Saturday, November 06, 2004

Great day. Lots of coverage links here. Audio tk. I surfed the opening sessions, traded snark with Chris Nolan during a break in the sunny courtyard, dug Scott Rosenberg's journalism discussion. Snuck over to the bookstore to buy Syd a t-shirt at lunch; beautiful campus on a beautiful day. My gig went well, lots of smart people in on the action, I pointed to my homies Thigpen and Hoggard as examples of successful local politcal blogs. After herding cats for 1.5 hours my brain hurt. I took in about half of Doc's making-money-on-the-web show, then basked in a little Lessig brilliance for the duration. Actual thoughts and analysis tk. I've got to go host a dinner with Jay Rosen, that should be good clean fun. 10:33:09 PM    comment []

Showtime. I won't be blogging it live -- I like to pay attention to people, not screens -- but that's just one of my quirks. Plenty of others will be tapping away. See you tonight. 10:49:00 AM    comment []

Signs that I am in Northern California: The Denny's has wireless access. And when a Dead song comes on the sound system, it's not some radio staple like Truckin' but an obscure gem, St. Stephen. 10:48:51 AM    comment []

David Brooks tries to undo the simplistic Red - Blue calculus promulgated in the past by, um, David Brooks: "In the first place, there is an immense diversity of opinion within regions, towns and families. Second, the values divide is a complex layering of conflicting views about faith, leadership, individualism, American exceptionalism, suburbia, Wal-Mart, decorum, economic opportunity, natural law, manliness, bourgeois virtues and a zillion other issues." One small example: I live on a street picketed with Bush placards, in a county that went for Kerry, in a state that went for Bush and elected a Democratic governor. 10:44:25 AM    comment []

"welcome to the future. i hope you figure out some good ways to use this tool -- just having a weblog doesn't do much good, you've got to leverage it into an organizational, informational, and fundraising machine." That's the first comment (it's from me) at the first post at Hoggard's blog, which he started to help his campaign for Greensboro City Council in August of 2003. For some strange reason, that post is showing this morning -- a timely coincidence as we head into today's session. I was going to talk about Hoggard and Thigpen anyway, but this is cleary a sign from the blogging gods that I must. 10:39:12 AM    comment []

Election 2004 is the name of the session I'm steering at B-Con. It should really be called Election 2005. What is the next online campaign going to look like? What works, what doesn't, and what do we have reason to believe might work in the future? How will next year's local races play out on the web, and what will they tell us about House and Senate races in 2006, and elections beyond those? No tears. No cheers. It's not an encounter group or a political rally. Practical wisdom, lessons learned, and a template for future campaigns are what I'm hoping to end up with. But it won't be dry, and it won't be dull, and once it starts it will take on a life of its own. Y'all come. 1:31:25 AM    comment []