Bumped--Chris

State and local blogs are the way of the future. They provide local political news and analysis not available anywhere else, especially as media consolidation means fewer and fewer experienced political reporters and good stories. And they also help bring together activist communities, which can change the shape of an entire race. (See Lieberman, CT, or Allen, VA for examples).

Blogpac wants to support that work. As previously diaried, we are offering a series of grants to community blogs to help cover hosting fees (one year of hosting, ie. $180, will be the standard amount). Blogpac is pleased to announce our second round of blog grants.

• Connecticut: My Left Nutmeg
  
• Illinois: Prairie State Blue
  
• Maryland: Free State Politics
  
• New Mexico: New Mexico FBIHOP
  
• Ohio: As Ohio Goes
  
• Ohio: Buckeye State Blog
  
• Rhode Island: Rhode Island Future
  
• Vermont: Green Mountain Daily
  
• West Virginia: West Virginia Blue

Read more about the grant criteria here. For the first time, we're also offering grants to group blogs not on a community platform - to enable them to switch. Congratulations to those in this round, and stay tuned for more grant awards in the future.

Like what we're doing and want to support it? Contribute to Blogpac monthly or one time only.

Please help out with this project. I'll have another announcement about this project soon--Chris

Local community blogs are important. Blogs like Raising Kaine in Virginia helped make the difference for Senator Webb and others this past election. I can speak to that personally, as a part of MichiganLiberal. But what about all the states that don't have a state-based community blog yet? How can a community blog reach a larger audience when they have a big story? Can we help each other to grow?

I'm proud to announce a new project through BlogPac - the 50 State Blog Network. The goal of this project is to produce a strong network of state-based blogs across the country, to help grow their local blogospheres and turn red to blue on a statewide basis.

It starts with a list. See below the cut for the list of state-based lefty community blogs I've compiled. If I'm wrong, or missing somebody, please speak up! You know your local blogs better than I do. We're not picking favorites, just looking for true community-based efforts. Also if you have contact information for any of these blogs, please email me.

What if your state doesn't have a community blog? If you're interested in helping to start one, or you know of a blog that's interested in moving over to a community platform like Scoop or Soapblox, please comment here or email me. I would love to help you get going. More updates later, including how OpenID through netroots.com can lead to a single signon across multiple blogs. Maybe we can arrange a in-person meeting or conference of state-based bloggers this year too, at the DNC Winter Meeting and/or YearlyKos.

Alabama: None
Alaska: None
Arizona:  http://www.aznetroots.com/
Arkansas: None
California: http://www.calitics.com/
Colorado: http://www.squarestate.net/
Connecticut: http://www.myleftnutmeg.com/
Delaware: None
Florida: http://www.flapolitics.com/
Georgia*: http://www.blogfordemocracy.org/
Hawaii: None
Idaho: http://www.liberalidaho.org/
Illinois: http://www.soapblox.net/chicago/
Indiana: http://www.liberalindiana.com/
Iowa*: http://www.politicalforecast.net/
Kansas: None
Kentucky: http://www.bluegrassreport.org/
Louisiana: None
Maine: http://www.turnmaineblue.com/
Maryland*: http://www.freestatepolitics.blogspot.co m/
Massachusetts: http://www.bluemassgroup.com/
Michigan: http://www.michiganliberal.com
Minnesota: http://www.mncampaignreport.com/
Mississippi: None
Missouri: http://www.firedupmissouri.com/
Montana: http://montananetroots.com/
Nebraska*: http://www.newnebraska.blogspot.com/
Nevada*: http://www.lasvegasgleaner.com/
New Hampshire: http://www.bluehampshire.com/
New Jersey: http://www.bluejersey.net/
New Mexico*: http://nmfbihop.blogspot.com/
New York: http://www.thealbanyproject.com/
North Carolina: http://www.bluenc.com/
North Dakota: None
Ohio: http://www.asohiogoes.com/
Oklahoma: http://www.blueoklahoma.org/
Oregon: http://www.blueoregon.com/
Pennsylvania*: http://www.keystonepolitics.com/
Rhode Island*: http://www.rifuture.org/blog/
South Carolina: http://www.SouthCarolina08.com/
South Dakota*: http://www.sdprogressive.com/
Tennessee: http://www.knoxviews.com/
Texas: http://www.burntorangereport.com/
Utah: http://www.wasatchwatcher.com/
Vermont: http://www.greenmountaindaily.com/
Virginia: http://www.raisingkaine.com/
Washington: http://www.washblog.com/
West Virginia*: http://wvkossacks.blogspot.com/
Wisconsin:  None
Wyoming: None

* = doesn't allow diaries, but is led by a team as opposed to a sole blogger.

Laura sent me this in an email, and I asked her to diary it, so the community could chime in as well. I'm all for creating a 50 state blogroll, as I believe that the local online is crucial for offline activism to make people-powered-precincts a reality in the coming cycles of DNC elections. The list is flexible too, so I will go ahead and fill in all 50, if there are blogs with the state's focus, and change later if need be. Add to fill in the blanks, or otherwise, in the comments, Jerome

I've been reading a fair amount about the disconnect between online and offline activism. That blogging is all well and good, but it's not enough. One of the problems of the lefty blogosphere in my opinion, is that the big sites are just not set up to encourage local/regional action. I'm not sure that can or should be fixed: for a large site appealing to a national audience, it will probably never make sense to do field organizing on a local level. I think what we need instead, is a network of strong interactive statewide blogs. Then local activist bloggers can find each other more easily, and work together. This is where we can really make a difference.

I think MyDD's blogroll can be used to help bring this about. As Chris pointed out in his "I'm Not Going To Blogroll You" post, linking to a site will produce only a small amount of traffic. But that's not the point. By keeping a 50 state blogroll, MyDD will hopefully help people find their state blog and get involved, and also spur the creation of good statewide blogs in places where they don't exist now.

MyDD already keeps a state-level blogroll, but I suggest going further. Set some transparent criteria on how a site can get listed: perhaps that most stories be state and/or local, that the site be based on scoop or similar to enable people to post diaries as well as comments, and that the site have a Dem/liberal/progressive focus. There are plenty of state blogs out there, some of whom do a great job in covering state & local politics. But I think it's key to have a scoop (or similar) blog for every state in order to allow users to self-organize, to talk to each other. Limiting users to commenting-only limits the potential of the blog to develop a community.

I did some research, starting with MyDD's existing state blogroll and also using LeftyBlogs. Some are Scoop, some are SoapBlox. Here's what I have so far:

Reading Paul Rosenberg's article on Marketing and the Right Wing Message Machine is a frustrating thing. It brings home to me that we on the left don't have nearly the tools that they do. But this being the end of one year and the beginning of another, I thought I might lay out a few things that we can all do in 2006, even though we might not have the access of a Judy Miller. (And who knows what new tools we might get with the mydd site redesign!)

• Bring Air America to your local airwaves. Read this dailykos diary on how to get an Air America affiliate in your town. Could start organizing online or with friends, at a local Dem party or DFA meeting, anyplace where likeminded progressives gather. You don't need an army either - 6 people got the ball rolling in Baton Rouge.

• Help organize your state and local blogosphere. Start up a statewide blog or get involved in an existing blog - one place to start is SoapBlox. Read DavidNYC's post on setting up a blog for every congressional district. It's easy to do - and you can help drive coverage of an issue and/or person into the mainstream if your research is good or your insight is unique. Plus it feels good to bring some of the icky backroom votes and behavior out into the daylight! This is something you can do by yourself or with others. Also be sure to check out Lefty Blogs and District Blogs to see if your state and/or district has bloggers already you can team up with. Help local candidates too, many may be completely unfamiliar with Internet-enabled campaigns.

• Follow your local media. Subscribe to the local papers, listen to the local radio talk shows, watch local TV coverage. If you see slanted or missing coverage, push back. Track down the contact information for Letters to the Editor or Op Eds next year, and some local talk radio stations to call in to. Also if they're looking for contributors, commentators and/or bloggers, sign yourself up!

• For extra credit: Put on your own local public access cable or radio show. Or start up your own zine/newspaper, or do podcasts.

What's your prescription for 2006?

Cross-posted from Michigan Liberal.

Last night at Michigan's Dean dinner fundraiser, I had a conversation about how the Republicans won in 2004 (hint: not cheating. Or at least, not just cheating.) Had dimly recalled that the key had been credited to a "neighbor to neighbor" strategy. Wanted to find out exactly what that meant, how it worked. Unfortunately Google came up dry, but I found something incredibly powerful instead.

Read this article (from the California Political Review).

(more below the flip)

As Tim mentions in his earlier diary, the most important election this year is coming up - RON in Ohio. RON is a coalition of many different groups in Ohio, including churches, unions, Democratic groups of all stripes and good government groups. RON stands for Reform Ohio Now, a series of ballot initiatives allowing for campaign finance reform, no-reason voting by mail, conducting of elections by an bipartisan board instead of partisan officials, and most importantly, an end to gerrymandering. This proposal would set up an impartial board to draw districts, which not only could mean several congressional seats becoming competitive again (in a roughly even state, the current delegation is 12R - 6D), but is the right thing to do.  If it passes, redistricting would take effect in time for the 2008 general elections - which would be huge.

RON isn't the only thing brewing in Ohio. Remember the Contract With America? Remember 1994 (ouch)? There's something to be said for a plan, a unified message. Right now it's starting to sink in that the Republican Party is the party of corruption (think DeLay, think Frist, think Bush/Halliburton/Rove it goes on and on). Check out The Contract With Ohio, which candidates in Ohio from the Governor on down are signing on to. It's a platform the whole party can get behind.

(more under the fold)