Kos speaks often of the "netroots", and how much our activism means to the future of the Democratic Party and the progressive movement.
Almost four months ago, a team of people with a vision - including myself - set down a blueprint for an idea that was to become Pacific Northwest Portal.
We were inspired by national sites like Daily Kos and moved to action by recent events in our region - specifically the
Washington State gubernatorial race recount - that showed local conservative blogs were having a dangerous influence on regional media coverage without any strong counterbalance.
These local conservative bloggers' websites were (and still are) promoted on conservative talk radio here in Washington State, have gotten exposure nationally on FOX News Channel, and their URLs were printed on postcards sent out to thousands of homes by the Building Industry Association of Washington (BIAW). Many of you are doubtless familiar with the BIAW.
Washington State, as well as Oregon for that matter, are known as "blue" states because both supported Kerry and Gore.
Continued below the jump...
Yet conservative bloggers were wielding a stronger influence. We resolved that something had to be done about this situation.
As I saw it, the first step would be to create our own regional information gateway and media information center. So we created a blueprint that eventually evolved into Pacific Northwest Portal.
And four months later, Pacific Northwest Portal is making a huge difference.
The site is basically a clearinghouse on progressive blogs and a resource for progressives regionally and nationwide. Twenty-four blogs are syndicated, and an additional eighty-two are linked from our directory - for a total of 106 progressive blogs.
We have a listing of all the local Air America stations, and newswires with mainstream media stories for each NW state and then one for all of the U.S. The "newswires" are equipped with advanced filters to keep out sites like WorldNetDaily, NewsMax, and FOX News.
We have a business news center, with business and labor headlines from the Seattle Times, P-I, Yahoo Finance, and other sources.
We have another directory with the most comprehensive list of Pacific NW newspapers, TV stations, and radio stations to be found anywhere.
Pacific Northwest Portal is more than a news and information site, though. It's become a tool for creating a community. It's fostered an amazing degree of cooperation among the different bloggers throughout the region. We're talking together, strategizing together, and working together - like never before.
We're received dozens of e-mails from progressives telling us the portal is their new browser start page. Reporters from mainstream media publications surf Pacific NW Portal to see what the progressive blogs are saying.
Today, Pacific Northwest Portal is unveiling a new Highlights section. The Highlights section showcases the best media and content in the Northwest. You can find links to important blog posts, articles, and columns within the last couple of months.
There you can also browse the innovative Topic Hotlist, created by Daniel of On the Road to 2008, (and whose own blog is syndicated at the Portal) to discover what northwest voices are saying on a variety of hot issues. And you can check out the Blog Feature Awards to see what unique features characterize many progressive blogs in the Pacific Northwest.
Pacific Northwest Portal is the netroots in action. It is unique, community driven, and it is independent. It's a bond between all the fine progressive bloggers in this great region. It has united us into a more powerful, more mobilized, community.
And unity is something we're going to need if we are going to effectively combat the right wing. Kos writes on his about page:
We desperately need to catch the Right in the Blogger Wars, and I am proud of each and every person who has the guts and initiative to start his or her own weblog. The progressive movement of the future will be built, in large part, on this digital foundation.
Pacific Northwest Portal is a significant little chunk of that digital foundation - representing 106 progressive bloggers in three states (and counting).
This project has exceeded my expectations in what I hoped we could accomplish with it. But we can go even further. I and others have published this diary and numerous other diaries here on Daily Kos, and I can certainly write on
our team's blog.
But I am not Kos, or a guest blogger, for that matter. If Kos or a guest blogger is willing to give us some attention, we could not only increase awareness of Pacific Northwest Portal as a resource, but also potentially inspire others to follow our example and start their own projects.
Perhaps if Kos sees the site and likes it enough, he'll add it to his blogroll. But that's his decision to make.
I firmly believe that a network of portals like this one would certainly create a very strong "digital foundation" for the progressive movement.
If you haven't seen Pacific Northwest Portal yet, I strongly encourage you to take a good look. And even if you have, you should go visit our new Highlights section.
Additionally, if you're a progressive blogger in the NW and you aren't in our directory - we want to hear from you immediately. Let us know you're out there so we can add you.
Thanks to all who visit and promote Pacific NW Portal. Your support has made this site into what it is today. And as always, we are attentive to your feedback. You can send us a message through our Feedback page.