Washblog

I went to the Rocky Mountain caucus, not sure what to expect.  As you know, I don't live there, although I spent my formative years in small-town Colorado.  So I decided we were going to wing it.  It went as well as I think it could have gone, with all but one seat filled, half by folks from Colorado.  We had two from Nevada (more on that later), two from Utah, two from Montana, about 7 from Arizona, and two from Idaho.  Surprisingly, nearly half of them didn't consider themselves bloggers - they were lurkers, at YK to learn more about HOW to do this, and didn't feel they had much right to speak up.  

The focus I chose was on discussing the mechanics of increasing blog traffic and effectiveness, using Party orgs, candidates and elected officials (and allowing the blog to be used when appropriate), to create the most positive outcome possible for progressives.  I won't go too deeply into details unless ya beg me for it, because we pretty much know how to do these things, but I'll leave it at this:  I gave them homework to start their own blogs or start commenting at others', sent the Utah folks to the Soapblox folks to get a blog started, and told everyone to start working with progressive friends in Utah, Wyoming and New Mexico and convince them to start filling the blog void in those states.

I was lucky enough to have em dash sit next to me, quite by accident, and she was a HUGE help, and kind of gave the lurkers an ass-kicking.  You guys, she's so smart, and has so much to add, that it was a privilege to sit with her.  The other person who sat next to me (I made all the latecomers sit in front with me) turned out to be someone Kossacks are familiar with - Sarah Carter, daughter of Jack, granddaughter of Jimmy.  I can tell you she was very nice, very nervous about speaking, extremely bright, and she wasn't carrying any Jack Carter buttons.  I told her to get some, 'cause switzer doesn't like being disappointed.  :-)  em dash, btw, is adamant that we need to get together again, so she's trying to make time to come to Seattle and bring eugene back up to visit us.  Seattleliberal, she specifically said you need to come out from under your rock.

em dash also told me that a Drinking Liberally convention-style bash is being planned in Denver around September 30, so make your plans!

As for the 25 folks coming from Washington, I have to tell you there are way more here than we knew about.  As N in Seattle pointed out, el ganador is here with a friend, we've got natasha from Pacific Views, Lynn from Evergreen Politics, N, Andrew from NPI, and on and on.  We're going out for a WA Kossack meetup tonight in downtown Vegas, from where we're heading back to the Stratosphere for Mark Warner's big shindig.  I'm taking photos, but because I'm an idiot I didn't bring a USB connector, so I can't upload them yet - they may have to wait and just be posted on Switzerblog after the fact.  

And now, Mrs. Switzer wants me to go to Red rock Canyon with her, so I must away!  There is much more than I'm writing, but i can't overstate the value of this.  

(btw, BREAKING:  for those of you who know him from Kos, Armando is missing in action here.  Apparently, a RW group has begun attacking his anonymity and is hassling him, possibly threatening to out him, so in an effort to keep his private life private and protect his job, he's stepped out of YK.  Kos just told us that no one knows at this point if he's going to come back to Kos, leave politics altogether, or what.  For those of you who think outting people is okay, think about what this is doing to Armando's life right now, and for all his occasionally bad behavior, the voice that's possibly being lost on Kos.  It can happen here, too.)