I get the same feeling every time I visit my mother in SC. She and Dad moved there in 1987, one last transfer for Dad, with a company that moved from the Rust Belt to the south in the early 80s. There are lots of northern transplants in the south, but progressives only seem to achieve critical mass in a few communities, like Raleigh or Asheville in NC. Everywhere else, they’re outnumbered.

Just thinkin’ out loud, maybe the answer is in the netroots. Finding one another through MeetUp, DFA, etc., and working together to build coalitions for local campaigns. But you don’t have many natural allies, since everywhere it’s “right to work” and few if any labor unions. I’ll think on it some more. It’s a conversation we need to have. I want a 50-state party.

Clock’s ticking. CPB is going to be hosed out, and NPR will get reformed. Could be done as part of a return to the Fairness Doctrine, which has broad popular support.

It’s a matter time; if we do a good job for Charlie Brown when the Doolittle shoe drops, we will continue to increase our majority, and increase our leverage.

The chit we have with Lieberman is his seniority; it’s the asset other than Lieberman’s vote that is most important to the Repugs. Reid would do well to regularly threaten to yank the seniority and committees if Lieberman doesn’t caucus with the Dems.

I also think it’s time to revisit Rule 21, invoked by Reid late 2005, if 109th reconvenes to cram through some of Bush’s dirty work before the 110th is seated. Harry needs to remind the 109th that they never satisfactorily answered the public’s questions after the last time he invoked the rule.

Maybe that’s a positive I can take away from the last six years: I’ve learned how to fight back, I’ve acquired some verbal and operational tools to do so. let the healing begin.

I may get slammed for this(umm,wouldn’t be the first time,lol)but I was wondering about The South. As I’ve travelled around the blogosphere lately,I’m hearing alot of”fuck the south”stuff coming from the liberal side of things. I still feel on the outside looking in.

Umm,what about progressives who actually LIVE here? I’m not whining,nor am I defending the South,if I could leave and find a job worth leaving for,I’d pack up my family and we’d be outta here as soon as we could sell our house.

I’m not a GA native,I moved here about 20 yrs ago when factory jobs up north began dying out,I’m a blue collar gal who couldn’t afford to go to college. I brought my liberal politics and attitudes with me. In the Atlanta metro,there are MANY transplants from other part of the country(our Hispanic community is growing by leaps and bounds too). You can go for awhile in these parts and not meet anyone who was born and raised here.Lots of folks came here from up north when the auto industry took a dump in places like Ohio and Michigan. A fair number of us are by no means conservative voters.

I moved here for work,stayed because I could afford to live here and buy a home. I was only vaguely aware of politics at that time,and GA politics are a indeed quite a mess.

This won’t change until some investments are made by some sort of Dem/Progressive inroads. Right now I feel written off by my own party,like if I wanna do something constructive to help us win I have to support people who I can’t vote for in other states. My Dem challenger to the incumbant Repub for the House was a great candidate,but he was way out of his league,no money for TV ads,no visibility. He still got 30 percent of the votes without publicity,he might have had a shot at things with some investment by the Party.

I don’t know what the answer is,but if progressive politics and that whole machine won’t set foot outside of Atlanta itself(which is rather blue leaning mostly and therefore a safe bet),then how can we change anything? I know it’s considered a waste of resources to invest here politically,but it kind of leaves a true Wellstonian progressive like myself hanging and feeling abandoned. It’s very disheartening.

THX to NED and all the ‘HEADS’ ~ PEACE!

It’s a very good morning in central New Jersey. Three cheers for Rutgers for a wonderful win against Louisville last night, from a very happy alum.

Coffee is ready. Help yourselves.

Work for peace, every day.

Yeah, busy day here to. Feel lots better about things, though. And I find housework very therapeutic.

A quick question: I saw a few reports of vote counting irregularities on Wed, then nada. Did everything actually go OK? BBV was watching, I know, but cards seem very close to chest. Any word?

‘Morning, gang. Under the gun with a deadline today, won’t be able to hang out.

Still trying to come to terms with the massive shift this week, a sea change in every sense. Feel like a too-long battered child, waiting for the next blow, in spite of conscious awareness that there won’t be one.

Going to take a while to heal the unconscious after 6-plus years of damage. Like the image of that screaming harpy who got in my face and spat at me that I was a baby-killer back in 2004, after a Bush rally…that harpy is still out there, even if I know she’s powerless to do anything now. How do I purge the memory and the knowledge she and her kind are still there?

We’re going to need mass therapy. At least I can get some of it here at the Lake.

Well, it hasn’t changed the media talking points, if NPR is any judge: Democrats have a wafer-thin majority, they’re the ones responsible now, the high independent voter turnout means that John McCain is the leading ‘08 contender, John Kerry’s “gaffe” means it’s Hillary as the Dem ‘08 candidate.