It is time to find out who is going and what panel, caucus and discussions you want to go to or are going to.
Of course, you will all be attending my panel, entitled Crashing the Party: Transforming Netroots Activism into Grassroots Action Within State and Local Parties.
Saturday, July 19th 1:30 PM - 2:45 PM
Panel, Ballroom F
One of the challenges facing the Netroots in creating a progressive movement is the transformation of Netroots activism into grassroots action. This panel will discuss the benefits and challenges in working within the Democratic Party on the state and local level. This discussion will include a primer on how to get involved, as well as a discussion on the resistance one may face "crashing the party." The goal of this discussion is to encourage more Netroots community members to actively engage in politics on the state and local level.
Chris Bowers of Open Left.
Chris Bowers has been the managing editor of Openleft.com since July 2007, and was a full-time editor at MyDD.com from May 2004 until June 2007. He is also the treasurer of BlogPac, a fellow at the Commonweal Institute, and holds a seat on the Pennsylvania State Democratic Committee. Bowers is 34, lives in Philadelphia, and occasionally works as a netroots consultant for progressive candidates and organizations.
Jason Melrath (Delaware Dem) of Delaware Liberal.
Jason Melrath is a Philadelphia attorney residing in Delaware, and is known as "Delaware Dem" on Daily Kos, MyDD, Booman Tribune, Delaware Liberal and Daily Delaware. He graduated from George Washington University with degrees in criminal justice and political science. He earned a J.D. degree from Widener University School of Law in 2001, where he served as editor of the Widener Law Review. A member of the Progressive Democrats of Delaware and the Delaware Young Democrats, he founded the local political blog Daily Delaware in 2007 and remains active in state and local politics in the First State.
Dante Atkins (hekebolos) of Calitics
Dante Atkins was a classics major at UCLA before deciding that politics suited him better than academics. Dante started blogging at DailyKos as "hekebolos" in 2004 and currently serves as a frontpage author at Calitics. Dante is very involved in the California Democratic Party, where he is an elected delegate. He also serves on the CDP Platform Committee, and co-authored a new platform plank that affirms the Party's support of net neutrality and bloggers' rights. Dante works with The Pollux Group, a firm specializing in qualitative research and online marketing strategies. Dante spends his free time obsessing over spiders.
Steve Thibodeau (wmtriallawyer)
An attorney, Steve Thibodeau is known as "wmtriallawyer" in the blogging world. In 2006, Steve was elected to the Maryland State Democratic Central Committee to represent Legislative District 33 of Anne Arundel County. He serves as treasurer for the Anne Arundel County Democratic Central Committee, as well as on the Rules Committee for the Maryland Democratic Party. He is also the former executive vice-president of Young Democrats of Maryland, and has prior work experience on Capitol Hill and as an editor for Jim Hightower, nationally-known progressive radio commentator. Steve currently resides in Annapolis with his wife, Jen, and cat, Ella.
Brian Keeler (NYBri)
Brian Keeler has a diverse, broad-based background in political activism, citizen journalism, Internet community development, business consulting and the performing arts. In 2006, Brian was a groundbreaking Netroots NYS Senate candidate with extensive online exposure. His campaign developed unique methods for utilizing the progressive on line community and was the first to hold a "blograiser," a combined real-time and virtual fund-raising event. Brian is the co-founder of the blogs The Albany Project, Political Cortex and ePluribus Media.
And also, let us know your guesses as to who the mystery / surprise Keynote Speaker for Saturday night is. Nevermind, it is Donna Edwards, our netroots champion from Maryland