They don't have to.

Yeah, I know, conservatives aren't techno-savvy, they're too hierarchical, etc, etc. But here's the thing: If there were boatloads of campaign cash out there for progressive candidates, if our party leadership were relentlessly progressive and kept the caucus together on key votes, if there were a vast echo chamber of left-wing talk radio and think tanks and newsmedia reporting all the issues and stories we care about... I wouldn't be here right now. I wouldn't need to be.

We netroots have to be active, and generous, and loud, because we're all we've got.

The VA conceals there are 1,000 suicide attempts among Vets a month

What steps have you taken to Make Them Pay Attention? The twenty-eight percenters, the media bloviators, and the folks who represent us in Washington -- how do we reach them? How do we move the body politic? Are there novel ways to reach people -- things we can do every day or any day?

What will make you support a challenger to the incumbent of our own party in 2012? What conditions must pertain in order for you to believe that the new President, in whom we invested so much energy and hope for change, has failed us?

The untold story of the Mark Pera campaign is the way the national netroots and local activists have worked so closely to promote a grassroots candidate who takes progressive stands on immigration and the enfranchisement of migrant workers. Mark Pera's incumbent Bush Dog opponent, Dan Lipinksi, it horrible on immigration issues, but local grassroots coalitions for Pera are huge.

"He should have bought those radios." "The blood of these firefighters is on his hands." You can run, Rudi, but you can't hide.

The Corporate/Bush Dog Wing of the Democratic Party - the one that our friends in the GOP/Media Complex like to portray as "reasonable" and "sensible" and "moderate" Democrats ("reasonable" meaning "rolls over for Bush and the GOP") - would very much like us to go away. They want to be able to keep the actual Democrats like Feingold outnumbered and shackled.

Did you realize, this week, that nothing's getting fixed soon? Did you realize, this week, that things are seriously awry in The Village? Did you realize, this week, that allies inside the Beltway -- those we had counted on in our fight to reclaim the levers of government -- might not be such great allies after all?I did.

One of the biggest challenges we face when we support candidates and ask people to give money to their campaigns is getting them to be responsive to the concerns of the community once they've been elected. While we don't expect to agree with them on every vote, we do expect that they will remain true to the substantive representations they make when they're trying to get our support.