At Vegas blog-fest, it's not politics as usual

Tom Curry National affairs writer • Profile • E-mail

LAS VEGAS - Could this past weekend’s Yearly Kos convention -- the conclave of 900 activists sponsored by the Daily Kos web site -- turn out to be the most significant political gathering of 2006?

Here’s why it might be: The next Democratic presidential nominee will have to go with, or go over, or go around the left-populist-progressive wing of the Democratic Party.

The crowd who flocked to the Riviera Hotel in Las Vegas included the most fervent of the bloggers, congressional candidates, and activists from that wing of the party.

In the old days — not long ago, in 1998 — reporters came to Las Vegas for the AFL-CIO convention to see union chieftain John Sweeney and allies such as House Minority Leader Dick Gephardt. Now reporters come to interview Markos Moulitsas Zuniga, the proprietor of Daily Kos web site and Matt Stoller of Mydd.com.

The presidential hopefuls, past and present, came too, -- Wes Clark mingled with Kos attendees at the opening night reception; New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson addressed a panel discussion on energy policy Friday; and Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack flew in for an education panel Saturday.

The stars come out
The three biggest stars of the show were:
-- Former Virginia governor Mark Warner who threw a lavish party for the Kos crew at the Stratosphere Hotel Friday night — ice sculptures, live music by Blues Brothers and Elvis impersonators, plenty of booze -- before addressing the convention on Saturday.
-- Democratic National Committee chairman Howard Dean, who was Saturday morning’s keynote address speaker.
-- But the person who got the loudest applause was former Ambassador Joe Wilson.

Wilson, who disputed Bush administration claims about Saddam Hussein’s nuclear weapons ambitions, appeared at a panel discussion on the case involving the “outing” of his wife Valerie Plame, a former CIA employee.

The Plame episode is a burning topic of interest for Kos people. Five times as many people attended the Wilson event as attended another event in the same time slot, the discussion on energy featuring Richardson.

Bloggers in the mainstream
The presence of the presidential hopefuls “is a validation of something that we’ve been saying: that people who read blogs aren’t these far-leftist, extremist politically naïve young people,” Moulitsas told MSNBC.com in an interview.

“It’s actually a cross-section of the real Democratic Party. Maybe a little whiter, maybe with a bit more money than the typical party person. But generally speaking, we are the Democratic Party and all the efforts to marginalize us really are falling flat.”

No figure loomed larger in the demonology of those at Yearly Kos than Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut, despised largely due to his support for the Iraq war.

A Lamont crusade
Lieberman faces a battle in the Aug. 8 primary against anti-Iraq war candidate Ned Lamont.

Everywhere one turned at Yearly Kos one saw Lamont lapel pins or heard excited talk about the chances of Lamont overpowering Lieberman. If that happens, it will dramatically illustrate the power of the bloggers.

At Thursday night’s opening bash, Moulitsas told the crowd that a new Quinnipiac Poll showed Lieberman’s lead over Lamont slipping to 55 percent to 40 percent.

“Lieberman’s going to lose this one,” declared Moulitsas, sparking whoops from the crowd.

A generation gap... of sorts
There were signs that some old-style mainstream politicians are a bit out of synch with the Kos culture.

Guest speaker Sen. Barbara Boxer, D-Calif., didn’t seem to fully appreciate the depth of the anti-Lieberman zeal. At a press conference after her speech Friday, Boxer said Lieberman’s opponents were solely focused on the Iraq war. Boxer said she was supporting Lieberman because he’d stood with her on opposing oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge and other issues. Boxer would not say whether she’d support Lieberman if he loses the Democratic primary and runs as an independent.

Later I asked her whether her political action committee is going to donate to Lieberman’s campaign fund. “He hasn’t asked,” she said. She then asked with some annoyance why I was so interested in Lieberman. “Because everyone here is talking about him,” I replied.

Interactive Analyzing the 2008 presidential field

Another instance of a traditional Democratic politicians being a bit out-of-synch with the Kos attendees was Richardson’s speech. He excluded Venezuela, run by leftist Hugo Chavez, an outspoken critic of President Bush, from a list of what he called U.S. “friends” (among whom he included Saudi Arabia and Nigeria).

Grass-roots activist Jed Rathband of Portland, Maine, who runs an oil-buying cooperative, noted that Richardson “didn’t call Chavez a friend, which I find interesting. My view on Chavez is: as long as he’s willing to poke the Bush administration in the eye, he’ll be my friend. Because my enemy’s enemy is my friend.” Rathband said he’s trying to figure out how to buy oil from Venezuela for his customers.

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