tea Party is doing. Easier in terms of time and resources. Easier to create and nurture sources this way, people will come to you. Very easy to put that together, they'll give you lots to work with. Harder to create a high profile / niche for yourself. Hard for Carla to be passionate every day. If you can be passionate about activism and if you are a creative writer you should be a white hat blogger.
Black Hat: Opposition style, aggressive, antagonistic. Motivated by the shit that comes out in the world. You see bad things happening and you want them to stop. Oppo against the Tea Party, Freedoom Works. Feels good. When your frustrated it feels good to write about that. Very rewarding. Cons: Very time intensive, you've got to be a bulldog. You can't be afraid of confrontation, phone calls, pissing people off, building up sources on all sides. Building relationships with people on the right, too. You've got to be accurate or you'll lose your reputation. You'll be dismissed. You need to be fearless. Hate mail, pulled aside will happen.
Picking a target
Robin Marty
Things to think of
Pick specific races that are not getting coverage.
Bluestem Prarie (White hat blogging about Tim Walz, great progressive advocate)
Dump Bachmann (Very through blackhat Bachmann blogging)
Topic blogger. Pick your issues, you'll get linkage, sources. Establish yourself and do it early. Nobody expected Arizona, established immigration bloggers were able to take advantage of that. Consider being a bill tracker. Media is too lazy to cover this themselves.
Hyper local races. School boards, city council. Texas has taught us this. Local house and Senate races. Lots of them, media won't cover them.
Finding a niche
Erin Neff
Read the damn city council agendas. Go through minutes. Small city council members become congressional candidates at some point.
I covered Sharon Angle, I knew her craziness. We knew about abortions causing cancer bill. For my organization it's important to cut through the clutter.
Buy a flip cam. Go out there and buy one and turn it on and film people. Very cheap expense to get a good, high def flip cam and start incorporating that into what you're doing.
Monitor your traffic, monitor your YouTube views, monitor your earned media. When your YouTube hits go up the local media will get off its ass and start covering something. There are simple ways to measure your impact.
Engagement
Tracy Viselli
Think of engagement in two ways. Community building and targeting your audience. Think Barack Obama, change is hard work, engagement is hard work. Really important if you want to get an audience.
Sharon Angle was a local story for decades, now she's a national story. Be ready for that kind of thing. Target local and national media. Second set of targets are other bloggers. Best way to build an audience is by engaging other bloggers. Interact with other bloggers, read them, make comments, build relationships. Time, effort, no way around it. Sharon Angle doesn't happy very often. Even if they are out of your niche. My fav relationship is with Wonkette editor Ken Layne. Be brazen. Pitch to stuff like Wonkette. Cultivated that relationship, he did me that favor. Can't be afraid to ask, but ask smartly. Your readers become your advocates. They're not just reading your blog. Feature them.
Engagement is networking on meth with social media. The depth of the breath possible is exponential.
Q: Black hat blogger needed for MO Senate Race A: You have a relationship with the campaign already, they probably would be willing to work with you to provide the oppo research. You've got to live with being insulted, harassed. If you are going to be a real badass blogger you've got to disengage with the campaign. In CO blackhat bloggers are just being assholes, not contributing. If you're going after one of your own, really understand why you are doing this and what limits you are setting.
Q: Judy Jennings, cost of campaigning. How do you not make it constant begging? A: Start out meeting people, having a cup of coffee. Go beyond local bloggers and understand national bloggers.
Q: Community blogging. How do you find that niche? A: Find your voice, part of the blackhat/whitehat decision.
The Tip of the Spear: Engaging with Progressives in Congress
Rep. Tom Perriello
Rep. Chris Murphy
Rep. Jared Polis
Rep. Raul Grijalva
Lise Clavel
Amy Emerick
Darcy Burner
What does a member do?
We only have twenty staff. Half in district, half in Washington. All have huge policy areas they have to work on. Constant 15 minute meetings. No time to really get informed on policy. You are probably more informed on a specific policy issues than they are because they have so many things to work on. Correspondence into office has doubled in the last two years. Another full time job in fundraising. Chris Murphy wrote an op-ed "I didn't get elected to be a fundraiser." Perriello praises the P Street Project. Better communication for long range policy planning/advocacy between activists and members/staffs.
Examples of constructive/not constructive engaging
Having a conversation, establishing trust super important.
Explaining the process, highlighting active members and players was really important.
Public commitments were really important.
Praise is really motivating for the staff and members. Criticism of passing the healthcare bill is not helpful because it makes doing good things seem not worth the effort. Public option discussion allows Medicare for All to happen sooner.
Think of progressive members as allies, not as targets. We have a lot of sticks, but we will be more effective working with them.
Inside/Outside:
Public Option/Healthcare organizing. First real inside/outside experience. Couldn't have worked without the outside pushing and working the inside to be most effective. The potential is tremendous. Some members just think about themselves. Effective caucuses have beautiful, strategic alliances with their communities around the country. CBC is an example. Codependency between outside and inside is important.
Working out disagreements:
Chris Murphy, voted to censure MoveOn. Look at it as family. Many of us see ourselves as advocates who just won an election to Congress.
Make Sure You Get An Explanation: Having a conversion with constituents helps build trust. Members feel betrayed if you walk away after just one disagreement.
How to get information to the members so that it's useful to them:
Working through Darcy and ProgressiveCongress.org. Have personal relationships. There's this idea that talking to the member or the CoS is how to influence them. That's wrong, go to the bottom where people have time to focus on an issue. Need a relationship as well.
Rep. Perriello: We don't need to have better talking points. We need to get more creative in getting earned media. Have a background in nonprofits where that is key.
Rep. Chris Murphy: I think the 60 vote requirement is a bastardization of the US Constitution. Amen, brother. Says we have to focus more on process reform, unsexy but key.
"Congressman Perriello, do you have anything to add about the Senate?" "That it sucks, literally, it sucks the energy out of America." Blocks all progress.
Q: How can we increase member staffs? A: Real public opinion barriers, probably prevents it.
Q: Does protesting the Senate by House members actually work? A: Perriello praises the VoteVets clean energy ads, says we should be pushing in every way we can.
Wishes for what the Netroots Nation attendees do:
Perriello: Focus on economic populism
Clavel: Fight against the misinformation that is out there.
Murphy: I hope people understand that people understand that what we are trying to do is supposed to be hard.
Grijalva: Big difference between fighting hard and cynicism
Emerick: Build relationships
My battery is about to die. So I'm unplugging for Reid in hopes I can do Franken.
Final Keynote:
Tarryl Clark
Big corporations and Wall Street are on a mission to take back Congress. One of their biggest fighters is Michelle Bachmann. Stand with the Gulf Oil Spill victims? Protect us from Wall Street? Help homeowners? No way. We know there is a better way. Grassroots, netroots, Minnesota. Michelle has the full backing of Wall Street and Sarah Palin, we are in for a fight. But I know how to fight. I've spent my life fighting. The insurance industry spent $1 million to beat my consumer bill, but I won. I've won some big fights, but this time I have a not so secret weapon. We are at a crossroads. We need good paying, family jobs. We're not done on energy, declare our independence from foreign oil. It's time for someone who will actually be fiscally responsible. We're standing up and spreading the word. We need you to do the same. We can let frustration and alienation win, we can have progress stop. We can knock out the special interests. Let's get it done! God bless America! |
