I was reminded again today:
The "Netroots Nation" (YearlyKos) convention is the Primary Season's "Iowa and New Hampshire of the Blogosphere!"
It was the Iowa Republican State Party Chair on C-SPAN's morning call-in show this morning, left nameless, who said (to my best recollection):
"In Iowa, if you don't shake the hand of the next president of the United States... IT'S YOUR OWN FAULT."
Think about that...
The Netroots Nation convention is a 'small town' of a few thousand folks created temporarily for the purpose of meeting with each other and talking about our passion for politics. Imagine a small town in Iowa or New Hampshire that was composed mainly of activists, journalists, web designers and programmers. Imagine being able to walk down a block of exhibits and see the NEXT "YouTube". Imagine being able to drop in to the local "newspapers","radio" and "TV", and have a non-hostile, non-trivial conversation?
If you were a candidate interested in RETAIL POLITICS with a group that has millions of readers, wouldn't you want to get to know those folks and make them your advocates?
The DC clique got it wrong, NYBRI got it right!
--Lefty!!!