"Yearly Kos" changed its name to "Netroots Nation" to, as I understand it, reflect that the many gains made for Progressives and Democrats in recent years have been greatly assisted by internet-driven activity. Citizen journalism, online activism, lefty blogging. Call it whatever you want, but nowhere is it more organized and I'd say, effective at the state level than here in Texas.
I look at their success and, like a little kid looking at his pal's tricked out new bicycle, find myself asking "How do I get one of those?"
One look at the scheduling grid for Netroots Nation will tell you that you have to make some choices in what event you want to attend. I had planned on going to a caucus of state bloggers, but at the last minute decided to sit in on the Texas bloggers caucus instead. As it turned out, I was the only non-Texan in the room, but they let me stay.
Until very recently, I had no idea that a large group of Texas bloggers had formed the Texas Progressive Alliance. It is an organization of over 40 of the states biggest, best progressive blogs and bloggers. They have learned that together they are much stronger than they are individually. That synergy thing. And it is working. Texas is getting closer and closer to flipping blue, and it is grassroots efforts -- Texroots in this case -- that are making it happen. DNC chairman Howard Dean told a crowd of us as much just after the Texas caucus.
“We’re going to undo all those evil things Tom DeLay did,” Dean said, a reference to the GOP-majority Legislature’s redraw of congressional districts in 2003. At the time, then-Rep. DeLay was the U.S. House majority leader and a prime architect of the redistricting effort.
An altogether separate testament to the strength of progressive Texas bloggers is that Netroots Nation is being held here in Austin. It's not what one would call a top-tier convention city but it is home to a lot of people who truly know how the netroots game is played.
I live in Wisconsin, a blue state. We have standout progressive people in Congress like Russ Feingold and Tammy Baldwin. Unfortunately, we also have BushCo boneheads like Paul Ryan and F. James Sensenbrenner. And we have a statehouse that is divided, with the Republicans holding everything up in the state assembly with a 52:47 majority. So, while we appear blue at the national level, there's enough red to keep us moving either backwards or not moving at all.
We need a WiscRoots.org.
A blogger credited with getting the Texas Progressive Alliance off the ground is Anna (like many bloggers, last names are extraneous), who blogs at annatopia.com and Texas Kaos.com. "It just started as a mailing list," she told me. "We were pissed off about the whole [congressional] redistricting thing, and that brought us together." That was back in the Tom Delay heyday when Republicans were pretty much redrawing their districts freehand to assure enough voters to keep Democrats out of the House. Classy bunch, those Texas Republicans. It was also during a time when the state was having severe budget problems... but not so severe that the Republican governor kept calling the legislature back for "emergency sessions" to pass the redistricting plans. In case you didn't know, this is a big state with a lot of state legislators. Getting all those folks to Austin for so-called emergencies cost a lot of money the state didn't have at the time.
So how do we get one in (insert your state here)?
Vince Leibowitz, a frequent contributor to Burnt Orange Report and author of Capitol Annex suggests starting small. "First, find out who the players are; who would come together to form a texroots kind of thing. Start a Google group, or better yet, get together in person. Wisconsin's not that big so you probably could all get together. (Yeah, well, Wisconsin isn't tiny, but I guess compared to Texas...) You have to be organized." Leibowitz suggests picking a small objective first... a specific piece of legislation or the like. Then go after it, "...work up a blog swarm." And build from there. Strive to draft a candidate or two. "Keep raising the bar."
To apply this to my state, I know I have to change my own way of thinking if I am to be helpful. I have to stop thinking of Wisconsin as Madison. Just like Howard Dean is all about a 50 state strategy, we need a 72 county strategy. (I never knew we had that many until I just counted them, twice.) To be sure, this is not an original thought. But it remains a powerful idea. and our friends in the Texas blogosphere operate a working example of how a coalition of blogs can make a huge difference not only on the national level, but at the critical state level.
Wisconsin bloggers: we have work to do!
cross-posted on Wisconsin-based Kerfuffle