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I posit two observations: one, that New York has a Progressive movement, and two, that this movement faces clear challenges and opportunities, in the electoral and policy sphere, and also as far as infrastructure is concerned.

In terms of common electoral and policy goals, I would identify several.

On the Federal electoral level, obviously, there is the Presidential contest. The conventional wisdom has it that Hillary will carry New York easily; I'll believe that when the other candidates cede this state, and when I see a primary poll that has the Senator above 50%. Also on the Federal level, there are three Congressional seats well worth targeting: NY-03 (Peter King), NY-13 (Vito "Independent" Fossella), NY-29 (Randy "Shotgun" Kuhl).  read more »

The Albany Project is offering something I'd like to direct your attention to:

[N]ext Wednesday the TAP Book Club will meet again right here on the internets at 7pm. Our guest will be Mr Frameshop himself, Jeffrey Feldman. Jeffrey will join us to discuss his fantastic new book, Framing the Debate: Famous Presidential Speeches and How Progressives Can Use Them to Change the Conversation (and Win Elections). I hope we can really get to the heart of what Jeffrey is trying to say in his book about building our own progressive frames whilst ignoring the frames of the right, though I'm sure there will be at least some discussion about what it feels like to be "Fairbanksed".

I know it's short notice and all, but Jeffrey's book is widely available now and I read it in one sitting on a flight to LA a couple of weeks back. I so hope tht you'll join us for the discussion of this great piece of work and the ideas therein.

Framing is the critical skill for Progressives. Feldman has literally written the book on it. I haven't read it myself, yet - perhaps the publisher could send over a copy? - but if you've followed his work on the Kos, you'll love it, I'm sure.  read more »

I already posted the footage of Bill Richardson and Barack Obama's responses. Here is the one I had missed so far.

While Karl Rove was dancing his Dance Macabre at the National Correspondents' Dinner (see Lorraine's diary on Culture Kitchen), his Swift Boat Liars were firing up their attack machine and aiming for one of the progressive grassroot's top candidates. Congressman Jerry McNerney came up from behind to defeat a corrupt Republican incumbent largely because the progressive grassroots, including Democracy for New York City (even though he's in California!), backed him heavily. And, as you would expect from a man who resigned from West Point to protest the Vietnam war and who became an engineer to design wind turbines, Congressman McNerney has taken a real leadership role in the fight to get our troops out of the Iraq quagmire and to build an alternative energy infrastructure to help mitigate global warming. Congressman McNerney has already started to live up to the promise we all saw in him.

So now that he is under attack, I hope we can back him up against Karl Rove's jive. This comes from McNerney's campaign:

Yesterday, our campaign got hit with a one-two punch. First, a scandalous House hearing unearthed a secret document from a deputy of Karl Rove revealing that the GOP “architect” is targeting me as #3 on his political hit list.  read more »

From NDM:

NDM Special Event Alert | Steve Behar tonight

Dear Member,

please join us tonight for a fundraiser to benefit one of our own, Progressive candidate for City Council Steve Behar. Steve is running for the City Council in the 19th District, and is a true Progressive that will make all of us proud. Please review the invitation below and give the man some love.
-
Steve Behar for New York

Red Sky
47 East 29th Street
March 27th, 2007
6 – 8:30 PM
$3 beer specials, $4 Martinis and Cosmos from 6 – 8 PM

Donation levels:
Pal $10
Buddy $25
Old Chum $50
Fan $100 or above

Please make checks payable to Steve Behar for New York.

RSVP
Please RSVP to cway175 at aol dot com

Host Committee
Albert Baldeo, Steven Beard, Michael Bouldin, Wayne Brooks, Joanna Coleman, Costa Constantinides, Paul Curtis, Jimmy Dahroug, Miriam Danar, Ed Hartzog, Dan Jacoby, Melanie LaRocca, Merle McEldowney, Dana Northcraft, Liza Sabater, Brian Schneider, Carolyn Schultz, Chet Szarejko

Give the guy some love, will ya?