The Politicker's Azi riffs on Apple's new must-have, the iPhone, noting that it reserves its most appealing and fun features for when the beautiful thing is in a WiFi network.

Thing is, WiFi is still not anywhere near the coverage of cell phone networks. So yes, there are political ramifications from this product launch. If this new gadget is anywhere near as successful as the iPod, it will have the unintended side effect of showcasing that broadband access is of right a public utility, a necessity akin to roads and running water.

So Time Magazine has named me, and you, and the guy in the next cube over, as person of the year. In fact, we beat out whatshisname, the President of Iran - and we're not even building nukes.

It's a story about community and collaboration on a scale never seen before. It's about the cosmic compendium of knowledge Wikipedia and the million-channel people's network YouTube and the online metropolis MySpace. It's about the many wresting power from the few and helping one another for nothing and how that will not only change the world, but also change the way the world changes.

The tool that makes this possible is the World Wide Web. Not the Web that Tim Berners-Lee hacked together (15 years ago, according to Wikipedia) as a way for scientists to share research. It's not even the overhyped dotcom Web of the late 1990s. The new Web is a very different thing. It's a tool for bringing together the small contributions of millions of people and making them matter. Silicon Valley consultants call it Web 2.0, as if it were a new version of some old software. But it's really a revolution.

Money quote coming, wait for it...

The Washington Post: 57% of Americans trust Democrats in Congress to do the right things for the country; 31% trust Wienerboy in the White House. Mandate, anyone?

Also in WaPo: Senator Tim Johnson, Democrat of South Dakota, had emergency brain surgery last night and remains in critical condition.

The New York Times: what is described as "one of the country’s most important collections of artifacts devoted to the history of African-Americans" is seeking a new home.

Brian Keeler on "Why the Gonzalez indictment matters".

Rochester Turning discovers cross-promotion within media conglomerates, or as I like to call it, product pimping. What price credible journalism?

Capitol Confidential: Spitzer to legislature: take care of business, then we'll talk about a pay raise.

Lastly, with no link yet, NDM and other interested parties are putting together an event on legislative rules reform for next week. Stay tuned.

[Update]: Los Angeles Times must-read: Jonah Goldberg calls for an Iraqi Pinochet; neo-con heads explode.

This is so cool: people are getting tattoos, temporary and permanent, calling for impeachment.

The Democratic Party is an odd creature these days in New York. On the one hand, you have clubs (of which more later), party machines (especially in the outer boroughs), and traditional allied organizations such as labor unions, interest groups, and so on. On the other, there is a vast, independent and expanding universe of insurgent organizations and individuals, mainly web-based, some local, some statewide, some national, some a year old, some a decade. There are blogs (such as this one), think tanks, MeetUps. When you add all of them up, you're looking at a colossus, a force that has dominion in the third-largest state in the Union, capable of moving hundreds of millions of dollars, millions of voters, and tens of thousands of volunteers. As we've seen over the last few election cycles, the leverage of New York Democrats extends far beyond the state, with money, ideas and bodies flowing outward into adjoining states and far, far beyond.

Starting in January, the organization at the center of this multi-nodal universe, the NYSDC, will have two new heads: June O'Neill and Dave Pollak. I hear good things about the former and can attest to the latter being, from where I'm standing, a commendable choice.

The contrast with republicans, who have also chosen a new state chair, is stark. Their new old man, Joseph Mondello, is an exponent of old-line machine politics, having previously led the once-famed Nassau machine to wrack and ruin. As the recent election showed, republicans are in a death spiral in suburbs generally; but the question left unanswered in the Mondello appointment is whether the decline in Nassau had to be so far, so fast, and whether the gentleman who presided over it is really the right choice to lead the heap of ashes that is the New York State GOP. It seems to me that he's being given an opportunity to cast wider the nets of his failure. Mind you, I'd welcome that result – pass the popcorn.

The most exciting part of the 2006 elections - other than the sweet victory that capped them - was the emergence of new Democratic organizations, groups, candidates, in a word, infrastructure, across the country. This happened in Montana, Idaho, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Indiana, even here in New York, and the process is if anything accelerating. Howard Dean, God bless him, possibly kick-started this momentum with his Fifty State strategy, but the broader Progressive movement is growing above and beyond his efforts.

Case in point: The Blue Tiger Democrats, whose mission is to essentially return the party to voters' neighborhoods and engage directly in the life of We The People. Fantastic idea, great plan, sign me up.

There's just one problem: one of the models they use is historic Tammany Hall. The tiger is, in point of fact, the historic symbol of Tammany in the same way that the elephant stands for the republican party and the donkey is that of the Democratic Party, created by (republican) cartoonist Thomas Nast for Harpers.

A commenter on RedState thoughtfully provides a URL to his CaféPress shop, here, that once again leaves me to ponder the depths of depravity into which contemporary 'conservatism' has flung itself. This genius capitalist sells, of course, bumper stickers, in keeping with the broad-based trend that the only jobs created by 'conservatives' are those related to the spreading of their propaganda; but this one, really, is so typical that he deserves honorable mention in these pages. Here are some slogans that you can purchase and affix to your Hummer:

'Recycling is for Poor People who can't afford to Buy New'

'My President is Infallable [sic]. Yours is a Pervert'

'Stem Cell Research and Organ Donation: two evils that must be stopped'

'Peace through Precision Bombing'

'Middle East Peace Process: Kill all the Camel Jockeys'

'Support Evolution: Kill a Welfare Recipient'

The competition for host city of the 2008 Democratic Convention is down to two contenders: New York City and Denver, Colorado. In the opinion of this New Yorker, Denver is the better choice.

There are several factors that will be taken into account in making the selection of the host city, a decision on which is expected in December. At the risk of generalization, these factors are respectively money, logistics – hotels, convention sites, traffic connections – and politics.

New York City is of course the financial motherlode of both parties – the top ZIP code for fundraising remains 10021 – with a convention-friendly infrastructure probably unmatched anywhere in the world, including 75,000 hotel rooms. A quick glance at the web site of the Denver Metro Convention Bureau suggests that, while the Mile High City can't match Gotham's offerings – and what city can? – it certainly has the facilities needed to accommodate the 2008 convention. In terms of funding, as the Denver-friendly blog Democratic Convention Watch notes, a possible Democratic convention on the Hudson would need to compete with other local fundraising goals, including the 9/11 Memorial. I'd also assume that a Denver convention would be cheaper to hold, as that city probably has not yet witnessed foie-gras-stuffed cheeseburgers that retail for $45, just to name one example.