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One of the many lessons that we all should learn from the last election cycle is the importance of local involvement in elections.  One of the great ways that this was accomplished outside the regular avenues of state party apparatus and national interest groups is through folks like all of us standing up, individually and collectively, and putting together a blog or some other means of organizing actions or getting out a coordinated message or any number of other ways of getting work done that needed doing.

Just think back a few months to what was ignited in Connecticut.  Or Virginia.  Or California.  Or any number of other districts -- for state offices and federal offices, across the board.  We tried to help with that with our Blue America work, for which Howie and Jacqrat and Siun and all of the wonderful campaign staffers and others involved, including ActBlue, deserve an enormous round of applause. 

On DKos, SLJ had a diary on Sunday on the importance of organizing local action via a blog, and I wanted to be certain that it didn't get lost in the holiday break.  This diary lays out some concrete information on the steps you can take to start a local blog of your own, if none currently exists in your area -- or about getting involved with an existing blog if one is already up and running.

The lesson of all of this is that we cannot wait for some leader to take the helm and do the things necessary to make our nation better and to strengthen the political apparatus of a party that we support.  In order to move this nation and the representatives that we elect to serve us in a direction that we all want to see, it is up to us -- all of us -- to stand up and be the leaders we want and need right now.

I'd like to spend a little time talking about local blogs this morning.  Please share in the comments a little bit about your favorite local blogs, or needs that you see for them.  For our readers who are involved in local political activity, please share some of the successes and failures you've had.  For folks who haven't gotten involved -- but want to do so -- feel free to ask some questions, and hopefully someone else reading here may have some great answers for you.  Whatever successes we had in the last election cycle, there is still much more work to be done.  This morning, I'd like for us all to take stock of what we each might be able to do in the months to come.

Never forget that the power to change this nation is in your hands.