Over the last two days (Friday and Saturday, June 2nd - 3rd) I've been in Yakima, Washington, attending the Washington State Democrats' 2006 Convention, representing the
Northwest Progressive Institute - and providing live coverage of the proceedings on
NPI's Official Blog.
I'm not going to use this diary to relive everything that happened at the convention, but I do want to share my experience with fellow netroots activists.
I believe this was the first convention in our state party's history to be liveblogged, and not only that, but also "livepictured" and "livevideoed".
Over a total of two days, I wrote 17 posts detailing happenings at the convention. I actually posted more than that because I updated several of my posts. So I actually "posted" close to thirty times.
The average amount of time most delegates spent at the convention (excluding when we all retired to our hotel rooms to sleep) was roughly 26 hours. If you divide that by the number of times I posted, that's about a post every single hour - which is pretty amazing.
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As you all already know, there's something unique about blogging and "real-time" updates. Unlike a TV broadcast or news article, there's no limit to what I can publish - I don't have to leave anything out. Everything I write can be "used". I don't have to do any picking or choosing. There's no space to fill - it's unlimited.
I came to the state convention with the full intent of providing live coverage. I didn't see it as an exhausting endeavor. For me, there's something really exciting about providing live updates to our readers (and viewers).
I want to thank the state Democratic Party for being so helpful. Just about everything I needed or wanted, I got. I got a press pass. I got high speed Internet access (wireless). I got the press releases and the texts of speeches. I even got snacks.
The party's communications team has already realized how important this medium is. So have all the major campaigns. Some campaign staffers were even reading my live updates on their laptops at the convention. That was funny, of course, because they'd see something happen and then a few minutes later, they could see my take on it.
I wasn't just a guest at the convention, either. Unlike the other press, I was also a credentialed delegate. And I was on the Credentials Committee. And I was somehow picked to be a teller - someone who counts the votes if there's a division of the house - so I was fully involved.
There were a couple of times later in the day on Saturday where I was in the back of the room (the wireless was better there), blogging, and a vote was close, so I had to scramble back to my section to count votes. So it was definitely a little hectic. But it was still fun.
For people not at the convention, the ability to read live updates was apparently very cool. (I wouldn't know, since I was writing them). But I've received emails and comments on our blog from people thanking me for providing such extensive coverage.
I didn't limit myself to text, either. I always had my digital camera with me, and I took a lot of pictures, especially of candidates and speakers.
I was joined by a few other bloggers at the convention, including the very manly General, Neal of Peace Tree Farm, Jimmy of McCranium, and Steve at MajorityRules. Despite the fact that there five of us, I was the only one providing continuous and lengthy updates.
(That's in part because I had my dependable laptop with me all the time, and partly because I was motivated to do it.) Liveblogging can be really hard, especially when you're trying to do so much - take pictures, get quotes, and catch the candidates or electeds. (And count votes - and understand what's being discussed - and vote yourself).
Even though I was very busy, I still had the opportunity to shake hands with, and talk to, Governor Christine Gregoire, Senator Maria Cantwell, Congressman and DNC Vice Chair Mike Honda, State Party Chairman Dwight Pelz, Senate Majority Leader Lisa Brown, Congressman Jim McDermott, and others.
I also talked at length with each of our congressional challengers: Richard Wright, Peter Goldmark, and Darcy Burner. I am very proud of all of them - they're charging full speed ahead with their campaigns. We want our congressional delegation to be all Democratic. And I believe there's a chance that we'll be 11-0 after this November. Two Democratic senators, nine Democratic representatives. Wouldn't that be something?
Besides text and pictures, we also had audio and video. Jimmy at McCranium joined me at the congressional breakfast on Saturday and recorded speeches on his tablet PC while I liveblogged.
And later in the day, just before Darcy Burner was to speak (she was the last major candidate on the agenda), I seized on an idea. Darcy wanted to march in by herself - without a parade of supporters - shaking hands - and I decided to capture it. On video. I didn't have a camcorder with me, but my digital camera can do video, and I have a big memory card on which to store it. So I hurriedly deleted enough pictures to do 30 seconds worth of video (because I'd just about filled up the memory card with six months of pictures) and rushed over to the aisle where Darcy was. I had just gotten into position when the Temporary Chair announced Darcy and she began walking forward.
I hit the record button and began walking backwards. I only glanced behind me maybe once. I have to tell you that I was somewhat afraid of accidentally tripping on something and falling over. I was also afraid Darcy was going to run into me!
Luckily that didn't happen, of course. The video capture was perfect, because I was right in front of her. Even though it was from a digital camera, the lighting and everything else ended up being just right, so I had about thirty seconds of quality video, which was automatically converted to a QuickTime movie when I transferred it to my computer.
An hour later, I had finished uploading that video to NPI's website and posted a link to it on our Official Blog. You can see the video for yourself here. In case you've forgotten or didn't know, Darcy is one of only seven candidates on the ActBlue "Netroots Endorsed" page. That she was the only candidate I got video footage of was pretty fitting.
I have been to many conventions before, but this one was definitely the most exciting. And "unconventional" (sorry, couldn't resist) just because it was so different. I was experiencing the convention myself and yet sharing it with thousands of other people at the same time.
I think this experience has prepared me really well. Now that I'm a veteran, I'm looking forward to liveblogging YearlyKos, starting this Thursday.
The resort I'm staying at has wireless access, and Air America is sponsoring it at The Riv, so sharing what's happening with our readers should almost always be possible.
The state party also surely deserves credit for making the convention blogger-friendly. I think our state party, the Washington State Democratic Party, is one of the best organized in America. Recently we've done very well - we have both houses of the state Legislature, a Democratic governor, two Democratic Senators, 6 out of 9 Democratic representatives, our state voted for Kerry, Gore, and Clinton in recent presidential elections, and we have been doing pretty well in stopping major right wing initiatives, like last year's Initiative 912.
It was very appropriate that this convention was liveblogged. The Democratic Party is the party of the people. Making it possible to follow the proceedings without being there is incredibly important. It makes the party more open and transparent. It makes the party stronger.
I encourage you to take advantage of opportunities to cover events and conventions whenever you can. As Joe Trippi said, the revolution will not be televised.
But it will be blogged.
