I worked in New Jersey during Jon Corzine's gubernatorial campaign in 2005, and one of the (few) joys of that campaign was seeing BlueJersey start up and grow into an incredible resource for progressives. The blog led a groundbreaking TV and internet campaign for marriage equality in the state, and Juan Melli, the proprietor, was dubbed 'Politician of the Year' by PoliticsNJ, the insider outlet in the state. Local blogs serve as activist hubs for progressives, 'grasstops' that can move message and organize influentials within a state community. Oftentimes the number of insiders is strikingly small - only about 1000 - in a state, and these blogs are the only progressive media that can influence them.
It was with pride then that the Democratic National Convention Committee announced that every state would have credentials issued for state blogs. These state blogs help Democrats get elected, stay in power, and push progressive policies. At the same time, these blogs ruffle feathers, whether it was Raising Kaine complaining about the field campaign of Tim Kaine or primary fights taking place on various state blogs. I worked at the Democratic National Convention in 2004, and credentialed the first set of bloggers to attend a national political convention. I remember fighting internally for progressive blogs to get the credentials, not conservative of neutral blogs. Since it was a Democratic convention the DNCC should prioritize Democrats (the others could go through the neutral media queue). That logic holds today; the convention is a giant media, organizing, and networking event, so Democrats should get to go and gear up for the general election.
It's a bit disturbing to hear what's going on, then, with a few of the credentials. Pam's House Blend has a discussion going on about which blogs were credentialled at the Democratic National Convention. Mostly the choices were good, but four states in particular raise questions: Mississippi, New Jersey, New York, and Michigan.
Here's Cotton Mouth blog, which had content posted from new representative Travis Childers:
Cotton Mouth has been the only progressive political blog covering Mississippi's politics at the federal, state and local levels since it started May of 2007. It had more posts than any other progressive Mississippi political blog and had far more original content than any other Mississippi political blog. That content included original reporting on events, analysis, aggregation, original video, exclusive candidate authored posts and a solid and consistent defense of the Democratic Party of Mississippi.
We've had 33 posts so far THIS WEEK. The Natchez blog has had 24 posts so far THIS YEAR.
So why was the Natchez blog credentialled?
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. Any assistance in the matter would be greatly appreciated.
Similarly, Bluejersey was nixed in favor of PoliticsNJ, a neutral media site owned by the New York Observer. The Albany Project, which cohosted a fundraiser for a special election candidate who is helping to flip the New York state Senate, was nixed in favor of Room Eight, a nonpartisan media site focusing on corruption. And MichiganLiberal was nixed for Blogging for Michigan, a much newer and less trafficked blog.
Why does this matter? Well, aside from the basic lack of fairness in excluding genuine change agents in favor of media sites or newer sites, as blogs become more closely wedded to the Democratic Party establishment, the pressure to NOT speak out about problems increases. Credentials for the DNCC are not only a 'goodie', but they are a clear competitive advantage for any state-based blog. If state parties are able to nix progressive state blogs from something so significant to their business models as the Democratic National Convention, it's just going to incentivize the creation of an 'official' blogosphere, one that is sycophantic and less progressive, and an 'activist' blogosphere which bitterly stares at a party it does not trust. Regardless, we're looking at a party structure that is more corrupt, less accountable, and less progressive.
Howard Dean should not let this happen. The DNCC needs to take another look at the blog credentially process for New Jersey, Mississippi, New York, and Michigan. Regardless of whether this was a simple mistake or retaliation from a state party, the credentials of the other blogs should be revoked and regranted them to the more deserving progressive blogs. And this should happen soon.
