Okay, we so totally rock. I mean we as New Yorkers. Consider this: of the top ten candidates by funds raised on ActBlue last week, five were New Yorkers, including some really surprising names.

1. Darcy Burner WA-08 $47,589.77
2. Kay Hagan NC-Sen $27,568.33
3. Rick Noriega TX-Sen $22,627.38
4. Donald Barber NY-SD-51 $11,440.00
5. Barack Obama President $11,179.93
6. Paul Newell NY-HD-64 $10,425.00
7. Michael McMahon NY-13 $9,211.33
8. Gary Peters MI-09 $8,587.75
9. David Nachbar NY-SD-55 $7,751.00
10.Tracey Brooks NY-21 $6,085.00

That's right, Don Barber outraised Barack Obama (!) on ActBlue. Betcha nobody saw that coming.

We're rapidly approaching the point in the cycle where it's necessary to separate the wheat from the chaff. Specifically, it's almost time to assess the state of various campaigns to determine whether or not the netroots and grassroots should support them, or not.

The Presidential campaign truism has it that Democrats fall in love, republicans fall in line. And it's true to a certain extent: Democrats do fall in love. We fall in love with candidates that say all the right things and make all the right ideological moves. Appeal to grassroots power and we go all agog; it is what we do.

However, we in the netroots, as much as we do indeed fall in love, have learned a few things over the years. There's a misconception out there, to the effect that we back candidates based solely based on ideological affinity.

This misconception is false.

Those campaigns that received strong netroots backing in the 2006 cycle and in the present environment were distinguished by several key factors.

Senator Schumer ran into a bit of trouble the other day when he posted a diary on Daily Kos; the subject of it was the need of the DSCC, that worthy organization, for funding and support in the 2008 election cycle.

The trouble, in the comments section, was caused by the widespread disappointment among the fabled netroots with the lackluster performance of the Senate Democrats in the face of the republican consta-filibuster and the open contempt shown by the Bush administration for the other branches of government.

So who are these netroots, or, as we like to call ourselves, dirty fucking hippies? The Nation is hosting a panel to discuss us, per an email from Ari Melber.

LEFT OUT IN THE OPEN
How the Netroots are Changing Progressive Politics
Panel on Wednesday, March 5, 6:30-8:00pm
CUNY Graduate Center, Proshansky Auditorium, 365 Fifth Avenue, NYC

Sponsored by The Nation.

Event link at TheNation.com
Facebook link

Internet activism has upended American politics by amplifying new voices, connecting disparate social networks, transforming campaign funding, enhancing public scrutiny and electing non-traditional candidates. The progressive netroots is building a participatory, egalitarian, aggressive movement with an agenda of progressive foreign policy, populist economics, Constitutional rights and open government. Are the Democrats listening? Can the netroots advance the Democratic Party and function as an independent progressive movement?

This panel will convene progressive leaders and writers for a lively discussion of how the netroots are changing progressive politics. Participants include Katrina vanden Heuvel, Publisher and Editor of The Nation; Zephyr Teachout, Assistant Professor of Law, Duke University, and an architect of Howard Dean's Internet strategy; Matt Stoller, a founding blogger of OpenLeft and President of BlogPAC; Roberto Lovato, a writer at New America Media and blogger for Of América; and Ari Melber, a correspondent for The Nation and a contributing editor at Personal Democracy Forum.

The event is free of charge. Please arrive early.

Chris Bowers on Open Left has a fun and easy project eminently suitable for New Yorkers still flabbergasted that it could occur to anyone to consider Three Wives Rudy for the Presidency: a Google Bomb. The idea is simple: If you have a web site, add the words Rudy Giuliani and link them to an article that's a little bit more illustrative of the real Rudy than the Panglossian spin produced by the lame-ass media, let alone his campaign.

Bowers:

# That Rudy Giuliani was the only candidate not invited to speak to the Firefighters presidential Forum is now #10 on a Google search for Rudy Giuliani

# Rudy Giuliani is worse than Bush is now #25 on a Google search for Rudy Giuliani.

# How Rudy Giuliani was kicked off the Iraq Study Group because he never showed up for meetings is now #26 on a Google search for Rudy Giuliani.

Go for it, New Yorkers. We know better than most that this guy can't be let anywhere near the White House.