What started out as a mailing list to bring Florida bloggers and online activists together is now officially a blog: Florida Netroots.
Ok, so what exactly is the Florida Netroots?
We're a community of Florida bloggers and online activists who want to get more Democrats elected here in Florida. We discuss blogging, share diaries, research issues and candidates, and look for ways for our online activities to turn into grassroots action. Think of it as a sort of Bloggers United only just for those in Florida.
Our objectives:
- Educate ourselves and others on how to get more involved in local and state politics
- "Better Know" our state and local elected officers and candidates
- Create networking opportunities for Democratic bloggers and online activists
We started by connecting with each other via the Florida Netroots Yahoo Group.
We developed partnerships with some of the larger statewide Democratic blogs like FLA Politics and the Florida Progressive Coalition.
Then I opened my big meow mouth and suggested that the Florida Democratic Party hold a blogger panel at the State Democratic Convention in October.
We're going to have a Netroots/Bloggers Luncheon at the Jefferson-Jackson Weekend to discuss exactly such a panel for the convention. Here's text from one of several emails the Party sent out publicizing the event:
Building the Netroots: Blogger Lunch at the J-J in June
Florida has a burgeoning progressive Netroots family, and the Party is excited to hold its first ever face-to-face meeting of online activists from across the state during our annual Jefferson-Jackson Weekend. The Netroots is a collection of activists who utilize online discussion message boards, or web-logs ("blogs"), as an instant and effective means of communication with other activists. It allows efficient organizing and the instant transfer of information, keeping a large number of people organized and informed at all times.
The lunch discussion will be held from 12:00-2:00 p.m. on Saturday, June 9, at the Westin Diplomat Resort in Hollywood, FL. We encourage attendance at what will undoubtedly become an important Democratic tradition in Florida politics. Tickets are $50 (to cover costs of food and room rental), and the event is open to all. Attendees can purchase tickets online at www.fladems.com/jj
Your fellow Daily Kos members gatordem and T Rex will be among those attending the luncheon (as well as getting press passes to see Nancy Pelosi!) and I look forward to hearing their reports.
I hope to have more informal, non-party opportunities for us to meet up in person too.
Now we've unleashed a Blog of our own: Florida Netroots
The blog will continue to be a resource for building a blogger community and the mailing list will remain as a means of communicating with each other.
The addition of an online presence will help us achieve our other objectives: reaching out to others to encourage them to get involved and to acquaint ourselves with our state and local elected officials as well as candidates for elected office.
To this end, the Florida Netroots has "borrowed" an idea from Stephen Colbert.
I'm sure many of you are familiar with Stephen Colbert's ongoing series "Better Know a District" where he does humorous interviews with members of the U.S. House of Representatives.
The Florida Netroots Blog is going to try out it's own "Better Know" series with categories like "Better Know a State Legislator", "Better Know a Local Official" and "Better Know a Candidate" where contributors to the blog write diaries about specific state or local politicians here in Florida.
Now, they wouldn't be the funny, face-to-face interviews a la Colbert, but researched articles or actual interviews about the person's background, voting record, job performance, and reasons to support or reject from public office.
The focus is on state and local polticians because the Democratic Party in Florida is in serious need of a strong bench. We won't have good candidates to run for Congress without first recruiting and promoting folks to run for local and state office. We strive to fill that niche.
Together we can Blog Florida Blue.