As most of you know, one of the singular joys of my actual political involvement (as opposed to spouting off on this blog) has been the four years I've spent on the board of director of the Drum Major Institute for Public Policy. DMI is one of those great organizations where you know every dollar will be spent well - indeed, like it's really two dollars. Under the leadership of my friend Andrea, DMI gets more bang from a very tiny buck than any think tank in the world - and its relentlessly non-partisan stance in favor of progressive policy that supports the widest possible definition of the middle class and working poor is of national importance...and I don't that's overstated even slightly.
So once a year, we have a benefit fundraiser - this year it's on May 20th in New York at Cipriani on 23rd Street right across from Madison Square Park. I urge everyone who enjoys this little blog to support DMI - to help it produce those legislative scorecards, wonderful reports, online projects like MayorTV and the awesome DMIblog, and its vital lecture series. If you're a blogger, there's a special $75 rate for the fundraiser (that and a post is all it takes) - the regular donation is $225. And if you can't make it to New York, anything donation will help. Did I mention we're honoring David Simon, the genius behind HBO's brilliant series The Wire? We're also paying tribute to City Councilwoman Melissa Mark-Viverito, a founding member of Women of El Barrio, and political organizer Steve Phillips, president and founder of PowerPAC.org - two important progressive leaders. There's also a cool lefty auction - wanna have lunch with James Carville or Katrina vanden Heuvel? Get your bids in. A bloggers committee is in formation - so come out, meet your favorite bloggers (rumor has it Lance Mannion will make a special appearance), and support my favorite progressive cause. Or just send a few bucks.
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Jim Wolcott's Vanity Fair piece on the Democratic blog wars is out this week (in the Miley Cyrus issue!), and as usual, he adds perspective that those of us in the trenches sometimes lack. He correctly pinpoints the moment when simmering comments turned into a full-fledged conflict: "Once Edwards dropped out of the race, however, the buffer zone was removed, direct contact replaced triangulation, and the Obama and Hillary supporters faced off like the Jets and the Sharks. The rancor was disproportionate in intensity and extravagant in invective, a fervor worthy of ancestral foes. Months-old grievances seethed and erupted as if they had been bubbling for centuries in a lake of bad blood. On the most egoistic plane, it seemed like a clash of entitlements, the messianics versus the menopausals." I've been in that latter category for months, suffering as I am from a near-total lack of estrogen - but Jim graciously included me (on the same page as Al Giordano - that's trouble) as one of the combatants, proudly hanging out my Hillary lawn sign. Lately I've seen some signs of peace talks in this war, but we'll see.
Melissa McEwen found herself at a Hillary town hall in her home state of Indiana this week - the famed "testicular fortitude" event - and filed this report. Her experience jibes with that of anyone who sees and hears Mrs. Clinton in person, contrasting her media image to the human being standing in front of them.
I loved Lance's post on two old Democrats sitting around talking about the race - if only such cool, hoary heads could be replicated many times over. Mannion had me with this line: "I suspect that in their hearts, Roosevelt is still the President." Great one.
And congrats to Blue Girl for making it to her 50-50 goal - now that's some serious blogging, right there. Yes it is, uh-huh. Bring it on home.
