Netroots Go Behind the Red CurtainPaul Hogarthbyline‚ Aug. 08‚ 2007While the mainstream media wants to portray liberal bloggers as knee-jerk ideologues who are pushing the Democratic Party to the left, those who gathered at this weekend’s Yearly Kos Convention were very pragmatic. They realize that the party must compete in all 50 states to stay competitive, and a Democrat running in Idaho cannot run like a Democrat in San Francisco. But they don’t want Republican-lite candidates afraid of their own shadow. Two candidates who ran last year with strong netroots support – Charlie Brown in California’s 4th District and Scott Kleeb in Nebraska’s very red 3rd District – were at Yearly Kos, and are working to give the party a new “brand” in places where you never meet a Democrat. Kleeb even stuck around and had several beers with me and 3 California bloggers, until the bartender made us leave at 2:00 a.m. |