Greetings from Boston!

Baseball, Politics, Travel

Chris & Neil @ ConventionI’m sitting in the last row of Section 320 in the Fleet Center in Boston, the section of this area that has been designated as ‘Blogger Alley’ for the event we are all here to attend, The Democratic National Convention. So much as happened since getting here last Friday, it’s difficult to find the time to recount it all! (As I’m typing right now, my old boss, Senator Edward Kennedy, has just begun his speech, really).

I am here at my third Democratic Convention working in the Democratic News Service. Our mission, to help the candidates and elected officials that are here to reach their local news… television, radio, and Internet. My team’s focus is on the Internet. The Convention’s web team is doing a great job with the officlal Convention web site, that’s not what we’re doing from the DNS. We are working to help do some matchmaking between the politicians who use the DNS, and the online media and bloggers who are here to cover this event. And so far it’s going very well.

But I should back up a bit. The adventure began last Friday, when I arrived on got checked into my very nice dorm room at Northeastern University. Not quite the Four Seasons, but then again I am one of 30,000 or so visitors who have descended on Boston for the Convention, and having any place to rest your head is something to be thankful for, even a college dorm room with roomates (not somewhere I imagined to find myself again at 39). My good friend Neal Stillman accepted my invite to join the Internet team in the DNS, and we began the week eager to take in another event here in Boston… yes, the evil New York Yankees were coming to play the Red Sox at Fenway. We took in the Friday night game at a popular sports bar near Fenway, the Cask and Flagon. And though the Red Sox lost, I still took a bet from my Yankee friend Bobby that the Sox would win the series. Two days and many beers later, I won that bet. Go Sox!

The ball games were a welcome distraction, but we were plenty busy getting oriented with the Fleet Center, setting up our workspace, training our teams, and enjoying the buzz and parties of the big start on day one. Conventions are hectic by definition, and this one is no different, except for the fact that this is a ‘National Security Event’, and so the Fleet Center has been turned into a fortress, and the troops/police/security are everywhere in Boston. At least they’re not wearing Red Coats.

Stay tuned, more to come…

Leave a comment

A Senate Smackdown

News

Vice-President’s recent suggestion on the floor of the United States Senate to Senator Patrick Leahy that he go somewhere and do something to himself is surely a high point in the Bush-Cheney Administration’s efforts to ‘restore a tone of civility and decency to the debate in Washington’. In an interview after his exchange with Leahy, Cheney said he ‘felt better’ after making his remark.

Now, new details about the exchange have emerged, and anyone interested in getting the rest of the story should read this article titled “New Details Surface from The New Yorker. You’ll certainly get a laugh out of it, and feel better just like Dick Cheney.

Leave a comment

Sen. Kennedy Profiled in Washington Post

Politics

Sen. KennedyThe Washington Post has a great profile of Sen. Kennedy that is well worth a read. The article is titled The Kennedy Factor and looks at Kennedy’s efforts on behalf of the Kerry campaign, and reflects on his long career in the United States Senate.

For a man of so many accomplishments, it can be difficult to identify which will become defining parts of his legacy, and which will at best be footnotes to the story. In 1994, and with essential aid from the AI Lab at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, I helped to make Senator Kennedy the first member of Congress with a web site. Later that same year, this time with help from the DSCC, I helped to bring his campaign for re-election to the Senate online, among the first campaigns on the web. Those two web sites were important milestones in the development of the field of online politics.

Today every member of Congress is online, and many have developed very sophisticated web sites that serve as ‘always-open’ online offices to their constituents. And candidates at all levels, running for offices local and national, are using the Internet in amazing ways to engage and communicate with voters, and to generate very tangible resources in the form of email lists, volunteers, and online contributions.

Certainly it was inevitable that as the use of the Internet became routine in the lives of all Americans, that politics would be among the many types of information and activities that they would engage in online. But ten years ago this was not as apparent as hindsight reveals it to be today. In 1994 it took forward thinking candidates and elected officials such as Sen. Kennedy to recognize the opportunity that the Internet presented, and to turn loose their young geeks to help get them there. I am very proud to have been involved with this footnote in his career, and of my ongoing work with his office to continue to develop and advance this new medium for political communications.

One comment

iMac Cat

Diversions

(click for larger photo)

We still have two kittens to give to a good home. They’re three months old and have curiosity enough to run out all of their coming nine lives. One is an orange male that we’ve affectionately been calling ‘Spaz’. And pictured here at the computer with Colleen is our grey female who we’ve been calling ‘Eyeore’.

As you can see, this kitten still has much to learn about being a cat. While easily distracted by Colleen’s game of Battleship, she’s completely ignoring the mouse!

Leave a comment

A Friend in the News

News, Politics, Technology
Media_httpgraphics7ny_cjiri

OK, maybe it’s not ALWAYS self-promotion here. The July 5th edition of the New York Times included a very interesting article titled “Knowing Their Politics by the Software They Use“. In the article, my friend and colleague David Brunton (shown in a dashing pose at right) and others discussed the appearance and background of the seeming preference for use of open source software by Democrats and progressive organizations, and of Republicans and the right for proprietary options. It’s well worth a read. Later, we’ll discuss the politics of Macs vs. PCs 🙂

One comment

Kerry-Edwards!

Politics

John Kerry made a great choice in selecting Senator John Edwards as his running mate. During my eight years working in the Senate, during which I had many opportunities to observe Senators at work, John Edwards made a very strong impression on me as being among the smartest and capable Senators that I observed. And he has proven his abilities as a candidate during the Democratic primaries, and in his ongoing efforts to get Kerry elected. This is a powerful ticket, and I’m very happy to do all I can to help the show Bush/Cheney the door in November.

Leave a comment

Montclair for Kerry!

Politics

see the photo album

Inspired by yesterday’s warm-up parade on the 3rd, Colleen was eager to participate in the annual Montclair Bike Parade held each year on the 4th. And rebel that she is, she didn’t bring a bike, and she didn’t settle for just streamers to decorate.Confronted with a GOP Elephant passing out candy to the children, Colleen only reluctantly agreed to pose for a picture with it. “Where’s the Donkey?”, she asked me. “We’re here for the Donkey”, I told her.

The parade was great, ending just as the first of many raindrops that landed during the day hit the ground.

One comment

4th on the 3rd

Politics

see the photo album

It was a great summer day to march in a 4th of July parade, except it was the 3rd of July. I thought some holidays were immovable. St. Patrick’s Day, Halloween, Christmas… they fall on the same day regardless of when that day lands in the week. Same with the 4th, right? I suppose parades just work best on the nearest Saturday, fair enough.

We received a very warm welcome from the crowds along the parade route. Not necessarily a sure thing in our typically Republican region. But this election season I feel is different. I think that many thoughtful Republicans will find it hard to vote for Bush again (except maybe the ones on the Supreme Court who appointed him to begin with). What does a vote for Bush mean? Four more years of tax cuts for the rich? Exported jobs? Lies leading us to war? Weakend environmental and food safety protections?

It feels good to get involved. If you care enough to want a change, you have to care enough to get involved. And I will be doing all that I can to help elect John Kerry President in November, there is nothing more important I could be doing.

One comment

Pity Poor Chuck E.

Diversions
Media_httpcaseycomfam_bqrpi

I caught this headline on the AP news wire today, “Police: Mom Threatens Chuck E. Cheese“. Shocking I tell you, simply shocking!I speak from experience, you see, I’ve paid my dues in that Rat Suit. Several years ago I wrote about the experience in an article titled, “Lessons Learned in a Rat Suit“. From time to time I’ll get an email from a fellow alum of Chuck E. Cheese’s Pizza Time Theatre. Sometimes it’s someone who worked there long ago as I did, sometimes it’s a current employee. Maybe I could have taught something to the young girl who was assualted while trying to entertain young children while dressed as a rat. But then again, I never had a parent throw pizza at me, so maybe it is I who still have more to learn.

One comment
1 … 60 61 62 63 64