Blogswarm - Online Political News Magazine

by Chris Bowers

The 2004 election, or at least the pre-election analysis of 2004, is over. As such, it is time that, as a site, we move on in order to stay relevant. The President, House, Senate and Governor's pages have become antiquated, and we need new content.

As such, coming soon to the Menu Box will be five new special pages, replacing our existing four. Combined, I believe they will go a long way toward addressing our post-election needs:

• Activism. This page will contain descriptions and links to various forms of growing online activism that we can become involved with. The first two links on this page will be the reader suggested Creation of National Community Newspapers Association, that will work to expand independent media across the country, and BlogPac, where the liberal, netroots street fight will be waged at a higher level than ever before. Let me know what else you think deserves attention.

• MyDD book club. I suggested this idea late last night, and it seems to have sparked a lot of interest. So, we are going to go ahead with this project as well. Our first "book" will be Phillip Agre's long essay What Is Conservatism and What is Wrong With It, and our first discussion will start on Wednesday, November 18th, at 10 pm Eastern. From that point, we will have a discussion of an actual book every other Wednesday night, starting at 10 pm Eastern. You can vote now on nominations for the December 2nd discussion, which will be of an actual book. After every discussion, I will compile the nominations for the next book and put it to a front-page vote. The Book Club page will archive all previous discussions, as well as provide information about the upcoming book and links for people to purchase the upcoming book and books we have already discussed.

• Vote Defense. I asked the community, and the community has spoken. People want more attention to the voting troubles associated with this election than we are giving. So, soon there will be an entire page on MyDD where each of the specific allegations, as well as new allegations, can be discussed. I will monitor the discussion, and post summaries of current investigations. The page will also provide links to other sites doing the same thing. Of course, someone is going to have to present me a summary of what is going on in order for me to do this effectively.

• Balance of Power. This page will serve as a reference site for the current balance of power within the federal government and all state governments. It will include the partisan index chart, state-by-state maps of party control over US Senate and Governorships, the new database I am building on the 2002 and 2004 House elections, and a list, with links, of party control of ever branch of every state legislature in all fifty states. Basically, it will be a complete overview of which party controls what. We need this information to help us know where to attack next.

• Elections 2005 In December, there are important House run-offs in Louisiana. In less than one year, there will be a number of state legislature, mayoral and Governor's elections. Between now and then, there will probably be some special elections. This page will serve as a reference point for all elections that will take place over the next twelve months.

Our fight continues, and MyDD will change to help support our fight as best as possible. No good blog rests on its laurels. Together, our community will seize the future.