39 Responses to “Democratic National Convention state blog selection dustup”  

1. squashed
   May 18, 2008 at 10:44 am

   Well, I think it’s a little too late for this cycle. things should have been talked about a year or two ago. aim for 2012.

   There are severe weakness in minority blog:

   1. need to show traffic number. (let’s face it, size matter. sub 10K is weak.)

   2. Need to show the money. (it’s ugly, but that’s how the politics is done.)

   3. need to find that “magic” balance. focusing on specific issue, yet have wide enough appeal. (the easiest way is to work as group. diverse and multicolor. that way a blog has wider audience appeal) site design are also particularly weak. Things gotta look good.

   4. have to show a blog can nudge an election number.

   ——–

   ranting and news cut and paste are pretty much out. the field is too crowded.

   These are good traffic shapping tricks:

   1. absolutely control search engine ranking on certain issue as a group.

   2. create an aggregator. (the big brother in the circle, the initial person who is the traffic center and divvy up traffic. A simple network)

   3. create echo chamber. (this will concentrate returning reader. And useful to pump up click)

   basically, main weakness is inter blog networking.



2. mattw
   May 18, 2008 at 11:56 am

   There might have been specific snubs that neither you nor FH mentioned in your posts (if there are, maybe you could add that info?), but I guess the question I have is… how do you know that the list is racially imbalanced?

   D’you think it’d be possible to mark which blogs are all-white on the list above?



3. Ms Kate
   May 18, 2008 at 12:39 pm

   It looks like they went with the existing “blue” blogs in almost every state … Blue Oregon … Blue Mass Group … etc. These blogs tend to aggregate information from a variety of sources, and it would be a stretch to call them “white” blogs per se.

   I think a way to screen these blogs for their representation isn’t to just see if the blog owners are white, but look at what kind of minority participation, blogrolling, and linking they do to blogs run by people of color. If they extensively include smaller, subject area blogs including minority bloggers, then there is less concern as a larger blog can repeat and amplify the message to a more diverse audience.



4. Pam Spaulding
   May 18, 2008 at 12:49 pm

   it would be a stretch to call them “white” blogs per se

   Agreed. The organizing principle of these blogs reflects the society at large - notably that blogs tend to reflect the socioeconomic portrait of its creator(s). And as we all know, the politically blogosphere generally skews white and more affluent. In the offline world, the chances that the social circles in which these people move allow less interaction with the very minorities (and various cultures within), to bridge the natural communication gaps that tend to exist these days.

   A big problem, but I don’t think making it strictly a white/black/brown thing helps much when people don’t discuss race matters in a very healthy way. It frames it in a way that only draws the defenses up, leading to little follow up discussion.



5. squashed
   May 18, 2008 at 1:19 pm

   looking at top 5 political blogs.

   1. huffington post.
   2. dkos
   3. Beppe Grillo
   4. michelle malkin
   5. TPM

   I think it’s hard to say they are “white male”. (Pure political blog, general subject.)

   somewhat affluent, but more importantly, hyper educated, media savvy or insider player. Of course by now, it’s hard to say, since all of them are giant group blog, practically a platform. But most begin as a humble “hear me rant” type of site. I should look at middle and smaller sites, probably they are more useful than looking at those giant sites.

   As a reader, my main complain about lesser known blog are: the front page news is hit and miss (do I care/ do I want to come back and read?), commenting isn’t as fun as in big site, site design is weak, … etc.

   usually, if I go to a political blog, I look for “yeah, you said it … woo hoo” effect, and “hmm, you don’t say.”

   I don’t think I particularly care poster race, but I definitely want something exciting that makes my head go bubbly.



6. Incertus Brian, Nacho Daddy
   May 18, 2008 at 1:25 pm

   Thanks for bringing this up. I honestly don’t know how many, if any of the bloggers on the Florida Progressive Coalition are people of color, but I’d like to find out. Sad to say, it’s not something that ever occurred to me, and that’s a failing on my part.



7. jose
   May 18, 2008 at 1:34 pm

   In a somewhat unrelated point, I gotta say that, as a member of the Afrospear, I’m not only surprised you’re not on it, I’m also surprised no one’s approached you about taking part. Feel free to apply; I can’t see anyone in our ranks saying no. Peace …



8. Pam Spaulding
   May 18, 2008 at 2:10 pm

   I guess the question I have is… how do you know that the list is racially imbalanced? D’you think it’d be possible to mark which blogs are all-white on the list above?

   Note, I didn’t make the charge. I said I have no first-hand knowledge about the composition of group blogs selected.

   I’m also surprised no one’s approached you about taking part. Feel free to apply; I can’t see anyone in our ranks saying no.

   Actually I did apply quite a long while ago, so I’m not sure what’s up with the omission. BTW, other than surfacing on the Electronic Village’s top black blogs (where the author merely has to be of color), the Blend is usually missing on top black blog contests and lists. My guess is that my ratio of posts on race to those on LGBT isn’t enough to draw more black readers (my readership is overwhelmingly white, based on the last BlogAds reader survey).



9. mnemosyne
   May 18, 2008 at 5:24 pm

   The most integrated place I ever worked at was the University of California, and they had a very strict policy that you had to interview people from every minority group in the metro area. Not that you were forced to HIRE based on race, but that you had to show that you had interviewed X number of people before you did your hire.

   Given that my department head was Asian-American and the two second-in-commands were Latino and Filipino-American, it seemed to work out pretty well, so I wonder if there could be a similar thing with blogs. Not a requirement to pick based on race, but that they publish a list of everyone who was considered so those who got overlooked could be put on the list for the next go-around.



10. aimai
    May 18, 2008 at 6:30 pm

    Well, let me be the first to say how much I miss Steve Gilliard. And let me make a different point–perhaps the right thing to do isn’t to make a huge fuss about the choosing of “state oriented political blogs” but to ask the DNC to reach out to strongly african american and minority focused blogs who want to cover the national event. Its a crap shoot when you look to small, local interest blogs *who* you find on them. And as Pam says you generally find a reflection of the wider societies socio-economic structural issues. White women with time on their hands? Check! Techchie geeks? check? So maybe its time to bust out and ask for separate category representation for all kinds of minority interests. In that case, if I were the DNC, I’d ask Kos and Pam and others to help locate the most read/most thoughtful minority bloggers they know who want to write about minority issues and the national scene and get them credentialed for who they are. There have to be diarists at Kos, and regulars at other places or with their own little trafficked blogs who want to make the jump to the big time.

    Anyway, I miss Steve Gillliard though I can’t see him wanting to cover the convention.

    aimai



11. mattw
    May 18, 2008 at 8:21 pm

    Reading through more of his stuff, I get the impression that the “state blogs” were sort of drafted in as proxies in a sort of wide-ranging battle against Daily Kos, despite the fact that most of these sites sprung up because the big national blogs didn’t cover the subjects local bloggers were interested in.

    The whole idea of giving state blogs credentials is to get detailed coverage for local readers who are focused on local politics. For bloggers who neither know nor care who the delegates are in their state, there is zero benefit (other than the honorific) to seating them with the delegations (each of which, incidentally, are rigorously balanced for race, gender, and lgbt status.)

    Francis isn’t writing about how minorities are under-represented in the state blog group, but rather about how blogs in that list don’t link to the same blogs he does. So sites like My Left Nutmeg — a CT blog that’s owned by a prolific black blogger and made the DNC’s list — gets lumped into the “whitosphere” because all 50+ items in the blogroll point to in-state blogs and websites.

    I think aimai has it right — there should be opportunities for general subject matter blogs and issue-specific blogs to cover the convention from the inside regardless of how the state blog corps shakes out.



12. squashed
    May 18, 2008 at 9:16 pm

    hmm, despite everything “serious political blogging” is still too young. Most people only have been around 2 yrs or so, the more established site 3-4 years.

    A lot of important skill are still missing. I tend to not consider any sub 10K blog as seriously worth considering, because it hasn’t been market tested. It has to develop skill to attract readers first. After that automatic scanning will find who needs to be invited, who doesn’t.



13. cay
    May 18, 2008 at 11:11 pm

    If only we had the Dem convention in New Orleans. I am so upset we missed the chance to give the city the spotlight.



14. cay
    May 18, 2008 at 11:13 pm

    If only the dems chose New Orleans as their convention site instead of Denver–we could remind people what a republican govt. did…



15. Linda AK
    May 19, 2008 at 2:34 am

    A lot of important skill are still missing. I tend to not consider any sub 10K blog as seriously worth considering, because it hasn’t been market tested. It has to develop skill to attract readers first.

    I’m not sure what “sub 10K” means…is that…per day…per week…per month? Here in Alaska, 100-200 page views a day is pretty damn good considering A) our small population and B) the small number who identify as Democrats.

    The whole idea of giving state blogs credentials is to get detailed coverage for local readers who are focused on local politics. For bloggers who neither know nor care who the delegates are in their state, there is zero benefit (other than the honorific) to seating them with the delegations (each of which, incidentally, are rigorously balanced for race, gender, and lgbt status.)

    Exactly. Of the other bloggers I was competing against, one was a much more “well rounded” blog in that it had much less focus on state politics and more focus on “life in the state.” The other (I believe) was totally national-news focused with little or no state politics. Both of them are fantastic writers, so I was pretty sure that was the reason I was chosen.

    Well, let me be the first to say how much I miss Steve Gilliard. And let me make a different point–perhaps the right thing to do isn’t to make a huge fuss about the choosing of “state oriented political blogs” but to ask the DNC to reach out to strongly african american and minority focused blogs who want to cover the national event.

    What the protesting blogs fail to fully explain is that there are two blogger pools - the State Blog Pool and the General Blog Pool. All of those not chosen for the State Pool have now had their applications added to the General Blog Pool. They should be announcing that list soon and I believe you will find a virtual cornucopia of national-focused and issue-driven blogs. I’m hoping that Pam is one of them (I can’t imagine she wouldn’t be)!

    Linda (Celtic Diva)



16. Pam Spaulding
    May 19, 2008 at 6:35 am

    What the protesting blogs fail to fully explain is that there are two blogger pools - the State Blog Pool and the General Blog Pool. All of those not chosen for the State Pool have now had their applications added to the General Blog Pool. They should be announcing that list soon and I believe you will find a virtual cornucopia of national-focused and issue-driven blogs. I’m hoping that Pam is one of them (I can’t imagine she wouldn’t be)!

    That’s right, Linda. Issue-oriented bloggers will be selected at the end of the month, and I have no doubt that group will be more diverse. General bloggers, however, will not have access to state delegations on the floor.

    That poses a problem in some respects because most of us will acknowledge that there isn’t much diversity in the state blog rosters for reasons already discussed - not enough minorities blogging on state and local issues, the lack of outreach by state group blogs (and the lack of response when outreach has been made). Therefore, you have those minority bloggers who do make it on the general list without access to their state delegation.

    An example - I deliberately didn’t apply for the state pool because, even though I blog about state issues from time to time, I didn’t want to compete with BlueNC. It deserved the credentials because I consider it the “state blog” and it has much greater in-depth coverage on the issues. Not that I realistically thought the Blend should be selected over BlueNC, given the criteria I did know about the selection process, but I wanted zero chance that PHB would be selected for that pool. As we are seeing now, there actually have been selections made that don’t make sense because of stats — or are motivated by politics.

    However, my decision results in: 1) by default, reduced chances of selection since I chose not to apply for the state pool and only for the general pool; and 2) zero chance of minority representation in the state blogging corps for NC (the one credential received will appropriately go to one of the moderators), and that also means there will be no minority blogger access to my state’s delegation.

    That’s clearly a problem, not one easily solved given the way the system was set up, and because of the limitations in progress so far in making state blogs more diverse. The result, under these circumstances, isn’t surprising.

    I don’t have any answers, but sending some quota of POC bloggers who don’t know state issues doesn’t make sense as a remedy to me. The long-term goal is to find and recruit more minorities who are willing to contribute to state issues on the state blogs.



17. credo
    May 19, 2008 at 6:48 am

    I believe that the Afrosphere is one of the largest membership group for African-American bloggers. Some these bloggers cover local, state, national, and global issues. Some of these bloggers cover political issues. I believe some of these bloggers should be seated on the floor and not have to settle for general admission.

    I believe to support the Afrosphere members, those who share the concerns of the whiteout by the Dems should write AARon and demand that he support the seating of a Afrosphere member.

    In closing, I believe the complaining parties have a valid and legimate complaint.



18. credo
    May 19, 2008 at 6:50 am

    I believe that the Afrosphere is one of the largest membership group for African-American bloggers. Some these bloggers cover local, state, national, and global issues. Some of these bloggers cover political issues. I believe some of these bloggers should be seated on the floor and not have to settle for general admission.

    I believe to support the Afrosphere members, those who share the concerns of the whiteout by the Dems should write AARon and demand that he support the seating of a Afrosphere member.

    In closing, I believe the complaining parties have a valid and legimate complaint.



19. credo
    May 19, 2008 at 6:51 am

    I believe that the Afrosphere is one of the largest membership group for African-American bloggers. Some these bloggers cover local, state, national, and global issues. Some of these bloggers cover political issues. I believe some of these bloggers should be seated on the floor and not have to settle for general admission.

    I believe to support the Afrosphere members, those who share the concerns of the whiteout by the Dems should write AARon and demand that he support the seating of a Afrosphere member.

    In closing, I believe the complaining parties have a valid and legimate complaint.



20. squashed
    May 19, 2008 at 7:17 am

    Linda AK May 19, 2008 at 2:34 am
    I’m not sure what “sub 10K” means…is that…per day…per week…per month? Here in Alaska, 100-200 page views a day is pretty damn good considering A) our small population and B) the small number who identify as Democrats.

    maybe, but a blog at that size is meaningless in term of a) google index b) ability to influence the blogosphere/raise money. It’s the mechanics that kills.

    It has to be 5-10K s the range that google start indexing instantly. (I guess it’s much harder to do local for a small population state. More traffic trick is needed.)



21. squashed
    May 19, 2008 at 7:22 am

    Why can’t the state bloggers themselves suggest the DNC who should get there? (do online voting/caucus between blogger)

    that way, the state blogger get to decide what important in their representative. (It seems the DNC is pulling very basic stat. to decide who gets to go.)



22. mattw
    May 19, 2008 at 7:38 am

    However, my decision results in: 1) by default, reduced chances of selection since I chose not to apply for the state pool and only for the general pool; and 2) zero chance of minority representation in the state blogging corps for NC (the one credential received will appropriately go to one of the moderators), and that also means there will be no minority blogger access to my state’s delegation.

    The credential is for the media outlet, not for a single named individual. Blogs with a credential can have as many people on their list as they like — though it’s not yet clear how many people will be able to be on the floor at one time. BlueNC could list you as a correspondent, assuming you have friendly relations with them.



23. Pam Spaulding
    May 19, 2008 at 7:46 am

    In closing, I believe the complaining parties have a valid and legimate complaint.

    I’m not disagreeing that there is a legitimate complaint buried in there, but the charge of a purposeful exclusion by the DNCC based on race is debatable, certainly less so than charges of the exclusions of some state blogs because of critical reporting on those blogs offended state party officials.

    What we see now with the minority bloggers could have easily been predicted, based on the current top-tier state blogosphere composition and the rules set up for selection by the DNCC.

    The real problem is that there is a lack of outreach and/or minority participation on the most popular state group blogs, the ones most likely to be selected — for whatever reason. Until Afrospear state-focused blogs reach stat metrics that would result in their selection over the current slate of state blogs selected (and/or the DNCC takes identity state blogging groups under consideration as a criteria as additions to the pool), we will see a “whiteout” in the state blogger corps.



24. Pam Spaulding
    May 19, 2008 at 7:51 am

    The credential is for the media outlet, not for a single named individual. Blogs with a credential can have as many people on their list as they like - though it’s not yet clear how many people will be able to be on the floor at one time.

    That’s not the understanding over at BlueNC:
    

    I just received my email from the DNCC. Our application was chosen and background checks are completed. We tried to get two sets of credentials so we could take one writer and one videographer, but only one set was issued. If for any reason I’m not able to go, Frank Eaton has been cleared to go in my place, so we won’t lose our spot.



25. Kevin
    May 19, 2008 at 8:28 am

    Continuing the unrelated point: Pam, you are a member of the Afrospear. I just checked the Google Group member list and you’re listed as having joined Sept. 17, 2007. I also checked several Afrospear member’s blogrolls and you’re on some (mine, Electronic Village) and not on others. I’m not sure why that is, but wanted you to know that you are actually a member.



26. squashed
    May 19, 2008 at 8:40 am

    should create a special blog that consist of:

    1. how to boost general public participations for state/local interest (traffic, input, money, grassroot)

    2. tips and tricks for state bloggers (mechanics, local interest, common blogging difficulties, networking, service exchange) this is to boost everybody’s traffic and bring in more bloggers.

    3. create statewide blogroll (hey, create national blogroll. I swear pandagon need a wiki. heh.)

    4. create a system of annual evaluation, that everybody in the group agrees. This way the entire ecosystem can be monitored and matched with political reality in a state.

    5. Voting system who gets to go as state blogger rep. in big party event … If the state group plays it smart, everybody will gain knowledge, and the group skill increases instead of same dude getting appointed over and over again.



27. squashed
    May 19, 2008 at 8:45 am

    If that works smoothly, I bet

    there will be a healthy ecosystem. Everybody knows each other and develop specialized skill. Everybody knows the general game plan, but compete on niche.

    arbitration system. general evaluation system in the hand of bloggers themselves instead of party bigwig above.

    Overall the state blog scene will be healthier. Reach a certian point, it can act as a group to create an “event” (eg. kick somebody’s ass and put a progressive in office.)

    (I hate organizing. I like freestyle…heh.)



28. eruvande
    May 19, 2008 at 8:53 am

    Thank you so much for drawing my attention to progressive Mississippi and Alabama blogs. I was so sure there weren’t any in my home states, I never thought to look!



29. mattw
    May 19, 2008 at 8:57 am

    I just received my email from the DNCC. Our application was chosen and background checks are completed. We tried to get two sets of credentials so we could take one writer and one videographer, but only one set was issued. If for any reason I’m not able to go, Frank Eaton has been cleared to go in my place, so we won’t lose our spot.

    Huh. This is from the “DNCC Press Gallery Media Clearance Form:”

    Please provide the following information for each individual who will use your organization’s credentials.

    You may submit as many copies of this form as is necessary to cover all your personnel.

    The default sheet has spaces for 4 sets of name/contact info.

    I dunno, I’m pretty new to the world of being “credentialed media,” but that seemed pretty straightforward. Hopefully I didn’t misinterpret it, since we’re loading at least 4 people from CT up for a road trip. (The other possibility is that they’re tiering media clearances within the 50 state blogs, but that doesn’t seem that likely to me.)



30. Pam Spaulding
    May 19, 2008 at 9:04 am

    Continuing the unrelated point: Pam, you are a member of the Afrospear. I just checked the Google Group member list and you’re listed as having joined Sept. 17, 2007. I also checked several Afrospear member’s blogrolls and you’re on some (mine, Electronic Village) and not on others. I’m not sure why that is, but wanted you to know that you are actually a member.

    I’ve reconciled it - I am indeed on the mailing list, as you said, but missing from the official blogroll, that was remedied last night. I have the updated blogroll on my front page now (in widget form).



31. chingona
    May 19, 2008 at 11:25 am

    Usually I hate it when people try to excuse lack of minority representation by saying that there just weren’t enough applicants of X group or maybe members of X group just weren’t interested, but in this case, well, I can’t speak to the other states, but I live in Arizona and there are really only two blogs that I can even think of that do that type of blogging - state/local political/partisan blogging - from a Dem perspective and they both are run by white guys. Ted Prezelski, who was selected, and Blog for Arizona, Michael somebody. I am sure there are bloggers of color in Arizona who deal with political issues, but I’m not aware of any that are doing this sort of blogging (and if some Arizona person wants to correct me, please do). It would be interesting to see the list of applicants, but I could certainly imagine that in many states there only were a few choices.

    I certainly hope they keep this in mind, though, when they give out the other blogger credentials.



32. Linda AK
    May 19, 2008 at 11:58 am

    Much like chingona, I find myself on kind-of the opposite side of this type of discussion from where I usually am.

    I have found that in Alaska that I’ve not been able to find ANYONE who is willing to make the committment to contribute to my blog. I especially want someone from the Alaska Native community to blog more authoritatively on Native issues. Generally, that person needs to have the type of career (or lack of career) that allows for that kind of time and so far I’ve not been successful. I’m hoping that the increased exposure as part of the Blog Corps will help bring someone who is interested to me.

    While it’s obvious that the tone used by certain members of the AfroSpear has rubbed me the wrong way, I can see the benefit of raising this issue in the first place. Hopefully, it will encourage other minority bloggers to start their own state-focused blogs, shift the focus from an already-established blog towards state issues or sign on as contributors to some of the large state-oriented blogs. My opinion: we have a plethora of truly excellent blogs that effectively cover national issues and/or are specific-issue-oriented. How POCs are going to make a difference is state-to-state…Barack Obama has proven that Howard Dean’s philosophy works. I believe that is the point of the State Blogger Corps and I hope that is the message that people take away from all of this.



33. squashed
    May 19, 2008 at 1:40 pm

    here is a good trick that I haven’t seen used much in political blog. (for those who uses blogspot)

    http://tucheandautomaton.blogspot.com/

    if there is no aggregator , then create a giant “group blog” which is nothing more than traffic magnet to force google to uprank all your blog asset. (profile page, all blog you control using that particular account) It doesn’t matter what that blog is about: as long as a) updated often, b) not a spam blog c) lots of interesting blog attached to it.

    If there are 3 or 4 big blog connected to that “group blog” the entire group will receive a good lift, if not only at your profile page. Then use that profile page to lock several keywords and link up to your important blog asset.

    another obvious often neglected is : register to all search engines and feed. Use category and tag, this one matters for technorati.



34. Pam Spaulding
    May 19, 2008 at 3:35 pm

    While it’s obvious that the tone used by certain members of the AfroSpear has rubbed me the wrong way

    I think that’s the issue here. Black bloggers who, we must assume, can afford a laptop and travel expenses to Denver cannot be classified the same as blacks who couldn’t eat at a lunch counter back in the day. When people go around tossing out “Jim Crow” so liberally, it automatically places everyone in defensive positions, regardless of the merits of the complaint/observation at hand. It can also diminish the reality that was Jim Crow.

    That’s just my opinion. I know if I did that at my place, I’d have few readers willing to engage me on the difficult topic of race relations. But of course, those who go for the flamethrowing approach may not have any interest in dialogue, or are so frustrated with hitting the wall of white privilege (and the denial of it), that they don’t care how it comes across as long as the point is made. That’s why I chose to post Francis’s point as he framed it. It illustrates a frustration based in reality out there, as well a definite communication gap between parts of the blogosphere communities that has been difficult to bridge.



35. squashed
    May 20, 2008 at 12:19 pm

    2010 mid term will have a lot of exciting senate race that state blogger can participate.

    Meaningfully play in 2010 and 2012 races will put any blogger in the map.

    initial stat here:
    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/20/12501/2123/219/518461



36. squashed
    May 20, 2008 at 1:54 pm

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/20/124211/486/720/518961

    So how did the DNC choose to recognize the growth of local blogs “in line with Governor Dean’s 50-state strategy”? Mostly, they got it right. At least in 45 states. But they blew it big time in five others, dissing some of the best state bloggers in the country.

    In New York, the excellent Albany Project was passed over for a site focused on NY City corruption founded by the Politico’s Ben Smith. Go to that site, and it’s nothing but press releases.

    In New Jersey, the inimitable Blue Jersey got passed over for PolitickerNJ — a non-partisan, corporate owned site run by the guys who own the New York Observer. Somehow, I doubt that’s inline with the spirit of Dean’s 50-state strategy, online organizing, or being agents of change.

    In Alabama, Left in Alabama was passed over, as was Cotton Mouth in Mississippi, passed over in favor of a site, Natchez Blog, devoted to Natchez MS, population 18,000 — a site, by the way, that didn’t have a single post or action alert on the MS-01 special election we won last week. Cotton Mouth was one of the best resources on that race (and the Senate race as well).

    Finally, Michigan Liberal was given the big diss as well.

    The DNC’s online guy at the convention, Aaron Myers (email: MyersA@demconvention.com) claims that it’s a big ado about nothing, that the snubbed blogs will be getting regular blog credentials when those are announced sometime this week.

    But that’s not the point.

    The state blogger corps were a special program and a particularly coveted one since it allows those bloggers to sit with their delegations on the convention floor. Regular bloggers can’t do that. They may “have access” to the state delegations, but they won’t be sitting with them.

    The solution was easy — take the five blogs that were given their unwarranted access, and give them regular blog credentials just like most everyone else. Those are the same credentials sites like Daily Kos will have, so there’s nothing shameful about them.

    Then they could give those five state blogger corps passes in MI, AL, MS, NY, and NJ to the blogs in those states that have are TRUE reflections of Dean’s 50-state strategy, those blogs that are organizing and building for a Democratic majority at the local level with little recognition virtually and no money. Those are the bloggers who are in the trenches helping make victories like MS-01 possible.

    This fix could’ve been done quietly and without any public commotion, but Aaron Myers and whoever ultimately makes those decisions have decided to be obtuse about it. They’re pretend that there’s no difference between the regular credentials and the state blogger ones, a farcical position. If there was no difference between the two classes of credentials, then there wouldn’t be two classes of credentials.



37. squashed
    May 20, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    aha…aha…!!

    see how if one play to kiss ass, instead of self regulating, things will get dicey quickly? State bloggers really need to coordinate. Otherwise, state blog is nothing more than stenographer. Therefore, fighting all the usual blogging variables are necessary.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/20/124211/486/720/518961

    So why would the DNC take a program that had gotten rave reviews, and then muck it up by 1) creating an unecessary controversy, and 2) appear so uninterested in quietly fixing things? The rumor is that state parties were given veto power, and the excluded blogs all have a history of criticizing and holding their state parties accountable. For example, here’s what Cotton Mouth heard:

    We’ve been in contact with people who have told us that we were considered for the credential, but were vetoed by someone in Mississippi’s Democratic Party. We are attempting to find out who that person is and why they felt we should not represent Mississippi.

    This is obviously bull, as is the lack of responsiveness and outright tone-deafness to this problem by Myers and company at the convention. They’ve let this become a public controversy when it could’ve easily been handled quietly, and things will escalate, as many of the credentialled state bloggers are closing ranks around the snubbed ones and are already pitching the story (successfully, as we’ll soon see) to the traditional media.

    Completely unnecessary. Luckily, it’s not too late to fix things, and the DNC should do so immediately.



38. squashed
    May 20, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    Twelve prominent state blogs have written an open letter to Howard Dean and the DNC demanding this oversight get fixed. Other state blogs will be signing on over the next couple of days. You can read the full letter here (PDF).

    As long-time progressive state bloggers, we have now witnessed many of our well-respected colleagues from crucial states be passed over. In many states, it appears that parochial politics and hurt egos played a role in these decisions. These concerns run counter to our shared goals of using programs like the state blogger pool to “tear down the walls” in Denver — and better connect the American people with the events on the ground.

    The Democratic Party endangers its own long-term viability when it makes fealty a criterion for inclusion. Instead, the Party should act to ensure that it includes its ideological media allies, even if those allies are occasional tactical or strategic critics.

    We, the undersigned, have been included in the state credentials pool, despite our own history of criticism of local Democratic actors. This speaks well to the character of our own local parties. But while our peers in other states are being excluded, we’d be remiss in staying silent.

    http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/5/20/145149/953/610/519071



39. Villager
    May 27, 2008 at 9:49 am

    Interesting comments. At the end of the day, it appears that a good idea (creating 50-state Bloggers Corp) is getting bad publicity because of the lack of initiative or sensitivity to the concept of “diversity” … which is all the more troubling because of the fact that the two finalists for the POTUS nomination have a diverse background.

    53 white male owned blogs; 1 female-owned blog; 1 Latino-owned blog.

    Can anyone defend that result? It is not a defensible position. Therefore, the DNC needs to figure out a way to fix it before this thing continues to spiral out of control

    I’ve seen articles on the lack of diversity in USA Today, Washington Post, Dallas News, Los Angeles Times and in most politically-oriented Black-owned blogs.

    The fix seems simple. Add QUALIFIED Black and Latino bloggers to the current State Bloggers Corp. The 55-person limit is arbitrary. Increase the limie so that QUALIFIED bloggers of color can participate with all the rights and privileges given to the (virtually) white-only State Bloggers Corp announced by Mr. Dean earlier this month.

    Simple fix…
    Villager

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