Dems attest to growing clout of bloggers
By Dan Balz
LAS VEGAS — The newest provocateur in Democratic Party politics bounced through the corridors of the Riviera Hotel and Casino this weekend wearing jeans or baggy shorts, sneakers and a perpetually mischievous grin. His name is Markos Moulitsas Zúniga, and not many years ago, no party leader had heard of him. Today they are courting him and many like him.
Moulitsas, founder of the Daily Kos, is one of the most influential progressive bloggers in the nation today and a symbol of an expanding Internet-based movement that has led the attacks on President Bush while challenging the Democratic establishment.
Moulitsas' message is clear. "The media elite has failed us," he says. "The political elite has failed us. Both parties. Republicans failed us because they can't govern. Democrats failed us because they can't get elected."
Many Democrats see the emerging movement as a source of innovation, energy and ideas that will change the way politics and journalism are practiced, and one that will provide a new army of activists for a party in need of help.
Tensions arise
But the arrival of the blogosphere as a political force has produced tensions within the Democratic coalition, including battles with party centrists over the direction of the party and questions about whether the often-angry rhetoric and uncompromising positions of the bloggers will drive the party too far left and endanger its chances of winning national elections.
Moulitsas offered his appraisal of the state of politics and a call for the so-called netroots — Internet meets grass-roots — activists to take over the party on the opening night of the debut YearlyKos Convention, which bought more than 1,000 bloggers and activists to Las Vegas for a weekend of strategy discussions.
It is the first step in what organizers hope will turn a loose-knit, virtual community into a long-lasting political movement.
Testifying to the significance of the blogosphere as an emerging political force was the parade of Democratic politicians who came to pay their respects, including Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean and four prospective 2008 presidential candidates.
"I pay as much attention [to the bloggers] as I can," Reid said by phone before his arrival for Saturday night's keynote address. "I think it's a voice I need to listen to. I listen."
The prospective candidates — former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner, Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson and retired Army Gen. Wesley Clark — hope they can generate support among an activist constituency that has expressed its hostility toward Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, D-N.Y., as a cautious and consummate insider.
Clark and Warner threw receptions for the participants. And when Warner spoke at lunch Saturday, the chairs in the hall were draped with T-shirts bearing his likeness and commemorating the conference.
Although a centrist in ideology, Warner has attracted bloggers' attention and has been trying to build relationships around the country.
"I think it's evolving," he said of the netroots movement. "I think these guys and gals are potentially creating a new public square for democracy."
Power seen in '04
The Net-based political movement first demonstrated its power by supporting Dean's 2004 presidential campaign, helping him raise tens of millions of dollars and propelling him into front-runner status for the Democratic nomination until his candidacy imploded.
That experience showed the promise and the limitations of the movement.
Some participants think conventional political labels fail to capture the significance of the changes under way.
"I think the Internet and the blogs are helping to renew our democracy," said Simon Rosenberg of the centrist NDN, the successor organization of the New Democrat Network. "There are many more people involved in the debate about our country than a few years ago."
Jerome Armstrong, who founded one of the best-read progressive blogs, MyDD.com, co-wrote a book on netroots with Moulitsas called "Crashing the Gate" and is on Warner's payroll. Armstrong said the rise of the blogosphere gives Democrats a way to counter Republican talk radio and other parts of the GOP communications machinery. "Blogs are a rapid-response mechanism for Democrats we didn't have before," he said.
Conference participants appeared eager to dispel their image as doctrinaire liberals, though the most animated panels involved liberal attacks on Bush and the Republicans over the Iraq war, criticism of the administration's role in the unmasking of CIA operative Valerie Plame and charges that the mainstream media have failed to stand up to the president.
But Moulitsas said the movement has been miscast as a collection of young, far-left activists by Democratic consultants, Republicans and elected officials.
"We're actually a fairly representative cross section of the Democratic Party and we don't have an agenda other than seeking strong Democratic voices."
Tom Mattzie, Washington, D.C., director of MoveOn.org, called the struggle inside the Democratic Party a "clash of civilizations" between an old order and a new order, but he also discounted those who view it purely in ideological terms.
His group, he said, had polled netroots activists. "What they want is not an ideological litmus test," he said. "They want Democrats to stand up and fight. They don't want Neville Chamberlain Democrats; they want Muhammad Ali Democrats."
That, said many of those in attendance, explains the contempt with which netroots activists hold Sen. Joseph Lieberman, D-Conn., whom they see as having gone out of his way to support Bush and to criticize Democrats on the Iraq war and other issues.
A popular button in Las Vegas showed Bush and Lieberman in near-embrace with the words "The Kiss"; in addition, Lieberman's primary challenger, Ned Lamont, has become a darling of the netroots activists.
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