bluenc

James and I are excited to announce some changes at BlueNC. Some new front-pagers ... and a commitment to developing BlueNCtv.

Initial version crossposted at Pam's House Blend.

When the big announcement of the state blogs that will receive credentials to the Dem National Convention came down this week, there was an immediate buzz about the choices made by the DNCC.

In 2006 BlueNC’s huge coup was to get DailyKos and MyDD to pay attention to Larry Kissell. The members of this site also dived in on local races and gave some much needed last minute attention and on the ground help to some smaller races and candidates. People here also shined a huge spotlight on the bad things Chuck Taylor had done. In 2007 the site built and built, becoming a focal point of policy discussions, putting some real pressure on the legislature, and participating fully in the efforts to pick a successor for Elizabeth “I live in Kansas” Dole.

So the question is, what do we want to be able to say we did in November?

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.

Those applications from blogs that weren't selected will be considered in the general blogger pool and those bloggers will be announced later this month.

I've exchanged emails with many of the bloggers that participate in the 50 State Blog Roundup and many of them were selected. It's a very exciting time to be a blogger.

On Friday morning I'm heading to Senator Elizabeth Dole's Raleigh office with a delegation of NC bloggers and concerned citizens to deliver a petition requesting that the U.S. Senator put a stop to the color arousal/racist ad floated by the NC GOP and its head Linda Daves. John McCain has already said he can do nothing about it. Dole doesn't even give a damn:

Dole said in an interview she didn't want to get involved.

"I am concentrating on getting my work done here in the Senate, and I'm just not going to get into refereeing a third party political ad that has nothing to do with my race," she said.

As you may know, one of our frequent visitors, Radiogirl is none other than Laura Leslie of WUNC-FM. She's a good sport, a great writer, and a tireless reporter ... and her take on our governors debate last night is well worth reading.

Still, it’s an important first– especially because it puts candidates face to face with informed voters who want to know a lot about a lot more things than the race is currently addressing. Both Moore and Perdue played it safe tonight, which was the politically smart thing to do. But I’d bet they both came away with an enhanced understanding of the difference between what grassroots Dems care about and what big party donors do.

As a reminder about what to expect tonight, here's the proposal we made to both campaigns last week.

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Hello!

We're very excited that both campaigns have agreed to participate in the BlueNC Democratic Gubernatorial Debate on March 31 at 7:45 pm. This email outlines our plans for the days leading up to the debate, and for the hour-long session itself. We are eager to provide an opportunity for as many people as possible to engage with the candidates, and we are also mindful of the need to deliver a responsible and respectful forum. Our plans are designed to balance all these considerations.

As you may know, we're on for a debate between Bev Perdue and Richard Moore this Monday night. We're going to focus our questions in four areas, which will depend on what community members are most interested in. Some questions were posted on the announcement thread, but we want more. We're looking for your toughest stuff, those hard questions that will help us get at the real and important differences between these two great candidates. Thanks.

I was lucky enough tonight to hear George Lakoff talk about politics and language. One thing I came away with is a deep desire for political conversations where everything is right out there for anyone to see. That's what happened tonight and that's what happens here.

Lakoff covered a huge amount of ground, and I hope to be able to find it out on the Tubes and share it. But in the meantime, I have this question: Is transparency a fundamental value that progressives and conservatives share?

Please kindly note that this is an example of transparency.

With so much drama being generated in the Primary Wars, I've found myself getting burned out on blogging. I told the other front-pagers on Friday that I was slipping into an obsessive-compulsive spiral and needed a break for a week or so. That was before I got another email yesterday from my friend Alex, in Kenya.