I was honored to be amoung the Ohio bloggers chosen to meet with Sen Barack Obama at the Ohio Democratic Party Dinner. Initially, there was some discussion over whether bloggers should be considered media and get media passes or activist and be included in a raffle with other volunteers for the $150 dinner tickets. In the end, Sen Obama and his staff, sidestepped the whole discussion and just bought a table for a few Ohio bloggers. Included at the table were: Ohio2006, Writes Like She Talks, Psychobilly Democrat, Buckeye State Blog, Plunderbound, Ohio 2nd (Mr. & Mrs.), Phos Norka Pages and Diary of a Community Technology Advocate. Progressive Ohio is very lucky to have such active and engaging bloggers. It was a pleasure to meet everyone face to face. The crowd was huge (over 2500 people) and the energy level was off the charts. Everyone in the Veterans Memorial Center was excited about the event, the candidates and the possibility of a Blue Ohio.

After the opening speech, given by Sen Joseph Biden (which was invigorating) Mr. Obama stepped over to our table and sat down. I did not antcipate that he would be mobbed by excited fans, autograph seekers and staff and between the extra people and background noise - it was quite dificult to hear him. My first impression was - he seemed geniune and nice but he is a man with a mission. He tried to be accomidating to everyone, even the people interrupting him for autographs.

Pho started out by asking a good question about the role of bloggers in the political arena.

Barack says …”he believes in bottom up politics, blogs have the potential of tapping into that grassroots energy in a way that other media doesn’t have because it is interactive…and when I look at what happened in my race..the ability of the internet to spread the word about a campaign for a candidate that wasn’t that well known it was absolutely critical. It gave people confidence, it reinforced the possibilities to win - the meet ups ended up being a great tool - not only for candidates like me but - they formed great communities of people, that overtime would help elect other candidates and work on other issues- so I think that is the potential.

Now, .. I think the danger of the blogs..(interruption)..is we are only talking to ourselves and people who agree with us. That means then -that ovetime we are just reinforcing our own preceptions and we are not opening up to other ideas and other points of view. So, one of the things I am always trying to figure out, if possible, is how to get different bloggers and different points of view communicating and… so it is continuely a conversation and dialogue, not just all of us cheering each other on. Which is important - but ultimately, we got to make sure we are opening up the entire process to everybody.

Sen Obama responded … some of you guys know - I write and taught before I got into politics and the world is perfectable when you write. You can imagine the perfect candidate, the perfect world and the perfect policies and when I am writing - I do not have to vote on some stupid piece of legislation that is one half bad and one half good. So, what happens then is , there is a tendancy for us to get really frustrated, if a candidate, a party or a platform is not subscribing to our ideas …about where we should go and some of that is useful. I think the blogs have become a useful conscience to the Democratic Party. Where they (the party) start splitting the difference with Republicans over and over - pretty soon they start moving the goal posts way over here and blogs have been a useful corrective to that.

But, I think it is also important though - for every blogger to recognize that “Hey - look - we are operating in the real world and if we’ve got a situation where we’ve got a high quality candidate with progressive credentials, who has decided to run and is moving forward against someone whom we know is entirely supportive of George Bushs agenda then we’ve got to get on with it”

There were a few more good questions including one about Net Neutrality from Angela Stuber ( Diary of a Community Technology Advocate). It was an honor to meet Mr. Obama up close and personal. The time he took to address the blogospheres questions and concerns made me feel appreciated - a little recognition now and then goes a long way Thank you Sen Obama and the Ohio Democratic Party (who opened up many of the press facilities to us and generally made us feel welcomed and part of the family)

Here is the complete audio - complete with interruption and background noise but if you are interested it is a good session.

If you really would like to be invigorated here is Sen Obama speech to the 2500+ Democrats at the ODP Dinner (by this time I figured out how to get clear recordings):

If you would like to see more photos and commentary please visit my “home” blog HeightsMom or one of the bloggers mentioned in the article above. They are all covering the event and all have a unique viewpoint.

Take Care! Thanks - Cindy

The Loudoun County (Va.) GOP, in happier times an efficient, quiet-running destroyer of beautiful, historic rolling farmland and forests, and rubber-stamp for some of the nation’s most rapacious developers, has turned its bloodstained fangs on its own. Led by a troika of local pols — Mick Staton, Dick Black, and the most nauseating of all, the unutterable Eugene DelGaudio — the Loudoun Republican Committee has denied membership to ten individuals, many of them longtime residents of the county and lifelong Republicans. Their crime? Being conservatives who actually want to, you know, conserve things.

These radical thinkers, these Lincoln Luddites, among them Winston Porter, a former assistant administrator of EPA under Reagan and a Bush 43 appointee to the Potomac River Commission, had the effrontery in 2003 to back a candidate for the Board of Supervisors who actually didn’t believe that the average citizen’s right to enjoy beautiful scenery near his home ended at precisely that point where the Toll Brothers’ baleful bulldozers declared it to end. They have been paying for this apostasy ever since (from Leesburg Today, the local adver):

The Porters, and several other people, were denied membership because they helped reelect County Chairman Scott K. York (I-At Large) in 2003. The Porters said they left the committee before they helped York secure his second term as chairman. Before that, in 1999, the walls within the party were being erected between the moderates and the far-right when York, then the Sterling District supervisor, won the Republican nomination for the countywide chairmanship over incumbent Dale Polen Myers. Republicans on the committee claimed that the results of the primary were tainted by large-scale voting by Democrats [ya think?] and non-Republican slow-growth advocates. With the backing of many in the party, Myers continued in that races as an Independent, but came in third in the final voting.

In an effort to more tightly control the party’s selection process in 2003, a majority of LCRC members voted to hold convention [sic] to select its nominees for local political offices. York, who was running on a smart-growth philosophy he continues to support today, and his supporters charged that the convention would be stacked by the party’s pro-growth and socially conservative leadership to block York’s reelection bid. York and others, including the Porters resigned in protest. Upon leaving the party in 2003, York said that “an all-out war has been declared by the special interest that were displaced over the last four years.”

Three years later, Winston Porter said the divide has only gotten worse.

So there you have it: Today’s Republican Party. Rigid, corrupt, and increasingly looking like a tinpot dictator’s dwindling inner circle.

Folks poo-pooing as business as usual the notion of a Democrat winning the Virginia governorship are commended to Marc Fisher’s column in this morning WashPost Metro section.

If you weren’t here in Loudoun County during the runup to the election you won’t be aware of just how hard and how often Tim Kaine’s opponent, Jerry Kilgore, ran the kind of attack ads that would in ordinary times (Jesus, I’m calling ‘em ordinary times!) have sent squeaky-new McMansion owners scurrying toward the MegaChurch to pray for a lightning bolt to strike the Infidel.

The Worm, I tell ye, brethren, has Turned:

Loudoun and Prince William voters shocked the state’s political establishment by joining with a bracing majority in Fairfax and the reliably liberal residents of Arlington and Alexandria to elect Tim Kaine governor. Their vote was a demand that politicians focus on education, growth and development — and, to a lesser degree, transportation — rather than easy, emotional issues Republicans have recently relied on: the death penalty, abortion and gay rights.

Here’s the column.

Okay, righties, explain away this.

Chalk it up to Terminator Limits. The muscle tone is clearly gone.

The fat lame duck has sung.

Per Marybeth’s early returns reports, it looks like Maine won’t be adding sexual orientation as a protected class in their state constitution.

Correction, 2:25 am: I misunderstood the phrasing of the question, which was as follows:

Question 1: People’s Veto

“Do you want to reject the new law that would protect people from discrimination in employment, housing, education, public accommodations and credit based on their sexual orientation?”

In 2000, Maine upheld the protection by less than 1%. This time, it appears they support it by 8%.

So my post title is incorrect; Maine has clearly progressed. Kudos to all the supporters of the advance of civility!