FDP Netroots Coalition: The Website!

Announcing the newest website in the progressive arsenal - The Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition . This is:

the official web site of the Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition. We're trying to bring together the Democratic Party and the progressive Netroots in Florida.

We're here to assist you. If you need assistance with any online activity, contact us and we'll see what we can do help out.

We're here to support DECs, clubs, candidates, and activists who are interested in helping promote the Democratic Party agenda. Of course, we need your help as well, so if you can, help us out by joining us or donating to our cause, so we can afford to promote the online Democratic community and train people in the use of online resources.

The Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition, was officially born at the Florida Democratic Party State Convention last October. The mission of the FDP Netroots Coalition is:

to contribute to the growth and influence of the Democratic Party, to establish and maintain a Democratic online community, and to promote the party and all party candidates for Democratic leadership throughout the state and nation. We also seek to assist and encourage Florida Democrats, including clubs, county, and grassroots organizations to get online and establish a communication network and promote online participation among Democrats.

The FDP Netroots Coalition is ably led by our President, Kenneth Quinell.

Blog Focus on Florida

Praxis has a post up now titled We need more attention on state politics. Here is how the Praxis post describes "state politics":

State politics involves the state legislature, cabinet, governor, and state bureaucracy.

While I don't quarrel with the sentiment, I do have a little to say about the definition and the complaint itself.

First of all, I was a little taken aback that Praxis notes that Florida Kossacks had only 5 posts in October. Wow. For a guy who just stood up and told people that to build readership, one should post early and often, that's more than a little embarrassing. However, in my defense, I have noted that I have been consulting on City Council elections in my hometown of St. Petersburg. But only 5 posts? Oh my, I'll have to start doing better than that.

But Praxis says that by its definition, none of the 5 posts were about state politics. That's where I differ a little bit. I'd say that 2 of the 5 posts are on state politics. Just not by the definition in the Praxis post. In We're Official!: Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition, I am blogging about the Florida Democratic Party's decision to include the Netroots coalition in the official structure of the state party. That's pretty much state level, no?

And in From the White House to the Court House , I blogged about a possible rallying cry for campaigns all over the state in 2008. Neither of these meet the definition of state level politics as outlined by Praxis. I would argue that the Praxis definition is too narrow. State party level politics are state politics. So is talking about tactics and strategy in the state. There really is more to state politics than just the government.

I would also argue that people ought to blog about what people are moved to blog about. I don't want to get into a long discourse about why people might not be blogging about the state legislature as much as we would all like. I might suggest that a lot of us are commenting on the St. Pete Times Buzz blog, which covers state politics quite extensively, for one thing. But as it says on our masthead here, Florida Kossacks is:

A gathering spot for Florida Kossacks to keep in touch with issues of primary concerns to Floridians, or whatever else Florida Kossacks might think worthwhile.

I am looking forward to having a little more time to be blogging about state issues after our elections on Tuesday, but I really think it might be on Praxis and others to go out and maybe recruit some people into the blogosphere whose main interests are state politics.

Others of us may be moved to blog about issues at all levels of government.

What a Week in the Florida Blogosphere

Wow!

What a week it has been in the Florida Blogosphere! Well, if you want to start a week on Friday and end it on Thursday, that is.

This week in the Florida Blogoshpere started off in Orlando and ended up in the Wall Street Journal!

Follow me for a recap of the week that was...WOW!


On Friday, Florida Democratic Netroots activists began gathering in Orlando for the Florida Democratic Party 2007 Convention. Normally the convention in the year prior to a presidential election is all about the Democratic presidential candidates. But because of the flap over Florida's January 29th primary date, only Mike Gravel came to see us. However, the convention was far from a bust.

Included as a part of the convention was an afternoon long Netroots Conference on Saturday. This conference had a standing room audience all afternoon long. As we moved from panel to panel and as people came and went, hundreds of Florida Democrats took in some or all of the Netroots Conference.

The Conference began with a Florida Progressive Coalition blog talk radio interview with none other than one Markos Moulitsas, the founder of DailyKos. There followed the panel discussions on blogging and netroots activism. The conference proper ended up with a rousing talk from our keynote speaker, Matt Stoller of Open Left and BlogPac.

Matt was moved to say some very nice things about the Florida Blogosphere and netroots activists:

I met the most wonderful people in Florida yesterday, and though I've become immensely cynical of late, the people-powered revolution quietly sweeping through the party was clearly in evidence. ... The whole Democratic Party is actually in transition, and I was impressed with the talent I met. The Florida netroots, who are simply amazing, raved about Florida Chief Financial Officer Alex Sink as a star and a future Governor. I spent some time chatting with state Senator Dave Aronberg and candidate Michael Calderin. Both are eminently comfortable with blogs, with Facebook,and with the open form of politics that is on the ascent.

The feeling I got was one of renewal. ... The Florida netroots is growing, and you can find a list of blogs off of the Florida Progressive Coalition blogroll. I was so impressed I joined the Florida netroots caucus with a $35 contribution.

The Netroots conference was followed by the Netroots / DFA / Progressives soiree which ended up being addressed by none other than the aforesaid Mike Gravel. But the highlight for me came when the winners of the 1st Annual Florida Netroots Awards were announced.

On Sunday, The Florida Democratic Party made the FDP Netroots Coalition an officially recognized organization within the Party. The FDP Netroots Coalition is organized like an interest group caucus within the Party. Among it's purposes:

Section 1 - It shall be the policy of this coalition, in the execution of all endeavors, to contribute to the growth and influence of the Democratic Party, to establish and maintain a Democratic online community, and to promote the party and all party candidates for Democratic leadership throughout the state and nation.

Section 2 - We further resolve to assist and encourage Florida Democrats, including clubs, county, and grassroots organizations to get online and establish a communication network and promote online participation among Democrats.

Thanks again to Phillip Perry and Mark Bubriski at the FDP and to FDP Chair Karen Thurman for reaching out to embrace the Democratic netroots activists in Florida.

On Monday, it was back to the real world of working to get Democrats elected to office. But the Florida Blogosphere was a Buzz with every one's take on the FDP Convention and the Netroots conference. Florida Netroots blog has a good roundup of the MSM press coverage of the convention.

And then today (Thursday), an amazing thing happened. The Wall Street Journal linked to this Florida Kossacks blog in a Page One story online about the influence of the blogosphere on the presidential campaign. Of course, being MSM, they got it wrong. They confused our Blog Florida Blue branding effort with the FDP Netroots Coalition. But, hey, they didn't spell my name wrong! Actually, they didn't spell my name at all. The story was mainly about the Blue Hampshire blog, an influential Democratic blog in New Hampshire.

But the Florida Blogosphere is getting noticed and we are making a difference. So let's get out there and

From the White House to the Court House

I just replied to a comment to my posting on DailyKos about the approval of the FDP Netroots Coalition this weekend. Here is the sequence:

Great job guys! Go kick some sunshine state ass! (2+ / 0-)

I want a blue Florida in 2008!

I'm supporting Chris Dodd, and his plan to create the Rapid Response Reserve
Corps.

by Skulnick on Wed Oct 31,
2007 at 10:22:39 AM EDT

And my reply:

We are planning on kicking a lot of ass in 2008, from the White House to the Court House, we are going to be kicking Republican ass all over this state in 2008.

So it just struck me that maybe here is an unofficial (and somewhat uncouth) rallying cry for this campaign cycle in Florida:

From the White House to the Court House,

We are going to be kicking Republican ass all over this state in 2008.

Let me know what you think.

We're Official!: Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition

On Sunday, October 28, 2007, the Florida Democratic Party Central Committee approved the recommendation of the Committee on Clubs, Caucuses and Organizations to grant approval to the charter application of the Florida Democratic Party Netroots Coalition.

We are now an officially recognized organization within the Florida Democratic Party!!!!!

Congratulations to all those who had a hand in this achievement, especially meowmissy, Ken Quinnell, our Presidente, and everyone who worked so hard to get us to this point. I also want to extend a special thanks to Phillip Perry, Internet Technology Director, and Mark Bubriski, Communications Director of the FDP. Thanks also to FDP Chair Karen Thurman who went along with this crazy idea to embrace netroots activists within the party!

Now the real work of the FDP Netroots Coalition begins. We will soon be unveiling our website and will be meeting (online, of course) to map out our goals and objectives for 2008. So for all of you who wish to be an official part of the FDP Netroots Coalition, I have a request of you:

PLEASE PAY YOUR DUES!

We will soon have a PayPal account available, but for now, the $35 annual dues can be paid by snail mail to the FDP Netroots Coalition at the following address:

FDP Netroots Coalition

P.O. Box 1856

St. Petersburg, FL 33731

Thanks to all of you who already paid at the convention, including Matt Stoller. And yes, Matt, you do owe me an email. That's because for campaign finance reporting purposes, I need your name, and address and just in case you want to contribute more than the $35 annual dues, I also need your occupation.

We have a lot of work to do if we are going to

so I hope to see those checks start rolling in!