MyDD :: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs

50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs

by lpackard, Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 02:13:03 AM EST

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:

Alabama: Bamacrat
Alaska:
Arizona:
Arkansas:
California: Calitics
Colorado: SoapBlox Colorado
Connecticut: My Left Nutmeg
Delaware:
Florida: FLA Politics
Georgia:
Hawaii:
Idaho: Liberal Idaho
Illinois: SoapBlox Chicago
Indiana:
Iowa:
Kansas:
Kentucky: see below
Louisiana:
Maine:
Maryland: see below
Massachusetts: Blue Mass Group
Michigan: Michigan Liberal
Minnesota:
Mississippi:
Missouri: Fired Up Missouri
Montana:
Nebraska:
Nevada:
New Hampshire:
New Jersey: Blue Jersey
New Mexico:
New York:
North Carolina: BlueNC
North Dakota:
Ohio: GrowOhio
Oklahoma:
Oregon: see below
Pennsylvania:
Rhode Island: see below
South Carolina:
South Dakota:
Tennessee:
Texas: Burnt Orange Report
Utah:
Vermont: Green Mountain Daily coming soon
Virginia: see below
Washington: Washblog
West Virginia:
Wisconsin:
Wyoming:

Almost there:

All these sites have great content, a regional focus, active commenting. They just need for users to be able to post stories as well as comments.

Kentucky: Bluegrass Report
Maryland: Fired Up Maryland
Oregon: Blue Oregon
Rhode Island: Rhode Island's Future
Virginia: Raising Kaine

There must be more scoop state blogs out there, I'm hoping you can help me find them. Please comment if you know of any.

Tags: Blogosphere, activism, 50 state strategy (all tags)

Permalink :: 35 Comments :: Post a Comment

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (3.00 / 1)

In regards to Georgia statewide blogs, I'd refer you to two:

1.) The Democratic Party of Georgia's blog, "Opportunity for Georgia" (www.opportunityforgeorgia.com)

-and-

2.) "Georgia Politics Unfiltered" (georgiaunfiltered.blogspot.com). This particular blog is listed on Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack's "Heartland PAC" website under the "Build the Bench" link.

by andrewalker08 on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:03:51 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I hace a FLORIDA blog
Change In Tallahasse
http://Changeintallahassee.blogspot.com

or http://www.ChangeInTallahassee.com

Ron Mills
Broward County Florida

by RAINBOWUSA on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 10:48:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Thanks for the heads-up about your blog. I post at Florida News and sometimes at FLA Politics. Actually, I see you made use of my "recommended blogs" list on your site (with some additions). Great!

I'll be sure to keep reading your blog. Keep posting.

by mikeinflorida on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 11:17:31 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I'm trying to stay away from state party sites, because I think there might be some conflicts of interest there - how free can the dialogue be? Georgia Politics Unfiltered looks like good stuff, but because they're using Blogger it doesn't allow for users to post stories. Do you know if they're planning to switch platforms at all?

by lpackard on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:46:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Civicspace (none / 0)

It might be good here to mention Civicspace, which is a Drupal distribution taylored to political organizing and running campaigns. It's what we're using at BlueNC.

by Lance McCord on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:20:39 AM EST

Civicspacelabs.org (none / 0)

Sorry -- forgot the link.

by Lance McCord on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:21:45 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Interested in a statewide Soapblox? (none / 0)

You can find the information here.

Here's some of the information:

All you have to do is send an email to soapblox@soapblox.net and we will work with you to get your SoapBlox up and running as soon as possible.

After a small initial set-up fee, SoapBlox will host your next-generation online community for the low-low price of $15/month. There isn't a faster, easier blog platform out there.

Contact Us
So email soapblox@soapblox.net and you could have your own SoapBlox by the end of the week.

by mikeinflorida on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:26:48 AM EST

Re: Interested in a statewide Soapblox? (none / 0)

Us over at Burnt Orange Report just made the move to SoapBlox last month and couldn't be happier. It's allowed us to be able to truly cover the whole state now that readers can write Burnt Orange Journals and add to the conversation. Plus the development community is way cool and I don't have to deal with any more of the cr*p Movable Type comment spam.

Follow Texas Politics at Burnt Orange Report

by KTinTX on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 02:25:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]

North Carolina (none / 0)

Here in North Carolina, the State Party has given the Counties, Organizations, and Districts free Domains, with a software tool (sitex). We are beginning to develop these sites. Here's the one I am looking after. Check the links for more.

by meagert on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:54:44 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Best Idea for organizing the progressive movement I've read. Please do it. As the television promo used to say, " we're in touch, so you be in touch". Or something along that line. I'm in south Louisiana (yes, right in the path of Katrina) where democrats, except for the minority voters, are a rare breed. With the way the feds are handling our misfortune, I can see politics and attitudes changing on a daily basis. We need to establish a strong progressive blogroll here that links up with a strong national one.

I hope you can get it done. I'll help in any way my very limited talent will allow.

by cheviteau on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 09:28:38 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I saw there wasn't any community blog for Louisiana: if you feel strongly about this, why not contact other LA bloggers and try to start one together? That's exactly the kind of reaction I was hoping to inspire when I wrote this.

So far there seem to be four platform choices: Scoop, SoapBlox, Drupal (the Fired Up sites use it), and CivicSpace. Could investigate all four and see which one is the best fit for you.

The best part is that you don't necessarily need to be a technical person to do this: there are hosting companies that will handle all that for you. What you need is a little bit of money to start, and the time and determination to make it happen.

by lpackard on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:53:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Virginia blog www.raisingkaine.com. RK currently meet 2 of the 3 criteria you mentioned and is transferring the site to scoop. Still working out the kinks.

by mallsus2 on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 10:01:51 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Yay! I like RK, and am glad to hear they are going to scoop.

by lpackard on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:54:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Goes with my idea (3.00 / 1)

National blog shut down day.

Kos, ya'll, Digby, et al. coordinate a day when all of the major national blogs on our side greet their viewers with a very stark screen:

This blog closed for grassroots maintenance.

Today, please do any of the following:

Visit your state/local blogs

Go to local party HQ

Talk to neighbors about politics

Write letters to editor

Etc.

Each of the items in the list would have links to simple instructions and an extra bit of motivational rhetoric.

Getting people to take that first, tentative step from behind the safety of their computer screen is huge.

There's more to it, but I'll save that for the diary unless one of ya'll prominent folks wants save me the trouble and just take the idea and run with it.

Visit DebateScoop

by demondeac on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 10:32:43 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Some state parties have their own blogs. Some of them may have the capacity to evolve into meeting your needs. For example, in Kansas, the State party's blog not only allows individuals to post comments but also allows registered users to initiate "forum topics." How far that is from posting diaries is a judgment call.

This is certainly not a tool of the establishment. in a few visits I've seen candidates attacked for not being "liberal" or progressive enough. Perhaps they can be coaxed along (www.ksdp.org is the website, BTW).

A step further away, at least, is www.ohiodems.org. Not so participatory. More top down. And, within Ohio, there are better alternatives.

Speaking of Ohio, why isn't news on candidate filings as readily available as it is in other states? Two words. Kenneth Blackwell. Even Republicans are a-feared of the mighty Ken and his partisan dictatorship of the state's election process. It is clear that he not only "represents" just Republicans but one can go a big step further and say he only represents himself and those Republicans who are allied with him. Pretty lousy for the chief elections officer of a major state.

by David Kowalski on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 10:51:12 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I hear you about state party blogs. Some are definitely more participatory than others. I stayed away from them all when making this list, because there is such a potential for conflicts of interest. I think it's important to have an independent voice. It's good to have both kinds.

by lpackard on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:57:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I noticed that the story says that users can't post stories on Fired Up! Maryland. Actually, Fired Up! Maryland is a Drupal site, just like Fired Up! Missouri, America, and Washington and I would be overjoyed if folks would post away.

I would strongly encourage people to register on the sites and start posting stories.

If folks would like to become regular contributors on any of the Fired Up! sites, they should shoot me an email at roy (at) firedupamerica.com. Same if they are interested in helping me start a Fired Up! site in their state.

Here are the fired up sites:

http://www.firedupmissouri.com
http://www.firedupamerica.com
http://www.firedupmaryland.com
http://www.firedupcalifornia.com
http://www.firedupwashington.com

by roy temple on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 10:55:37 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Sorry! I looked all around, and only saw stories from you on there. Since I didn't go so far as creating an account to try to post something, I assumed that it wasn't possible.

by lpackard on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:13:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Scoop based NY focused blog. Currently starting up again after a break after local elections. Will focus on governor's race (although that will mostly just require making fun of the pathetic NY Republican party as Spitzer romps), Senate race (ditto with Clinton), some congressional races where we hope to get some Dem upsets (NY 20 and others) and the general silliness of politics in Albany. We may have a shot at taking over the State Senate which also would help although both parties are almost universally corrupt and useless in NY.

www.democracyinalbany.com

NY has a lot of great blogs but currently doesn't have any dominant central community based blog. I'd be interested in hearing from anyone who has accomplished this in another state.

by democracyinalbany on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 10:56:26 AM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Here in Massachusetts we've got a pretty decent progressive blogosphere that just sprang up in the past year and change. The leader of the pack, so to speak, is Blue Mass. Group which switched to Scoop in November (iirc) and just exploded in popularity recently.

It's easier to organize here in MA, if only because it's a smaller state. A bunch of us met for a bloggers conference last year for a strategy/socializing session. Also, a lot of us are using the blogwire feature from leftyblogs which lets us all share traffic without having to link to specific posts. I think those two things really helped turn us from a bunch of blogs to a blogging community.

.08 Acres
.0000016% of Massachusetts Political Commentary

by sco on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 11:17:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Just to clarify - we switched to Soapblox, not Scoop, and we've been VERY happy with the change. Soapblox is a very nice platform for non-techie types like me - no way I could handle Scoop - and it works great.

I love the 50-state strategy. Tip O'Neill was right: all politics is local.

by david blue on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:25:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Isn't DIA just your state-focused blog, running on Scoop? Do you have plans to bring on more NY bloggers since you've relaunched?

I ask because I've been wondering why NY doesn't have something like Blue Jersey, even though as you point out, there are a lot of great blogs in the state. Since I write a fair bit about NY politics (mostly NYC and NY, statewide), I've thought about trying to start a similar site. My only concern, of course, is that I like in Jersey. But then again, NY media has never been too worried about forcing itself on me, so why should I worry about forcing myself on it. ;)

by Scott Shields on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:03:13 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

DIA is just my state focused blog running on Scoop. I write most of the content and have done so anonymously for various reasons. The only other front pager was Mike Stark, currently of www.callingallwingnuts.com fame. Over the last year it mostly focused on Albany local elections and there were many diarists and commentors on those issues. I haven't talked to other bloggers beyond Mike about joining DIA at this point. DIA may not be the vehicle to start a state wide site with a bunch of bloggers. Setting up a new scoop based site would be easy and cheap and certainly something I'd be interested in talking about either starting or at least being one of the bloggers.

There certainly is a large audience for national blogs. I've seen a pretty strong interest on a local level. Makes sense that a state focused site could work. Someone give George Soros a call and ask for some seed money.

by democracyinalbany on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:32:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

It's not even that expensive. Soapblox costs (mentioned above) are $15 a month. Not sure about the others. You can make that with blogads and google adwords, and get the site to be at least self-sustaining.

by lpackard on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 01:12:46 PM EST
[ Parent ]

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I think i pay $12 a month for my scoop site. My host is great and helpful. I've got limited tech skills but I was able to figure out the basics of Scoop pretty quickly. Its not the software or hosting that I think money is required for but the food, rent, beer money that is required to support the bloggers. To get a statewide site to the point of being a really effective large community site is going to take quite a bit of time and effort. I'm not sure you could ever get the kind of audience that could support the writers even at poverty levels. I certainly notice many blogs, even good ones, seem to reach a point where they fade away. Being voted the "best local blog" is great but it doesn't pay the bills.

For example, the people who do PoliticsNJ seem to do quite well despite their obvious lack of design sense. They tried to do the same in several other states including NY. www.politicsny.com They couldn't keep it going.

by democracyinalbany on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 01:26:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]

In addition (none / 0)

I've begun tinkering with a website that would be centered around comprehensive databasing of every elected office in the country. Plugging that into a state-blog network would be huge once it's up and running.

by Lucas O'Connor on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 12:27:57 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

http://www.blogforiowa.com/

by willm on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 01:17:52 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

A good progressive blog for Oklahoma is

http://okiefunk.com/index.php

dmac

by dmac on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 04:12:03 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I run a North Dakotan progressive blog at www.flickertailjournal.com. I'm also running for the North Dakota State House in District 35 (Bismarck).

I don't have diary capabilities on my blog because, frankly, I'm technologically incompetent - I can only do so much, and figuring out WordPress is the best you'll get from me.

But, take a look, maybe it'll make your list.

Other good progressive blogs in ND include the Democratic-NPL Party blog (http://nddemnpl.blogspot.com/), BismarckDems (http://www.bismarckdems.com/ - kind of features diaries, almost), Swanson (http://www.areavoices.com/commonsense/), and ND Blueblog (http://ndblueblog.blogspot.com/).

by rmgustaf on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 04:55:58 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

I've got a blogspot page for myself that I just got going a week or so ago. It's had some federal race coverage and talk about policy things on it from me, but I'm going to hopefully focus it more intently on my state of Wisconsin. Check it out at:

http://bluepeterblog.blogspot.com/

No diary things, because it's a blogspot page (unless I'm missing something on there). But comments can come a'plenty.

I'm working to get some contacts inside the statehouse and inside the state party better than what I do right now, and then use the blog itself as a way to keep people up on things in our state and ways to be active among them.

http://bluepeterblog.blogspot.com/

by rickman on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 06:34:29 PM EST

Montana (none / 0)

In Montana, we had www.progressmontana.com and the site is still live, but a lack of interaction killed it. Honestly, launching a community blog in a state the size of Montana is tough.

We'll probably try again down the road. Until then, we merely network among ourselves.

www.leftinthewest.com

by Left in the West on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 06:53:52 PM EST

How to do this? (none / 0)

For those of us who don't want to spend $15 a month, is there an easy platform to use? Scoop seems effective but I hear horror stories about it. Are they overblown?

I've got the largest iowa-focused progressive blog, but I'd like to increase community involvement. Email me at drew@drewmiller.net or just post here.

Bleeding Heartland - Iowa's Progressive Community-oriented blog

by ItsDrewMiller on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 08:17:48 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

Nominee for Tennessee:

The blogger formerly known as South Knox Bubba recently started co-blogging at Facing South and started up a Tennessee-oriented progressive blog called KnoxViews.

http://www.knoxviews.com

From their about page:

KnoxViews is an open, progressive community space for citizens of Knoxville and the surrounding community to meet, organize, and discuss news, events, and issues affecting the community.

We invite Citizen Journalists to contribute news, views, and other commentary. Local officials and organizations, community activists, artists, professional groups, and others are invited to use KnoxViews for promotion, announcements, blogging, event calendars, and other online communication.

Anyone can view content or comment on articles.

Contact information for TBFKASKB is at that page. The old Southknoxbubba domain points to it now too.

by Andy Axel on Wed Feb 15, 2006 at 09:28:33 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

If I may be so bold, I cover Minnesota's local and state races with an ounce of commentary on various issues at Minnesota Campaign Report. It's not as officious as many other nominations here, but I do my best and know a thing or two about Democratic/DFL campaigns.

by jbnr51 on Mon Feb 20, 2006 at 01:10:37 PM EST

Re: 50 State Strategy: Statewide Blogs (none / 0)

LPackard - Some Arizona blogs, mine included, which I plan to blog about Arizona's "Fightin' 8th" encompassing East Tucson onward east.

The Great Society by Matt Ortega
Blog for Arizona
Rum, Romanism and Rebellion

by Matt Ortega on Mon Feb 20, 2006 at 01:12:49 PM EST

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