YearlyKos wrapup

I don't think there's really a need for yet another YKos meta-analysis (if I hear the phrase "coming of age" applied to the conference one more time I'm going to stick a fork in my leg), so rather than do a big overall thing, I'll just tell you, dear AMERICAblog readers, that I thought it was pretty great. One can always find something to complain about with an operation of this magnitude, but overall it came off tremendously.

The most important thing is how fast and how effectively a bunch of online politics nerds have been able to make our voices heard. A year ago YearlyKos was an oddity; this past weekend it attracted every major Democratic candidate for president, a host of Congressional members and candidates, and endless panels and discussions of bloggers, readers, academics, reporters, and activists. Joe and I had a great interview with Sam Seder, our respective panels were fun and engaging, and best of all, I got to meet many of you, the ones who make this site -- and this movement -- work.

I met some great new people, caught up with old friends, and added another few blogs to my already-full RSS feed, further dooming any attempt to expand my life past news/analysis consumption and the occasional pickup basketball game. It was also fun to do the mutual admiration game ("Your site is great, I love your writing!" "No, your blog is awesome, I read your stuff all the time!") with bloggers, commenters, and even a few journos, and, unsurprisingly, the community feeling was awesome. Even a year ago there was much more frustration with the Democratic party, so the weekend in many ways celebrated the successes of the past year while concurrently addressing the importance of forging ahead.

I hope those of you who were able to attend enjoyed yourselves, and that everybody who followed along via blog or news got a sense of how much impact we were all able to have. Next year should be even better, and I, for one, can't wait.