Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.

Connect with like-minded folks and talk with others from your community in our identity, issue and regional caucuses.

In January 2009, a new campaign will begin to improve our federal government itself. Under Gore, the National Partnership for Reinventing Government implemented nearly 1,200 recommendations to make government work better, many of which leveraged technology. Eight years of Web technology evolution later, “Web” and “open-source” culture are mainstream. How can a new administration leverage Web 2.0 technologies, and the participatory transparent culture that goes along with them, to make our federal government work better in 2009?

Nearly every state has some form of open records or "sunshine" law designed to make accessing public records at least somewhat less difficult than it otherwise could be. However, as useful as this tool has been to the mainstream media, many bloggers are unaware or unsure of how to take advantage of it. This panel discussion will provide a public records primer for bloggers and Netroots activists to learn how they can use public information laws to better report the news in their community, state and nation.

What’s it like to be at the “pointy end of the spear” in a state that spawned the modern religious right movement? People on the front lines of some of the toughest fights in the country discuss strategies, tactics and messaging for fighting for progressive values in a red state.

Immigrants built this country and remain a vital part of our communities. Yet immigration has become a political hot potato in recent years. With Congress held hostage to a vocal minority of hard-line immigration restrictionists stirred up by right-wing websites and talk-radio, the Bush administration has launched a series of showy “crack-downs” that have divided working families and transferred billions into the hands of well-connected DHS contractors, but done nothing to reform a deeply dysfunctional immigration system. We can do better.

Come by for a lively discussion of this vitally important issue with activists speaking from a variety of perspectives.

A progressive social movement is rising among evangelical and born-again Christians committed to eliminating poverty, saving the environment, protecting separation of church and state, aiding immigrants and promoting justice across racial, gender and class lines. Zack Exley and Jamie Moffett will facilitate a discussion about how all progressives can work with better understanding of each other across the Evangelical divide.

To date, blogging has been a medium limited almost entirely to the written word and embedded video. However, new technologies and platforms are quickly enabling the development of an expansion to online radio hosting, podcasting and v-logging. Join thereisnospoon, clammyc, and famed hosts Cenk Uygur and Sam Seder as we teach you how to get started in this brave new medium, discuss the challenges and opportunities for those who make the leap, explore the exciting world of v-logging and discuss the world of traditional radio and how it relates to the new online radio medium.

The Bush years have been ones of great disappointment for America. Mistakes have been made, great challenges have gone unaddressed. In a world that has seen the rise of nations like China, India, Brazil and Mexico and the emergence of a powerful, global communications network, the next President will have to restore America's standing in the world, tackle climate change, help to move the world to a post-carbon economy, work to alleviate global poverty, as well as address ongoing geopolitical challenges. We'll hear from a panel of thoughtful leaders discuss what kind of global strategy the next President may pursue.

This engaging presentation makes the argument on how politics is changing in America today, and offers ideas and strategies for how progressives can replicate our 20th century success in this new and dynamic century. This “New Politics” presentation, newly updated for dramatic events of 2008, has been seen at many important meets across the country in recent months, including the DNC Executive Directors Meeting, the Democratic House Caucus, meetings of key staffers on the Hill and on the Google campus.