More From Progressive Bloggers Conference in Raleigh

Drama Queen is a regular commenter here and at BlueNC. She’s also one of the driving forces behind WNCNN. She took her ubercamera to the NC Progressive Bloggers Conference hosted by the NC Democratic Party, and the above image is a result.

Here’s her Flickr set with 13 more.

Jerry Meek, NCDP Chair, posted on the conference at MyDD.

Excerpt: “First, the progressive blogosphere is a “base constituency” within the Democratic Party and those of us in leadership positions need to view it as such. At 36, I’ve been involved in the Party since age 13, so I still view things through a somewhat traditional lens. Consequently, I view our interaction with the progressive blogosphere in much the same way I view our interaction with other base constituencies – labor, teachers, African-Americans, Hispanics, and many others. We regularly work with the leaders of those constituency groups to advance a common agenda. In the 21st century, we – that is, those in the Party leadership – need to be engaging the blogosphere in the same way.

By the way, I’m not talking here about a self-serving “what can you do for us” type of engagement. Rather, I’m talking about a genuine partnership, in which bloggers have a meaningful say in what the Party does and make a meaningful contribution to the process.

Second, one of my roles is to build alliances between the Party and base constituency groups. But, connected with that, I also have the task of working to facilitate alliances between those groups. When seen in this way, I think that I and other Party leaders should be actively working to facilitate alliances between progressive bloggers and traditional, offline constituencies. The need for this is apparent, I think, by the significant lack of participation in the blogosphere by minority groups who are otherwise very actively involved in the Party.

Third, my “job” description (I use quotes, because a “job” implies you’re actually getting paid) requires me to help build alliances between constituency group leaders and Democratic elected officials. If – as I believe – the progressive blogosphere is a base constituency group, then I need to also go about the task of building alliances between these online activists and the people who have their hand on the levers of governmental power.”

Thanks again, Jerry, for hosting. And thanks to everyone else who attended, especially you Congressman Miller. I look forward to doing it again in six months.