xrayzebra
06-10-2006, 09:17 AM
I know our two favorite Libs wouldn't want to miss this, with all their
favorite dimm-o-craps and liberals all in one place.
New political ground trod at Yearly Kos
Candidates, bloggers perform intricate dance at convention
- Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Las Vegas -- While leading Democratic politicians have embraced the digital age of politics by kissing up to the 1,000 Internet-savvy bloggers convening here at the first YearlyKos convention this weekend, everybody is still trying to figure out how exactly to behave in a 21st century political courtship.
It is a question provoking much discussion among the digiterati at the first major convention inspired by a political blog, Daily Kos, which is run by Berkeley resident Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.
Many of those who identify themselves as "net-roots" activists started blogging over the past few years out of the frustration of feeling excluded from the chummy world of Washington politics. But now that Washington has come calling after seeing how much buzz and cash the blogosphere can raise, the bloggers are warily sizing up their suitors. And many are wondering which in-person approach seems the most true to their values.
"We're more skeptical of the big-name candidates being here than the little guys," said David Atkins, who owns a market research firm in Los Angeles. "The little guys need our help more."
Perhaps, then, a candidate might use the deferential, open-source style of Democrat John Laesch, the first-time Illinois politician running against Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. In a media training session, he asked activists for advice on how he should appear on camera.
"They told me to lock my feet together so I don't wobble back and forth," he said.
And how do the "netroots" want to be courted by the presidential wannabes? Maybe candidates will adopt the approach of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who fed 35 of them croissants and coffee Friday morning and answered questions while seated in a hotel suite dressed in jeans, white T-shirt and blazer.
"I like that he sat in the middle of the room and took all his own questions. It was very multidirectional, and that appeals to this audience," said Justin Krebs, a New Yorker who founded Drinking Liberally, a 3-year-old social group that now has 145 chapters in 40 states.
But Richardson seemed to be typecasting his blogger audience at times. Although many of the people in the room had white hair, Richardson remarked several times that the audience was too young to get some of his cultural references and that perhaps they could help get out the youth vote. Krebs shrugged, noting that the average age of a Daily Kos reader is 45. "It's common misperception many people have about the blogosphere. That we're all living in our parents' house."
Still, Krebs admits, maybe the croissants helped soften the crowd on such missteps. "The next time he does something bad, maybe somebody on a blog will give him a pass once, instead of pounding on him right away."
Other politicians tried different tacks.
On Thursday, a couple hundred "Kossacks," as they call themselves, sipped Buds and Heinekens and listened as retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark stood on a chair at the Hard Rock Casino and addressed them without a microphone. On Friday, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner offered an "open bar, free food and thrill rides" at his swank gig dubbed "Blogosphere at the Stratosphere (Casino Tower Hotel)" that was whispered to cost more than what most bloggers make in a year. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will be more low-key, focusing his efforts on a panel discussion today on education.
"I don't know what I think about them spending all this money on parties to try to get to know us. It's a new thing to us," said Katie Halper, a New York filmmaker.
"I don't see anything wrong with it," said her friend, David Alpert, a high-tech project manager from New York. "It happens all the time in other industries at conventions."
More than a dozen congressional and statewide candidates are peppering the YearlyKossacks in Las Vegas with campaign material and pleas for support. Michigan's Nancy Skinner, running for Congress in Detroit against a seven-term incumbent, has been buttonholing bloggers with her green "Elect a Green Congresswoman from Detroit" flyers. And it's hard to miss the mailers for Texas Senate candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsy: "Tough Name. Smart Dame."
"We're a new medium, and we're trying to figure things out, and I think the politicians are trying to figure this out, too," said Jonathan Singer, a campaign manager for an Oregon politician who blogs on www.MyDD.com. "I don't think we'll know who has been most successful at this until (the convention) is over."
Moulitsas, who said he has no favorite 2008 presidential candidate yet, said more can be learned from the next Daily Kos straw poll at the end of July and from diary entries people post around the blogosphere. "And hopefully from meeting us, these politicians can see that we're not these crazy, wild-eyed radicals that some people like to think we are.
"I like people who are the same in an intimate setting as they are on stage," Moulitsas said. "In person, Hillary Clinton is one of the warmest, most genuine politicians I've met. But once she gets on stage, she's ice cold."
Maybe the best way to address the netroots was offered by California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who got a standing ovation before and after her keynote speech Friday.
"Thank you for all you're doing," Boxer said. "The netroots is key to giving people the courage to stand up for what is right."
UC Berkeley professor of linguistics George Lakoff gave Boxer high marks for appealing to the crowd by talking to them about issues that mattered to them: Net neutrality, surveillance and the war. Yet she didn't pander to them, Lakoff said, when one audience member asked why Democrats weren't pushing for impeachment hearings.
"That might not have been the answer people wanted to hear," said Lakoff, a favorite in the liberal blogosphere. "But it was an answer from a politician who knows what she can and cannot do politically."
Page A - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/10/KOS.TMP
©2006 San Francisco Chronicle
favorite dimm-o-craps and liberals all in one place.
New political ground trod at Yearly Kos
Candidates, bloggers perform intricate dance at convention
- Joe Garofoli, Chronicle Staff Writer
Saturday, June 10, 2006
Las Vegas -- While leading Democratic politicians have embraced the digital age of politics by kissing up to the 1,000 Internet-savvy bloggers convening here at the first YearlyKos convention this weekend, everybody is still trying to figure out how exactly to behave in a 21st century political courtship.
It is a question provoking much discussion among the digiterati at the first major convention inspired by a political blog, Daily Kos, which is run by Berkeley resident Markos Moulitsas Zuniga.
Many of those who identify themselves as "net-roots" activists started blogging over the past few years out of the frustration of feeling excluded from the chummy world of Washington politics. But now that Washington has come calling after seeing how much buzz and cash the blogosphere can raise, the bloggers are warily sizing up their suitors. And many are wondering which in-person approach seems the most true to their values.
"We're more skeptical of the big-name candidates being here than the little guys," said David Atkins, who owns a market research firm in Los Angeles. "The little guys need our help more."
Perhaps, then, a candidate might use the deferential, open-source style of Democrat John Laesch, the first-time Illinois politician running against Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert. In a media training session, he asked activists for advice on how he should appear on camera.
"They told me to lock my feet together so I don't wobble back and forth," he said.
And how do the "netroots" want to be courted by the presidential wannabes? Maybe candidates will adopt the approach of New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, who fed 35 of them croissants and coffee Friday morning and answered questions while seated in a hotel suite dressed in jeans, white T-shirt and blazer.
"I like that he sat in the middle of the room and took all his own questions. It was very multidirectional, and that appeals to this audience," said Justin Krebs, a New Yorker who founded Drinking Liberally, a 3-year-old social group that now has 145 chapters in 40 states.
But Richardson seemed to be typecasting his blogger audience at times. Although many of the people in the room had white hair, Richardson remarked several times that the audience was too young to get some of his cultural references and that perhaps they could help get out the youth vote. Krebs shrugged, noting that the average age of a Daily Kos reader is 45. "It's common misperception many people have about the blogosphere. That we're all living in our parents' house."
Still, Krebs admits, maybe the croissants helped soften the crowd on such missteps. "The next time he does something bad, maybe somebody on a blog will give him a pass once, instead of pounding on him right away."
Other politicians tried different tacks.
On Thursday, a couple hundred "Kossacks," as they call themselves, sipped Buds and Heinekens and listened as retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark stood on a chair at the Hard Rock Casino and addressed them without a microphone. On Friday, former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner offered an "open bar, free food and thrill rides" at his swank gig dubbed "Blogosphere at the Stratosphere (Casino Tower Hotel)" that was whispered to cost more than what most bloggers make in a year. Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack will be more low-key, focusing his efforts on a panel discussion today on education.
"I don't know what I think about them spending all this money on parties to try to get to know us. It's a new thing to us," said Katie Halper, a New York filmmaker.
"I don't see anything wrong with it," said her friend, David Alpert, a high-tech project manager from New York. "It happens all the time in other industries at conventions."
More than a dozen congressional and statewide candidates are peppering the YearlyKossacks in Las Vegas with campaign material and pleas for support. Michigan's Nancy Skinner, running for Congress in Detroit against a seven-term incumbent, has been buttonholing bloggers with her green "Elect a Green Congresswoman from Detroit" flyers. And it's hard to miss the mailers for Texas Senate candidate Barbara Ann Radnofsy: "Tough Name. Smart Dame."
"We're a new medium, and we're trying to figure things out, and I think the politicians are trying to figure this out, too," said Jonathan Singer, a campaign manager for an Oregon politician who blogs on www.MyDD.com. "I don't think we'll know who has been most successful at this until (the convention) is over."
Moulitsas, who said he has no favorite 2008 presidential candidate yet, said more can be learned from the next Daily Kos straw poll at the end of July and from diary entries people post around the blogosphere. "And hopefully from meeting us, these politicians can see that we're not these crazy, wild-eyed radicals that some people like to think we are.
"I like people who are the same in an intimate setting as they are on stage," Moulitsas said. "In person, Hillary Clinton is one of the warmest, most genuine politicians I've met. But once she gets on stage, she's ice cold."
Maybe the best way to address the netroots was offered by California Sen. Barbara Boxer, who got a standing ovation before and after her keynote speech Friday.
"Thank you for all you're doing," Boxer said. "The netroots is key to giving people the courage to stand up for what is right."
UC Berkeley professor of linguistics George Lakoff gave Boxer high marks for appealing to the crowd by talking to them about issues that mattered to them: Net neutrality, surveillance and the war. Yet she didn't pander to them, Lakoff said, when one audience member asked why Democrats weren't pushing for impeachment hearings.
"That might not have been the answer people wanted to hear," said Lakoff, a favorite in the liberal blogosphere. "But it was an answer from a politician who knows what she can and cannot do politically."
Page A - 1
URL: http://sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2006/06/10/KOS.TMP
©2006 San Francisco Chronicle