Just sitting here in the press room next to Bob Geiger from Democrats.com (thanks for all the links Bob, you rock!) doing some last minute blogging, about to gather my bags, and get on the 5-hour flight back to DC (Jason, the other PoliticsTV producer who is out here with me, is on the same flight back) --- with the time difference, we're getting in at like midnight ET (into BWI --- ugg).
I've been reading over some of the other conference wrap-up diaries, and wanted to throw my two cents into the public sphere, so read below the flip for more [and of course, a shameless plug for our video coverage from the conference. We've got almost 20 videos from the conference up, so check 'em out here].
In no particular order, some initial thoughts:
- From everyone I saw on the panels, I've seen a lot of people that would be amazing on television, so if/when PoliticsTV (or something/someone else) becomes the Fox News for our side, we've already got some amazing talent out there that hasn't been fully tapped yet.
- On Warner's bash on Friday night: I'm from Virginia and Mark Warner did amazing stuff for the state during his tenure. A couple of folks have basically written stuff along the lines of "Warner is trying to buy off the netroots with an expensive event". I say good for him. Don't look a gift horse in the mouth, and it's a POSITIVE thing that a strong presidential contender who's got a good record wants to court us --- that's a GOOD thing --- that means us (netroots) have REAL influence. And besides, for all the folks that went there and wrote critical diaries, here's my question: If you had such a problem with the event, why did you stay and eat/drink?
- The organizers of the conference did a super-duper, fucking awesome, crazy amazing job. Seriously, these people worked until the cows came home and a lot of them worked behind the scenes so I couldn't even find them to say thank you --- so, if you helped organize YK, and you're reading this, a big big THANK YOU!
- Vegas was a great place to have this conference --- they don't call 'em political PARTIES for nothing. Also, and I didn't realize this until I got into the cab from the airport, but the main Vegas airport is like a ten minute drive from downtown, so getting to/from the airport was really, really easy (something that's really good since almost everyone flew in for YK).
Anyway, US Airways flight is leaving in two hours, so I'm saying goodbye and packin' up the laptop. To everyone I've met out here, everyone who helped PoliticsTV (a.k.a. Jason and I) stay sane while trying to cover this event, Julie Perez for volunteering to tape a couple sessions, John B. and Mike S. for letting me crash in their rooms, you all rock and I can't wait to see you guys again. -- David