I have been a member of Daily Kos for slightly less than a year. I love this place. This is the first place I go for news when I get up in the morning, because I know that you guys/gals on the east coast have got the story before I get it. (I'm in California.) I also read WP, NYT, LAT and Informed Comment on a daily basis. Several times a week I read Al Jazerra, BBC, the Guardian, Capitol Blue and The Rude Pundit.
I love Daily Kos because I am a liberal, and I resonate to most of the diaries here. A week ago I ventured over to Red State. I heard opinions that were so far right that I knew they did not represent the "average" Republican, at least not the repugs that I know. They think that Gonzales and McCain are way too liberal. We think that Hillary is way too conservative. (She is.)
Then I realized that Daily Kos does not represent the average Democrat, anymore than Red State represents the average Republican. Be it Daily Kos or Red State, we do not represent the majority of our respetive parties. We are the activists. We are more left/right than the average voter.
For one thing, we are so much more informed than the average voter. Would you believe that the majority of Americans, be they Republican or Democrat, do not have a clue as to who Rove is? Valerie Plame? Never heard of her! How many voters do you think actually read the WH press briefings? How many voters actually watch the House and Senate on C-Span?
We at Daily Kos and those at Red State and other political blogs apparently have way more time to scrutinize and reconstruct the news according to our political leanings than the average voter.
The average voter gets up in the morning and tries to get the family fed, dressed and off to work and school. By the time everyone gets home they are all exhausted and may spend 10 or 15 minutes watching the news.
So, how do we, as Democrats, get our message out? Well, first of all, we appeal to the problems of everyday living for most families: Jobs, health care, education, social security, taxes, education, homeland security -- you fill in the blanks.