FLORIDA PROGRESSIVE BLOGGERS MAY COME TOGETHER

I received an interesting e-mail today from Kenneth, who has an excellent idea. Since he asked me to share this with other interested "liberal, progressive, Democratic, or Green bloggers" in Florida, I am sharing this with you here. I'm sure that Kenneth would appreciate hearing from anyone in the Sunshine State interested in becoming part of this endeavour.

Announcing the formation of the Sunshine State Progressive Blogger's Association (the name is debatable at this point and I'm open to suggestions. I do want to use progressive, though, instead of Democrat -- to open it up to a broader community -- and prefer Progressive because I don't want to scare people off -- more explanation as to why that's important below).

I'm inviting all progressive, liberal, Democratic, Green other leftist bloggers in Florida to join this organization which will have the following goals:

1. Community -- Going back to a conversation Mustang Bobby (of Bark Bark Woof Woof fame down in Miami) and I had a while back, this organization would provide a social outlet for leftist bloggers around the state -- a way for us to meet each other and get to know people with similar interests and build a community. This could include meet-ups and conventions.

2. Web presence -- Establish a web site and blog to deal with Florida politics and political issues and would be open to contributions by all members.

3. Media presence -- The organization could be built into a legitimate presence in the Florida media landscape. As an official organization, we could push for press credentials and legitimate access to politicians, parties and interest groups in Florida. We would also focus on getting media coverage of our activities and projects in order to further the goals we are trying to accomplish.

4. The Florida Elections Project -- Establish an online clearinghouse for all information related to statewide and national elections for officials from Florida. Our project could keep an eye on districts and redistricting, liberal, moderate and conservative candidates, media coverage and analysis of various races and districts.

5. Candidate Forums -- As an established official organization, we could attract candidates to come and present their agenda to us in hopes of attracting blog coverage, potential fund-raising and the like. We could also partner with or work with like-minded organizations for a synergy effect, particularly with non-Democratic organizations and youth organizations and help provide a more progressive voice to the politicians of Florida.

6. Activism -- Provide a way for individual bloggers (and readers) to get more involved in important issues in Florida through the sharing of action alerts, news stories and analysis and by partnering with progressive interest groups and parties in Florida for an easier way to share information.

7. Whatever else we can think of, all with the overall goal of moving Florida politics and policies in a more progressive direction.

All of this is debatable, these are just the ideas I came up with off the top of my head or by brainstorming with the wife. Let me know what you think, if you're interested and if you'd be willing to help out, even if it is just in the idea stage. I'm serious about this and I'm going to make it happen, but I need your help and your ideas.

You can check out the earliest version of the website here: http://quinnell.us/sspb/wiki/

This web site is a wiki that any member can update and expand, while the other part of the site -- the blog -- will be up by sometime this weekend.

This really sounds like a great idea. While most of the mainstream media generally disparages bloggers, our numbers continue to grow and gain influence. Hell, even a number of "mainstream" media sources have gotten into the idea. Just read the St. Petersburg Times' political blog The Buzz sometime; it's one of the best of it's kind anywhere run by a news organization. And politicos have come to see bloggers as a rich new area to spread their message.

I, for one, will do as much as possible to help this new endeavour. While I won't get my computer back until approximately the end of this month (under repair by the Geek Squad), and I'm still stuck with posting from the Lakeland Public Library, count me in.