Coming back from Netroots Nation, we've had an extremely busy week talking about statewide candidates. We wanted to take some time this morning to look back at our major stories, both to give everyone a chance to catch what they may have missed, and to put some context around larger stories that have developed recently:
TX-Gov, Republican Edition: Kay Bailey Hutchison Stumbles Into the Governor's Race
Yes, Senator Hutchison's campaign announcement was the most dominant story of the week. But did anything get through? Rick Perry -- who has previously been described as a "cyborg" here at Burnt Orange REport -- stepped on every day of her campaign announcement. Moreover, it's hard to get excited about a candidate announcing, for the twelfth time, that she is going to run for Governor. Even the press started getting nit-picky this week with Senator Hutchison, proving her initial roll-out to be highly ineffectual and raising the question: does she even stand a chance against Rick Perry?
Michael began the week discussing an issue with the Tom Schieffer that goes unnoticed among the general uneasiness of his support for former President Bush -- that is, his actual stances on policy. From Michael's well-written post:
The rate of current events convince me that the basics of a campaign infrastructure will materialize and improve. But I'm not convinced that this will happen with all of the campaign. I worry that a full-blown Schieffer campaign will not offer any true policy proposals to the people of Texas.
Meanwhile, another possible candidate -- Ronnie Earle -- met in Austin with the Texans for Obama group. Katherine was in attendance, and wrote strong reviews of Earle in her post -- going so far as to say that "it appears that he's already considering the shape of a potential bid: a strongly-grassroots, supporter-driven campaign with an emphasis on personally connecting with the voters." However, that didn't make him immune from the same policy concerns Michael had raised about Schieffer, as Katherine wrote:
Earle enumerated several key issues on which this prosperity-push would focus, namely education, jobs, health care, transportation, and the environment. However, he demured from offering specific policy proposals, repeatedly stating that he wasn't a candidate yet.
No one really likes to talk about policy specifics in August of an off-year, and if given the choice, we'd prefer -- right now -- a candidate with a strong narrative that was able to go out and persuade donors that his or her campaign is serious enough to be investing in. But speaking broadly about public education and law enforcement isn't going to be enough -- and we encourage our candidates, our progressive organizations, our readers, and ourselves to begin forcing more specific discussions on policy in the coming weeks and months leading up to the filing deadline.
The U.S. Senate race is about to get serious -- especially now that Hutchison is officially in the Governor's race, and that she's announced her semi-sort-of-maybe-waffle-not-sure-can-I-take-a-rain-check-on-ever-making-a-decision candidacy, we are going to turn our attention not only to exposing her and Perry's horrific records as politicians, but also to the U.S. Senate race. This week, that conversation centered predominantly around Bill White.
Last Friday at Netroots Nation, White met in Pittsburgh with Texas and national bloggers to discuss his candidacy. Katherine's report on the event included the following positive outlook on the race:
Texas should take pride in having sent one of the most engaging and motivated Democratic candidates to Netroots Nation this year. That would be Houston Mayor Bill White...The Mayor came up to Pittsburgh during the annual gathering to address national bloggers and make the case as to why Democrats can and will win statewide in Texas.
The excitement and energy of my first Netroots Nation is still with me this morning, and I can't let it slip away without writing about it. So here it goes...
When I got off the plane in Pittsburgh, I just wanted to not waste my first Netroots Nation convention. Though I've written for Burnt Orange Report for over four years, this was my first time reaching out to the broader community in a personal way (I was backpacking in Glacier during last year's in my hometown of Austin). I didn't know how much more there was to desire from my experience.
But after my four days in Pittsburgh, I know how amazing the experience can be. As I stepped off my flight home on Sunday morning, and as I sit here now the day after, I find myself wanting so many things:
I want to go back to Pittsburgh. I want to wake up in our "Texas House" -- where most of the Burnt Orange Report staff and fellow friends were staying -- and take the 77D bus across town to the convention center. I want to have so much fun all day long that I feel sad when I finally have to get a cab back home. I want to stay in that space that held me the last four days, and never let go.
I want to go to a panel. I want to learn more about the work everyone is doing. I want to hear Charlie Cook and Nate Silver and the Pollster.com team talk about trend lines and context. I want to engage in a professional discussion about redistricting. I want to put a megaphone to the entire Momocrats panel and broadcast their message of parent-focused communication to the entire Democratic Party. I want to learn about field work, and ROI, and environmental policy, and the No On 1 campaign in Maine, and everything else. I want to embrace the knowledge and empowerment that comes from listening and learning to some of the most open, honest, and intelligent experts I've met.
I want to put faces to the names behind the screens, and let those faces become my friends. I want to feel inspired by two of our party's best communicators -- President Bill Clinton and Dr. Howard Dean -- and listen to them talk about the importance of framing the health care debate as a "people vs. insurance companies" conversation. I want to meet Markos Moulitsas Zúñiga and Chris Bowers again, even if it is just briefly and if I just feel like a fanboy while I talk to them. I want to meet the folks from DFA, and Media Matters, and Calitics, and Left in the West, and North Decoder, and e.politics, and Pandagon, and the Women's Campaign Forum, and EnviroKnow, and the dozens and dozens of new friends that I got to spend my weekend with. I want to fulfill the true promise of the internet -- strengthening nodes in our networks, to improve the openness of our democracy.
I want to hit baseballs at PNC park, and have drinks in the Warhol museum. I want to enjoy the wildness of Karaoke night and the Altar, and enjoy the quietness of texting with a new friend. I want to go where everybody knows my name...and if they don't, they want to smile and get to know me for who I am, and not how I can help them with their work. I'm terrible at schmoozing, but I never felt like I was schmoozing this weekend. Not once. I always felt like I was making friends, and to have that kind of environment around a large convention with people who (since it was my first one) were mostly online acquaintances is a special, special thing.
In the coming days, I hope to write about some of the major ideas that were discussed at the convention -- most importantly for us in Texas, about redistricting and what we need to achieve in order to maximize our electoral opportunities in 2010. Right now, though -- more than anything else -- I want to thank everyone that made Netroots Nation possible. I learned new things, made new friends, and had one of the best weekends of my life.
To all who made that happened -- my forever thanks. Now it's time to get back to putting all those ideas from Netroots Nation into action.
From left to right: Karl-Thomas Musselman, David Mauro, Katherine Haenschen, Phillip Martin, Matt Glazer.
Greetings from Pittsburgh! Let us begin by saying that Netroots Nation, as always, is an excellent convention, and if our Friday and Saturday are anything like Thursday, then we're in for a non-stop great weekend! Also, we want to thank our regular reader and commenter Randy Bear (follow at Twitter: @RBearSAT) for treating us to an awesome lunch on Thursday -- it was quite good.
We also should make mention of some of our friends we've hung out with a lot, including Ramey Ko, Sarah McDonald, and Rick Cofer. It's been great to have our own Texas group together a lot! While we're a little biased about last year's Netroots convention (held in Austin), this year's has certainly gotten off to a great start. Here's just a snippet of the highlights:
Polling Panel -- We enjoyed an excellent panel from Nate Silver (538.com), Charlie Cook (Cook Political Report) and Charles Franklin and Mark Blumenthal (pollster.com) in the morning about polling. They emphasized the importance of studying trendlines, and how blogs should always focus on the context of a poll -- no matter how good or bad it may be for our side. Both Charlie Cook and Nate Silver had dire prognostications for the 2010 congressional midterm elections (predicting at least 20 losses for Democrats), but the sobering news is simply a reminder of how vigilant we all must be in our fight to support Democrats and Democratic causes.
Redistricting Panel -- Our very own Matt Glazer helped lead a redistricting panel in the afternoon, talking a little about the history of Texas, but more on the importance of the upcoming election. We'll write more about this panel next week -- because of its extreme importance for Texas -- but suffice to say that bloggers and political professionals across the country will be looking to our State House races to see how the balance of power, nationally, could be affected. Also, we learned of a new website -- www.redistrictingfacts.com -- that launched Thursday morning, run by the DLCC, which will be used as a public forum just on redistricting.
President Bill Clinton -- President Clinton spoke at the conclusion of Friday, and he had us all on the edge of our seats. His communications skills are still remarkable, whether that involves planned remarks or spontaneous discussions (as happened in response to a convention attendee interrupting his remarks with some shouts). He is such an incredible leader, and it was an honor -- as it always is -- to hear him speak.
Those are just some of the highlights. Next week, we will write about more, and also share some very, very exciting press coverage we received while here in Pittsburgh (from Pennsylvania reporters!). In the mean time, we will prepare for a busy Friday, where we will hear Dr. Howard Dean speak about health care in the morning, attend a lunch that Bill White is hosting for Texas and select national bloggers, and try to make decisions about more incredible panels throughout the day.
We'll try to update throughout the day -- and follow us on Twitter if you want to know more. In the mean time, our thanks to Michael and Todd for holding down the fort for us while we're gone (and for David for somehow finding time to post as we're at the convention).
Starting tomorrow, I'll no longer hold the title of "Senior Adviser" and I will step back from the editorial and day-to-day writing duties of BOR.
Four years and one month ago, I started writing for Burnt Orange Report. In my very first post, I wrote:
I want what I say to mean something. I want to open up the mind's of those who are resigned to believe that nothing's going to change their world. Passionate persuasion -- that's my gig, because the devil's in the details, but our faith's in what we feel. Our faith asks us to be honest with ourselves, and share what we believe with those we can get to listen.
Today, I wanted to tell you about my latest efforts to engage in "passionate persuasion" and talk about what I'll be doing between now and November 2010.
I moved back to Austin to do consulting work for the Texas Democratic Trust. My work will focus, among other things, on how to help develop online outreach and communications strategies for Texas Democrats, in a way that will support our candidates, our county parties, and our statewide groups and organizations.
The opportunity to move back to my hometown and do work I love is incredible. While in school at Boston, I really missed home. I just missed the heck out of Texas, and especially Austin. My biggest consolation while I was in Boston was that I could always write for Burnt Orange Report. It was my home away from home, keeping me connected not only with the news and stories from down here, but with the family and friends from home.
Writing for Burnt Orange Report, especially in these last two years, has allowed me to continually express my passion for Texas politics. However, now that I am home -- and given the new job that I have -- I don't think it would be fair to continue writing for Burnt Orange Report in my current capacity.
Starting tomorrow, I'll no longer hold the title of "Senior Adviser" and I will step back from the editorial and day-to-day writing duties of BOR. Beyond the obvious personal reasons for this decision, there are some site-related reasons that made me think that now was the right time to change my role at Burnt Orange Report.
KT has hinted at this before: in the coming months, there will be some changes to BOR that will help grow the site significantly -- both in terms of the content we offer, and the audience it reaches. As we make that transition, there will be a growth in the kind of editorial decisions that must be made on a regular basis, as well as a concentrated effort to market the site that I, quite honestly, should not play a direct role in. Additionally, I think it would be unfair if others continued to expect me to post on a daily basis -- something I just can't commit to at this time.
That being said -- you won't be able to get rid of me that easily.
For a while, now, I've enjoyed writing larger, big picture posts. Some of those included:
Much like Glenn Smith will write big-picture analysis pieces on Burnt Orange Report from time-to-time, I will continue posting ideas, reports, and analysis that are imortant to the understanding of Texas Democratic politics. There may be an opportunity for me to do even better research than I have in the past -- or, at least, to share some of the better research done by others, which could ultimately help all of our conversations about Texas Democratic politics.
Therefore, I'm not completely leaving the BOR community. Like a contributing columnist, I'll still write on BOR. My posts will begin to take a new direction, and I will be posting less frequently -- stepping back from all editorial decisions and embracing a different role in the coming months through the 2010 election cycle.
But I'll still be around. As long as failed and corrupt men and women like Rick Perry and Kay Bailey Hutchison are in charge of this state, I'm going to be around -- practicing passionate persuasion, and doing everything I can to share what I believe with anyone I can get to listen.
Thanks, as always, for reading. Enjoy the weekend, and I'll see you around.
The Burnt Orange Report is pleased and excited to announce that one of our writers, Todd Hill, was selected to be an Archer Fellow through the University of Texas at Arlington. Todd will leave for Washington, DC next year on January 4, 2010, and return on April 26th, 2010. BOR wishes to congratulate Todd on this prestigious honor.
The Bill Archer Fellowship is a highly competitive and prestigious internship program named after former congressman Bill Archer. Upon his retirement after 30 years representing the 7th Congressional District, Archer wished to leave a lasting legacy both in DC and within his alma-mater, the University of Texas higher education system. The Archer Fellowship is considered one of the highest honors a political science major can receive within the University of Texas school system. Todd will either intern at the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, The Department of Homeland Security or the White House Office of Communications.
The Fellowship, although prestigious, is also quite expensive. Todd is the first in his family to graduate from college and has worked very hard to support himself through college while also co-founding and leading the Mid-Cities Democrats PAC in Northeast Tarrant County. Todd has contributed a number of great blog pieces since he joined the BOR family in early 2007 and we've been happy to have him as part of the Texas Blogosphere. Todd will continue his writing while he is in Washington DC so we look forward to hearing his perspective and following him while he is in our nation's capitol next year.
We here at Burnt Orange Report want to show our support by helping him to raise the funds he needs to cover the expenses of the Archer Fellowship and help him live in Washington while he is away. Todd has set a goal to raise $11,000 before he leaves in January 2010 and is already working hard toward reaching that goal, treating it like a candidate fundraising campaign (naturally).
Burnt Orange Report encourages you to chip in some money and help Todd get to Washington DC and pursue this tremendous opportunity that he has earned. Check out Todd's website at www.hilltodc.com and learn more about Todd's contributions to the progressive movement, the Archer program, and his fundraising goals. We hope you'll consider joining the Burnt Orange team in contributing toward Todd's fundraising goal today.
P.S. Remember, Todd's not leaving until next year, so he's making this a multi-faceted fundraising campaign and BOR readers are not on the hook for all $11,000! Since state PACS can make contributions as well, local ones in the metroplex will be helping Todd out. That also means the TexBlog PAC could help, too. In any case, consider giving today.
And to think that is another half a million visits since last October. So wonderful to pass another milestone as we close in on BOR's 6th Anniversary next Friday. We also passed the 8 million total pageviews mark last month.
This is a quick note to let you know that Burnt Orange Report is getting a long awaited move to a new server today. While there may be some intermittent "downtime" experienced as the Interwebz recognizes the IP of the new server, if everything goes right you wont notice anything.
The layout and look should stay more or less the same (maybe some small style, size, or spacing issues which we'll work out ASAP). The site should end up being WAY faster as a result and I believe that we'll be running on some slightly new code as well.
This isn't part of our eventual site redesign (which can now move forward more quickly) but is part of the "save soapblox" campaign that over $500 was raised from our readers as part of a national effort to ensure more stability in the state blogging network.
There are many driving forces that explain the "why" of Burnt Orange Report, and one of them is our love for technology. Matt was one of only twenty-five Social Media Award winners in Texas for a reason. KT is sought out -- from people in Austin, in Texas, and around the country -- for his technological expertise because he was one of the first to crash the gates after the first starting gun of the Netroots political movement was sounded many years ago.
I wasn't like that. I grew up as an English major at UT who loved to read and loved to write. I don't use Tivo. I only started using Twitter a couple months ago when it hit its mini-critical mass awareness. I'm still learning all the functions of Facebook, Google Reader, Delicious, et. all. I came to write for BOR at the urging of a friend because of my interest and passion for politics, not for my interest or passion in this new technological tidal wave -- a force so strong I often feel like I'm struggling just to keep my head above water.
It was only recently that I've stopped struggling and begun to learn how to truly surf the web.
Over the past year or so, I've learned to embrace the unfathomable largeness of the online world and treat it with a spirit of exploration and hope, instead of a lethargy of trepidation and fear. Though I don't think I'll ever quite match KT or Matt's impressive aptitude with the subject matter -- at times I think that they breathe binary -- I have found a way to turn my eagerness and curiousity into productive learning and practical application.
Yes, as has been the case with every adaptation throughout history, education has empowered better understanding of the internet and an ability to work within its existing power -- or, as I said before, to truly surf the web. Education continues to be the silver bullet -- a true instrument of progress that is immensely profitable to those who have the opportunity and the desire to harness its limitless power.
A lot of my education comes from working so closely with KT, Matt, and the entire BOR crew. A couple of the classes I've taken at school -- including Nicco Mele's course on digitial media, politics, and power -- have gone a long way towards enhancing my entry to the online world. But I've also found a number of terrific websites that have given me an opportunity to think and explore new ideas about technology in ways I'd never considered before.
Therefore, in the interest of paying it forward, today's links -- or "clearing the cache" as the excellent website techPresident puts it -- are focused on stories gathered from various sources on new innovations and technology. Please add your stories in the comments, too, and pay attention to our new "BOR Reader" on the top-right of our page as KT, Matt and I share technology stories -- as well as political stories -- with everyone.
Happy surfing -- and if you like the sites, you should sign up for the RSS feeds to follow them regularly:
Legislation 2.0.2 (techPresident): An excellent story about how some legislators aren't just goofing off with new technology like Twitter, but actually using the internet to solict input on how they can do their jobs better (for example -- Senator Claire McCaskill asks how to better do government contracting oversight and is taking cues from the responses).
While Microsoft was busy rolling out a new version of Internet Explorer Thursday Google has been busy pushing the boundaries of not just the web browser, but what the web itself is capable of doing. [snip]
And Google Chrome is certainly not the only browser encouraging developers to experiment with both the browser and the web. Mozilla has an entire division of the company — Mozilla Labs — devoted to the very same sort of envelop pushing.
Follow that link and scroll down the page to watch a video showing what Google Chrome can do.
List of Web 2.0 Resources: This PDF has a great bibliography -- including a number of online white papers that it directly links to -- that serve as an archive to explain the theory of Web 2.0. A link you should bookmark and return to time and time again.
Twitalyzer: This amazing website measures your performance on Twitter. Almost scary.
What is Web 2.0? (Tim O'Reilly): Finally, I have to provide the link to the definitive article on Web 2.0 -- written three and a half years ago. If you only read one thing and really want to begin understanding the whole web/technology movement, read that piece.
That's probably enough for now. What else is out there that is good to share? Please provide context and leave links in the comments...
Here's a look at some posts I'm going to have online next week:
Sunday: A post on the proposed solar project that goes before the Austin City Council next week. I'll be detailing some of the background on the issue, highlighting the pros/cons of the proposal, and hopefully getting a discussion going amoung our community about the future of solar energy in Austin and the greater Texas area.
Monday: Interviews with Brewster McCracken and Lee Leffingwell about the proposal. I talked with each of the leading mayoral candidates, and will post the transcripts from my interview. This will hopefully provide some additional perspective on the solar panel proposal that is set to be voted on next week. We'll also have a post for Texas Independence Day.
Tuesday: An interview with State Senator Leticia Van de Putte. You won't want to miss this one.
Wednesday: Almost two weeks ago, KT, Matt, and myself sent an open letter to the Republican Party of Texas, the SREC, and all the Republican County Chairs asking them how they plan to handle the massive failures of the Texas Republican leadership -- namely Governor Perry, Senator Hutchison, Senator Cornyn, and Congressman Sessions -- over the past few weeks in regards to the economy. We'll post that letter in its entirety, along with some of the responses we got back.
Thursday: "The Stimulus Series." I've had a number of posts prepared regarding the stimulus package that I hope to have ready by Thursday. The incredible short-sightedness of Governor Perry on the entire stimulus situation is absolutely remarkable.
Friday: The Top 10 Twitterers of Texas politics. We're following a lot of folks on Twitter now, as its use continues to grow. Who's funny, who's smart, and who is using Twitter in a way that is at all effective? We'll unveil our list next Friday.
I know we're no state reporters, and just a lot of kid bloggers, but I have all of those posts planned/penned for next week, and that's not even including the day-to-day stuff that will naturally come up. And who knows -- we may even have another surprise or two we're not sharing yet.
Expect all that, and more, from Burnt Orange Report next week. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.
