Last weekend, over 800 women bloggers arrived at Chicago's Navy Pier for this year's BlogHer conference. These women, covering everything from radical feminism to high fashion, received little media attention (more on that later) and to my mind, surprising little respect from the major political candidates. Two campaigns did send surrogates and deserve special mention: Hillary Clinton and John Edwards. Representing Clinton was the Clinton campaign women's outreach director, Dana Singiser.
Appearing on behalf of John Edwards and featured in the closing Keynote session was ...
...
[wait for it]
...
BING! my favorite candidate's spouse: Elizabeth Edwards, his wife and principal champion.
NOTE: Before we get to Elizabeth's presentation and some great videos, let me just point out what a bone-headed move this was on the part of all the other campaigns--Democratic and Republican. Over 800 women, all active in their own circles, all writing their own blogs or as commenters on blogs, all having the opportunity to promote or demote an issue or candidate, from all across the country. As Zephyr Teachout said over on TechPresident.com, "I'm stunned." These were also the words used by our own Gina Cooper (BIG shout-out to Gina for making it to BlogHer the week before YearlyKos!!).
BlogHer may not be an expressly political convention like YearlyKos but that is no excuse. There were many political activist organizations there and some top political women as well, from Kim Grandy of NOW to Amy Sedaris. At BlogHer, there was a far greater than even chance that many of the attendees would welcome the opportunity to hear from and talk with representatives of the candidates. Yet only two campaigns took this meeting of over 800 active on-line communicators seriously enough to acknowledge their importance. That is a sorry statement about other campaigns, IMO.
And please, don't even bother with the excuses. It didn't need to be the candidate or even the top spokesperson (though I'm delighted the Edwards camp was represented by Elizabeth). But they didn't even have one lonely staffer set up a table for heaven's sake?
Lame, just plain lame.
So, back to the story at hand.
Let me give you a sense of the conference and some of the sessions held during the Friday-Saturday event. --All of this is provided in much more detail at the BlogHer.org website-- Each day of the conference had 5 tracks plus sessions created by participants called "Room of Your Own." Days One and Two differed slightly in that on Day One, there was a track titled "Identity" and on Day Two, it was titled "Politics." The other four tracks on both days were: Art of Life, Business of You, Community, and Technical.
Two sessions immediately caught my eye: Earn Our Votes: What Questions Do Women Bloggers Want Candidates to Answer in Election 2008? and How to Write Great Political Coverage: From Breaking News to Op-Ed. Another was titled "Patriots Act: How to Turn Your Blog into a GOtV (Get Out the Vote) Machine." This one featured Kim Gandy, President of NOW and driving force behind their 2004 "Women Vote" campaign, Liza Sabater, who drives progressive grassroots activism both nationally and locally in New York City and Zephyr Teachout, political strategist, web guru and formerly Howard Dean's Director of Online Organizing.
Here's a taste from one of the sessions:
What Do Women Voters Want? from toledolefty
I was fortunate enough to attend BlogHer 2007, a conference for women bloggers this past weekend. My favorite session of the weekend was "Earn Our Votes: What Questions do Women Bloggers Want Candidates to Answer in Election 2008?" You can read a live-blog of the session on the BlogHer website to get a taste of the discussion.
[snip]
As Jennifer Pozner from Women in Media and News commented, there are a lot of misconceptions about what women voters think based on conventional wisdom. Women care a lot about policy. Despite popular notions, most of us are not just voting for candidates based on personality or other superficial characteristics. We want to know where they stand on issues that matter to us.
The highlight of the conference was the closing keynote by Elizabeth Edwards. She used an informal setting of having a conversation with BlogHer founder Lisa Stone, and then opened to questions from the audience. [Transcript of the full event available here from the wonderful Silicon Valley Moms.] Following this, and not surprisingly, she also arranged to take more questions on the BlogHer website and her answers are in the process of going up there now.
Elizabeth Edwards also stayed to talk personally with many of the conference participants at the after-event. As toledolefty said in her post about Mrs. Edwards's keynote event,
At times, she differentiated between her own opinions and the positions of the John Edwards campaign. For example, she supports gay marriage but her husband does not, though he does support civil unions. I appreciate that she maintains her right to speak publicly on how her opinions differ from the positions of the campaign and isn't led by some misguided sense of "message discipline" to stifle her own thoughts and personality.
[snip]
I was thrilled to get a chance to talk with her for a few precious moments. When I asked why she thought the other presidential campaigns, especially Obama's, hadn't sent anyone, she graciously suggested, "It must just have been an oversight." ... I hope that no matter what happens with the campaign, that this smart, articulate, and personable woman continues to work in the public sphere for as long as she can. One thing I think women voters want is to have more women's voices speaking out for positive change.
So, there you go -- more than a little bit about the most unreported major women's conference this year. I suppose since most of the political campaigns couldn't be bothered to show up, I shouldn't be surprised that the main stream media didn't either. Except that I am. Over 800 women, activists, communicators, all in one place. It would have been easier to get a year's worth of great quotes at the Navy Pier in Chicago July 27 and 28 than, than, well, picking apples in the Fall. To quote Gina and Zephyr, "I'm stunned."
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Now for the real treat. What would expect from a bunch of tech-savvy women? That's right - Mrs. Edwards on video - in 7 glorious parts! This is all made possible by the absolutely wonderful folks over at BlogHer.org so please, regardless of your gender, check them out. You may discover some new and fabulous blogs by some new and fabulous women!
Here are a few quotes from Elizabeth Edwards at BlogHer '07 to entice you to go through the different videos:
- On being attacked on the Internet and the media: "My experience of trolls; they don't go away if you ignore them. The same thing is true of Ann Coulter."
- On stating her views, even when they differ from the campaign's: "No one's ever asked me to stop talking."
- On universal healthcare: "The national will is there. But to pay for it we're going to have to raise taxes."
- On youth involvement in politics and community work: "I think one of the reasons young people are not involved is that they feel powerless, and that their voice will not be heard...I think it's part of the jobs of campaigns--wherever they are on the spectrum--to hand young people a megaphone."
- On the politics of war: "I was once at a fundraising event when the the audience was asked who among them had a relative who was serving in Iraq, and not one of the guests raised their hand--but all of the people who were serving raised their hands."
- On the politics of media: "John has said that he does not want Rupert Murdoch to be the gatekeeper of the information that Americans receive."
- More on Rupert Murdoch: "I don't agree with Rupert Murdoch. I agree with me all the time. But I still don't think I should be the sieve through which all information flows."
- On where she gets her news: "I turn on the BBC. I don't want to hear 90 seconds on an issue. I want to hear it fully discussed."
- On self-expression: "I think people dye their hair purple because they want to be noticed in a very crowded world."
- On how her faith informs her political views: "I believe that we are given a set of guidelines and that we are obligated to live our lives with a view to those guidelines....not because of the promise of eternal life, but because it is right."
VLOG #1 by Katy Chen
Why Elizabeth Edwards came to BlogHer Conference '07 and what blogging means to her.
VLOG #2 by Katy Chen
In part 2 of Lisa Stone's interview with Elizabeth Edwards, she talks about Ann Coulter and why she doesn't have a personal blog.
VLOG #3 by Katy Chen
In Part 3, Elizabeth finishes her statements regarding universal health care, Hillary Clinton, and raising taxes.
VLOG #4 by Katy Chen
In part 4, Elizabeth Edwards answers your questions about childcare and how to get young people involved in the political process.
VLOG #5 by Katy Chen
In part 5, Elizabeth Edwards discusses Iraq, Rupert Murdoch, and how she reads blogs.
VLOG #6 by Katy Chen
In part 6, Elizabeth Edwards answers questions about senior care, infotainment, and personal stories being the genius behind blogs.
VLOG #7 by Katy Chen
Elizabeth Edwards talks about the role of faith in her politics, and renewing her marriage vows with husband, John Edwards.