I'm leaving my calendar open...

for at least part of that month, say around the 20th   :-)

I am going to get in touch with the DPVA and look into their timing as far as training goes.  I can't think that the DPVA will schedule anything for January 20th other than trying to attend the inaugural.

...is the January 21st, not the 20th. Are you throwing me a surprise birthday party a day early? Next thing I know, you'll have 4 million people showing up on the national mall just to celebrate.

JK, though my bday is really January 21st.

I just need a weeks notice!

after: Quarterly Meeting of the DPVA State Central Committee
Saturday, December 6 from 10:00 AM - 11:30 AM
Location: Charlottesville Doubletree Hotel (Charlottesville, VA)
Charlottesville, VA 22901

That's so soon! Plus the environmental community is having a big legislative training that day.  http://www.virginia.sierraclub...

Plus I'll be in San Francisco getting some online tools training that day. Yeah!

but will be otherwise occupied with our final session at Sorensen for Political Leaders Program.

And I also think it is too short of notice to really get things organized

I just scanned through RaisingKaine over the months, and, more than ever, respect what we all have wrought under Lowell and Eric. Several times it's occurred to me how interesting it would be to meet some of the writers and commenters in person, and now the idea is even more compelling. Richmond is probably the best venue (central location, facilities available), given that progressives are lurking in even the furthest reaches of the Old Dominion (both fake and real Virginia, that is). Set up a meeting, and float a proposed agenda around, if you would, please,  

"Democratic Blog Summit" or an alumni of RK summit?"  I voted yes.  But I am actually more interested in figuring out how to proceed with RK 2.0 (by whatever name).

It looks to me like most people are leaning towards a Jefferson-Jackson weekend event: that's at least two months away.  I suspect that one or more new blogs from RK alumni will be up and running by then.  

This meeting would most likely be a place for the new blog or blogs to "roll out" and introduce themselves in person.

I see this meeting more as an opportunity to network and build relationships in person.  For that reason I'd like to see it include as wide a variety of Democratic and Progressive bloggers as possible.

The link between politics and blogging is in-escapable. Draft James Webb came together at the JJ Dinner ..... the future of the political blog is rightly dovetailed to that event.

It's looking more and more like JJ.

nt

Early February, usually.

I am willing to help out in making sure the Virginia Democratic blogosphere continues to flourish.  I will plan to attend the summit.

do a NoVa thing in December. To toast Lowell and Eric and Josh, and meet up and consider how to go forward. I'm not an official 'front pager', but I do think it would be a shame to let the institutional momentum of what has been built here go to waste. Plus, it's long past time we put faces to names, etc.

(Sorry Kathy and Elaine, et al, not trying to exclude y'all, just trying to facilitate some continuity. I do think a larger progressive blogger conference is also a good plan, for sometime in the near future in either Richmond or Charlottesville.)

Good idea before 31 Dec '08 when the old soldier fades away. A Hard Times Party for sure.  

If you get enough interest locally... this holiday looks to be a little Scrooge-ish, we'll all need some beer to cry in.

will flow alot easier than the farewells: but yes, lets get together!

I hate to ask that Virginia blogs be brought together into some sort of standardized deal. Blogs tend to, as mentioned before by others, focus on an area or an issue and thus grow a reputation and a personality. Blogs also tend to be the baby of the person who started them. As we saw with the my.barackobama blogs, there was such a desire to reach a lot of people but it was not a well-built structure.

While I would love to see a centralized Democratic Virginia blog site, I do realize that sort of situation might not be the best for membership. RK was a hit with not entirely aligned people, I would guess, because it was not directly affiliated to the Party.

I don't know. It would be really easy to just set up a php forum and split it into statewide, national, and then congressional districts sections.

Being organized is for Republicans, after all.

What I think most of us here really want is to get an RK- replacement blog*  (*well, not replacement, that is impossible----) say, a new statewide progressive blog which can become, similar to what RK, a community meeting hall.  Not a fog horn for one point of view, nor an aviary of quarrelling diverse conspiracy theorists, but a very lively community that covers local, regional, state, and, when appropriate, national politics and personalities; monitored and subject to rules but not censored. That's my opinion... how about yours?

I think it would be good to have on online superblog page where we could reach all the progressive blogs, or a blog where everyone can post commentary.

I'm sure I miss a lot of commentary because I simply don't have time to go from blog to blog. I just visit a few well known ones. I would love to see something consolodated. I think the really hairy part would be the decision about who would control content.

1. Continue as a decentralized mess on the internet where new blogs have a hard time getting readership but we retain individual identity to the blogs.

2. Promote a couple key RK-style diary listings with membership and try to keep up with all the little blogs with a blog roll.

3. Centralize at least the progressive Virginians into one forum type deal with expanded commenting but lose all blog identity as individuals and risk a less-friendly atmosphere where more anonymous people can sign up and rant or echo.

4. All of the above.

I would suggest a healthy mix but I think we need a more central location. That is why RK is so easy and fun. A forum might be a better style too. I don't know.

I would find it interesting to see how people would react if the Virginia Democratic Party announced that it would open up an online forum available to any and all as long as they follow forum rules to raise discussion about topics in Virginia. Would the party win points with the public if they opened up communication? Could this be the next great tool for identifying and registering voters, getting awareness on issues out, and running quick straw polls?

How would you feel if there was such a thing and it was tied directly to the party?

There are all kinds of groups over there.  

I guess I am speaking more toward a more central communication page. Personally, I feel the VaDP website needs a hugs overhaul. Plenty of their links are broken and such.

If you want to continue or build a "MOVEMENT", I would not limit it to party lables.  Why not bill it as "PROGRESSIVE"?  When you lable/bill it by party identity you automatically close the door on people that are on the edge to accept and alternative view/position.  We are part of real time history.  We can open the door wider for those that are curious about what is on the other side, or we can shut them out and be the mirror of exclusivity for the conservative movement.  

We have a substanitive opportunity to create a seismic shift in the politics of the Commonwealth and the nation.  But, within the "bubble" of ciber-space and the blogospher, we are only talking to the Madison's, Jefferson's, Hamilton's, Patrick Henry's (or the perceptions/hopefulls).  WE HAVE TO MAKE THE TENT MUCH LARGER.  I would suggest the weekend before the General Assembly begins, which would be January 9th to 11th.  This way coordiante message, build momentum through the GA and to the 2009 Governor, Lt. Governor, and Attny. General, and House of Delegates races, and keeps the real, relavant issues front and center for the 2010 mid-terms.  What do you think?    

No matter how much of a family and friends we've become, our strengths have been the diversity of opinions we share and the occaisional criticisms that come with being honest about our feelings. The DPVA would be hard pressed to allow a site where almost anybody's toes might get stepped on ever especially a Democrat that might need the re-calibration.

As for dates, I vote for sooner than later... waiting until after the holidays is a long way off in "blog" time. In fact if we can do it before Christmas we can avoid the craziness that the next General Assembly AND the innauguration is going to bring for almost the whole month of January.

If there was interest I believe I could get the big "live" audience participation TV studio in Merrifield on a Sunday afternoon and open the meeting up on continuous webcast for it's entire duration so those that can't attend could watch from anywhere and call in on the phone patch as much as they wish..... but it would most likely have to be a Sunday afternoon..... We actually could even web-cast the meeting from most anywhere now, but it's technically cleaner and easier with the huge fiber bandwidth we have at the studios plus the bank of phone lines for call-in-participation. Oh and there is the other consideration.... if the studio can be scheduled it's all free including the bandwidth..... any thoughts???

RK developed, which was 1) Voice of Progressive Virginia (non-party, but clearly labelled), which 2) allowed cross-posting, 3) had a designated number of automatic front-pagers (who backed varying candidates or generally specialized in a particular issue like environment, labor, local politics, national issues like veterans, etc), plus an unlimited number of off-front pages diaries 4) permitted plenty of comments on every diary so long as civil behavior was followed, no personal attacks permitted, 5)listed extensive links to other blogs, with occasional diaries on another blog specially noted. Various candidates could be interviewed, their activites reported upon, as always.  Certain progressive issues could be flogged, and appropriate advertising accepted if paid for. When it comes to endorsing certain candidates or issues, that would have to be voted upon by either front-pagers or the editorial board which runs the blog, and alternate vieewpoints would still be accepted courteously. I also think Obama is going to need support and help in adhering to his campaign promises; state blogs can help.

We don't need to re-invent the wheel; RaisingKaine went through some editorial and content modifications, changed its platform and so on, looking for what worked, and we should take advantage of their experiences... in the very beginning, RK did not, could not, for example, accept comments by readers. Even RK changed as it went along.  

I agree with you that there seems to be no need to reinvent the wheel.  

A lot of the features you mentioned seem to flow from the Soapblox software.
http://www.soapblox.net/blog/f...

To the extent a Soablox political blog requires the full time commitment of a Lowell Feld to be successful, there may be problem with the model.  

(that's Out of Town) he asked us front-pagers to write more diaries as replacements, and so we'd all have to pitch in more frequently in this case... and have plenty of new blood, too, if possible.

It's not the technology, it's the person and/or people behind the blog. Regardless of what software is used (I like Soapblox, others prefer WordPress, etc.), if you want to maintain a site with the quantity/quality level of a Daily Kos, MyDD, OpenLeft, or RK, it takes a huge amount of work.  I'm talking full-time job or greater, 60-80 hours per week during campaign season, attending events, editing, reading, writing, cultivating sources, etc., etc.  And most importantly, someone - emphasis on ONE - has to take ownership/prime responsibility for the blog. If not, it will almost certainly fail to live up to potential...

is key to impose order, maintain standards of conduct, and provide a distinctive flavor to the blog in the final analysis.

However, editorial control functions can be divided and spread around for normal duties, and responsibility for the enormous amount of reporting and an adequately changing front page can definitely be shared. Frankly, I think we let Lowell down on occasion, and us Indians did not always give our Chief enough verbiage--- leaving Chief Lowell to carry far too much of the load. That would have to change.