More on the YK Presidential Forum

Here are a couple of good links about the presidential forum from Taylor Marsh and Feministe.

Lobbyists, Boos and the Presidential Forum reporting from YearlyKos

Liveblogging the YK Presidential Forum

Enjoy!

Yearly Kos - The Great Debate

BlogHer spoiled me! I haven't posted as much as I had hoped to during this conference for a couple of reasons. The session rooms weren't set up well for live blogging -- no power source, no tables to work from -- as was the case at BlogHer. They made it very convenient for bloggers. Also, the connection at the hotel seems really slow.

The leadership forum today was excellent. Great exchange between the candidates, moderators and the audience. It was overall a respectful crowd, with only a couple of hisses -- the first for a comment Richardson made about supporting line-item veto.

The mood was upbeat, and there was definitely a lot of excitement in the room. It was as if the audience knew that one of the individuals they were listening to WOULD be the next president.

Hillary Clinton, Barack Obama, John Edwards, Christopher Dodd, Bill Richardson, Dennis Kucinich, and Mike Gravel were there. All of the candidates, with the exception of Kucinich, met with their supporters in private sessions to answer their questions.

The moderator opened the session by wishing Obama a Happy Birthday, followed by the audience breaking out in song!

The only real contentious moment came when John Edwards and Barack Obama double teamed Hillary Clinton over the issue of accepting money from Washington Lobbyists. When asked directly about whether or not she would accept contributions from DC Lobbyists, Clinton didn't try and duck the question. She answered straightforwardly that she would accept money from them saying "they represent nurses" and other professionals that deserve representation.

The attack seemed to focus on heath care, to which Clinton added that her position has not changed on health care, and that she would not be pressured into changing her position by the groups giving her money.

I attended the Clinton break out session, and I will say that her answers to the questions poised by the group were excellent. The first question focused on education, and she outlined very precisely what needs to be done and how she would address the issue.

I will share with you that after the session I happened to overhear a conversation by a couple of women who had not entered the room as Hillary supporters, but who were very impressed with her message. One of the women said she would definitely be able to support Hillary if she were to win the nomination.

I've had the opportunity to hear the Senator in person on a number of occasions, and I will say that I think much of the criticism of her is unfounded. She is very engaging.

I honestly do think the 2008 election is the Dems to lose. The country is clearly fed up with Bush & Company, and the Republicans seem to be imploding. Should Rudy or Mitt win the nomination, does anyone honestly think the religious right will turn out for them?

It's way too early to absolutely predict what will happen, but listening to these candidates today made me very hopeful!

Yearly Kos - "No Pandering, Please"

One of the workshops I attended today was "Is the Religious Right Really Dead?" The panelists were Chip Berlet, Frederick Clarkson and Susan Thistlethwaite. Chip gave some background on the Religious Right, and how it became such a powerful force within the Republican party. But more than the background, I really liked what he had to say about the current state of the Democratic party -- and his perception that it is "pandering" to evangelicals. I think he has a valid point.

Do we want the Democratic party to become "Republican Lite?" OR, do we want the Democrats to reach out to progressive people of faith, and redefine the word "values."

Had someone asked me in an exit poll whether or not I cast my vote in the last election based on "values" I probably would have said yes. But MY definition of the word is vastly different from the definition presented by political pundits and Sunday morning talking heads.

I think poverty is a "values" issue, as is universal health care, and ending the war in Iraq.

The Religious Right is clearly not dead, but I do think they are in the process of re framing themselves. The new leaders are less likely to make comments as over the top as Pat Robertson or Jerry Falwell. (No more Tinky Winky stories!) And I think part of their challenge is that they don't have a clearly defined candidate on the Republican side they can support. They are certainly not going to support Rudy!

Here is a portion of Chip's comments that addresses the fear some of us have about the current state of the Democratic party:



Chip Berlet is senior analyst at Political Research Associates, near Boston. He has studied the Religious Right for more than 25 years. Chip is a journalist by trade, and his byline has appeared in the New York Times and the Boston Globe.

One more thing: Chip did point out that YearlyKos didn't invite Mara Vanderslice to present, but he and Frederick had three workshops at the conference. Hopefully Howard Dean and the Dems are paying attension.

Yearly Kos - Day One

This was taken with my digital camera, of the jumbo screen, since I was more than half way back in the audience. It takes a while to load. I've never tried this before, so will need to figure out how to compress the video so it's not such a large file. If anyone knows how to do this, please share!

If you like Howard Dean, and I do, you would have liked his address tonight. There is definitely a lot more testosterone in this audience, compared with last weekend, but I'll reserve final comments on this until Sunday or Monday.