The Netroots Minnesota gubernatorial forum was a highlight of the Friday schedule, but I had to head home almost immediately afterward and was thus unable to write up any impressions after the fact. So, here they are, powered by the Caribou Coffee around the corner from the Hilton:
I thought the format was interesting -- it was good to see that social media tools were being used to build the question stack. There was some grumbling about the questions being the same as questions asked at any other forum, but I think the way in which the questions were asked was important as well. It was not quite the YouTube debates of 2008, but as a lo-fi successor, it fit the bill well.
With so many candidates (all but Tom Bakk) on stage, it was important for candidates to make a strong impression in very short bursts. Still, within those windows, the candidates were themselves: Steve Kelley showed his policy wonkiness, Mark Dayton was forceful but occasionally mumbled when transitioning between thoughts, R.T. Rybak focused on his work in the community and on engaging individuals to make change (see Obama, Barack).
Right now, we're streaming live from a panel discussion on "Turning old fashioned earned media into new media success" with Donald McFarland and Kelly Schwinghammer -- check it out!
Chris Coleman is speaking right now, and the first round of panels will follow him. If you're here, drop in and use this post as an open thread for what you're seeing and hearing.
I've arrived at Netroots Minnesota, albeit a little early to get MPP's exhibitor table set up. We won't have as many handouts, flyers, and other swag as other exhibitors, but we will be using our table as a home base for blogging, hopefully some live interviews, and maybe a snack or two along the way.
It's flattering to know the right wing is so interested in what's going on in St. Paul today and tomorrow -- but tell you what, don't take their word for it, and don't take mine either. Drop by, register, and attend some of the panels and discussions. Should be a great time, and plenty of great information to gather and people to meet, if you're open to that sort of thing.
Alternately, you can keep track of things right here on MPP -- if all goes according to the technological plan, we should have some live streaming video from the weekend's events, plenty of photos, maybe an interview or three.
This weekend, you'll catch me on two panels -- on Friday, I'll be appearing with Mike McIntee at 2:15 to discuss Citizen Journalism 101, in which I'm sure Mike will be the smarter and more poignant of the two panelists. On Saturday at 10:15 I'll be sitting down with Blois Olson and Jeremy Hanson for a panel entitled "Getting Ahead of the Media Cycle" in which we'll discuss the new dynamics in trying to drive stories, news, and memes in a 24/7 new media cycle.
I thought I'd post some thoughts on that Getting Ahead panel for you to chew on ahead of time...
If the old media cycle is a loop -- from story pitch/investigation to writing to publication to the reader base knowing to follow-on and back to the start -- then the new media cycle is a tangled morass of pathways to wide distribution. Go top-down and pitch to the networks/local news channels/MPR? Go bottom-up and try to break through the noise on the Internet? Use social networks to spread the word? What's the best, most efficient way to highlight any given piece of news?
Blois and Jeremy are both professionals on the "push" side of the equation -- they're trying to focus news media attention on a piece of information about their client/boss that they want people to know. My position is a bit different -- I'm sort of the middle-man, whose job it is to figure out what's important and worth knowing for my little corner of the blogosphere.
At the same time, I have a vested interest in increasing the readership of my site, which means my site can become a better resource for both producers and consumers of the information we're publishing. Which tools most efficiently bring that goal about -- are RSS feeds and aggregators like LeftyBlogs so 2002, or are they still effective? How will new tools like Google Wave affect this whole tangled process (if at all)?
I'll have a bit more detail for both panels at the panels themselves -- if you're interested, I hope to see you there!
The agenda for Netroots Minnesota is coming together fast and furious -- have a peek here. You'll note that yours truly will be doing a panel with the Uptake's Mike McIntee on Citizen Journalism on Friday (Nov. 20) -- hope to see you there. In the meantime, we're fleshing out more panels and trainings as quickly as we can -- make sure you're registered for the event and make sure you're there -- you won't want to miss it.
If you had a chance to trek to Pittsburgh this year, Austin last year, or Chicago the year before that for YearlyKos/Netroots Nation, you're in for a treat: Netroots Minnesota is coming soon!
The event will be held November 20th and 21st at the Hilton Garden Inn in St. Paul -- I expect to see plenty of members of the MPP community in attendance. I'm working with Alliance for a Better Minnesota, SEIU, the UpTake, and several other great progressive advocacy organizations on panels and trainings, and we're doing our best to make it an educational, empowering, and altogether fantastic event.
So get over to the website, register (it's not free, but it's not a wallet-crusher either), and suggest some panels and ideas. We'll post more information and details as we finalize them.
Let's play a little game. Can you imagine if the mayor of Minneapolis or St. Paul were a Republican? Imagine how much damage a fiscally irresponsible Republican would have done to Minnesota's two largest cities. Debt-reduction? Prudent management of shrinking resources? Keeping parks and libraries open? Forget these.
If a Republican ran either city it would be more along the lines of tax cuts for the residents along Summit Ave and around Lake of the Isles. How about reckless borrow-n-spend fiscal policy. Credit rating, schmedit raking. Who needs libraries, parks, pools and recreation centers when we have our unfettered liberty?
Now I'm not saying everything is rosy in these fair cities. Far from it. Because of 2012 Presidential candidate, lame-duck Minnesota Governor and occasional visitor to the state Tim Pawlenty both cities have a mess. Because Pawlenty used unallotment to balance the states books and shred our safety net for the young, poor, disabled and mentally ill, the actual mayors of Minneapolis and St. Paul have particularly difficult budgeting problems this year.
But they are resourceful, prudent and fiscally responsible. St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman released his budget proposal on Tuesday and Minneapolis Mayor RT Rybak released his today.
What do you all think about their budget proposals? Can you imagine what it might be like if a Republican ran either or both cities?
I'm pleased to announce that our very own Populista (known in the flesh-and-blood world as Karl Singer) is headed to Netroots Nation 2009 on a scholarship from Democracy for America!
Many thanks are due to DFA for making the program available to great progressive leaders all over the country, and many thanks are also due to Populista for being awesome. A few more thanks are due to you folks out there who voted for Karl and helped get him there -- as with so many things in progressive politics, it starts and ends with you.
Netroots Nation will be held from August 13th - 16th in Pittsburgh, and will be the year's biggest gathering of progressive Netroots leaders from across America. We'll be watching Populista's live updates with anticipation and a fair bit of glee.
I am really proud of this picture, especially the American Flag featured here, next to the Rainbow flag and the Parents and Friends of Lesbians and Gays flag. The symbolism of America belonging to all of us is clear. And so glad that we are again claiming the American flag as our own! The day is filled with many politicans, companies, groups, churches, resturants, bars, great music and very fun costumes. A slideshow is available below the fold.
Rep. Keith Ellison (D-MN) has always been staunchly anti-war. After voting for the very first supplement back in early 2007 and catching a lot of heat for it, Keith has voted against supplemental funding bills that do not contain clear exit strategies.
Now it's 2009, Obama is our President and Congress is still passing supplemental funding bills without clear exit strategies. While we're beginning to back out of Iraq, we still have no exit plan for Afghanistan. Once again, Keith voted against the supplemental.
How has a Democratic Congress, which has both the sole constitutional authority to declare war, and the purse-strings to fund it (or not), continued this? One major problem is that the ongoing use of supplemental appropriations bills, such as the one pending this week, minimizes Congressional oversight (as acknowledged by the Congressional Research Service) and reduces both transparency and actual debate.
In response to what by now seems like an endless series of blank checks, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-MA3) offered an Exit Plan Amendment to the supplemental bill, requiring that any continued funding be contingent on there being an exit strategy in place. The amendment was not allowed, and so this morning, McGovern introduced it as a standalone bill. As of this morning, the bill had 64 co-sponsors.
(Jeff in Evanston's diary at Daily Kos)
I think that nobody will be surprised that Keith is a co-sponsor of McGovern's Afghanistan exit strategy bill.
I haven't fully introduced myself or my blog to the new combined audience at MN Progressive Project. Hello and Happy New Year! I'm Aaron Brown, a writer, community college instructor and political organizer up on the Iron Range. After the 2006 election I started a very modest political website called MinnesotaBrown.com that last year evolved into a daily political blog. This is a cross post from my review of the first full year of daily blogging at MinnesotaBrown.com. First I'll take you through a few numbers about my experiment and then I'll share the top ten posts from the Iron Range's fastest growing (only) daily blog after the jump.
