Life is often full of surprises.  Our sleepy little farm outside of Downsville is becoming a hotbed of political activity even though I wasn't expecting it. A few weeks ago it occurred to me that it was a shame that lots of bloggers are covering the Democratic Convention in August, but that there isn't any centralized place to read all of that work. 

Then, more recently, Borges (from Kicktime )and I were at the Journalism That Matters and National Conference for Media Reform shindigs in Minneapolis, and we got to talking about how it's too bad that there's no central place to read all of the blogs in Wisconsin.  We talked to some other people about that as well, and a few actions are falling out from that.

I shouldn't be biting the hand that feeds me, but there has been a growing amount of unrest about some of the bloggers who were selected by the Democratic Party to attend the convention in the State Blogger Pool.

Don't get me wrong, I'm pleased as punch that Uppity Wisconsin got the nod (I'd be happier if I thought anyone else had actually applied :-) ). But the selection process was less than transparent, and apparently there was more input from the state parties than we'd suspected. In any case, I think the party should come clean on how we were all selected so that this unrest can be settled. I don't think that most of the unhappy bloggers are unhappy that they were not selected so much as because they can't figure out why in a number of cases.

There is a good article in the Atlantic on this - and yes, the blogger from Wisconsin mentioned in the article is me. Full text of the letter to Howard Dean and the current signers follows:

We just received word out here at the farm that Uppity Wisconsin will be the credentialed blogging organization from Wisconsin at the National Democratic Convention in Denver. We're excited.

We'll have more news later about this, and information on what you can expect from Uppity Wisconsin in August. The list of state blogging credentials will be released later today.

DNCC ANNOUNCES UNPRECEDENTED ACCESS FOR BLOGGERS DURING 2008 DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL CONVENTION

Members of DemConvention State
Blogger Corps to Have Assigned Seats with Respective Delegations on
Floor of Convention Hall in Denver

DENVER
- Demonstrating a commitment to unprecedented access for bloggers at
the 2008 Democratic National Convention, the Democratic National
Convention Committee (DNCC) today announced that bloggers credentialed
as part of the DemConvention State Blogger Corps will be seated with
their respective delegations in the Pepsi Center during the historic
four-day event. The move guarantees bloggers with a focus on state
politics a unique vantage point to provide localized coverage of the
Convention, to be held from August 25-28 in Denver.