Centerfield

Thanks for posting my comments.
Also consider that instead of new blogs that we convince some leaders from RMSP, It's my party, and DND to participate on Centerfield.
Would not John Avlon be the ideal emmissary to broach this on our behalf?

If new blogs are justified perhaps the division could be domestic vs foreign affairs rather than by Party?

Thanks
Paul in Austin

I'd rather see us adopt forum software more akin to that used by RedState or DailyKos (policy aside, I prefer RedState's implementation the best). In particular, adding the "diaries" option would, I think give more people a way to start their own topics, which might go a long way toward attracting more participants and getting more voices in the conversations. In addition, I find that the "threaded" type of comments allows for much easier following of debates. It also makes it easier to ignore comment back-and-forths between just 2 or 3 people that the general readership has little interest in.

I think creating new forums would just further dilute the readership.

I do agree that in light of our poor showing in the voting last month something needs to be done.

agreed. I really enjoy this site would love to see a more user-friendly interface in hopes of attracting more visitors. The infrequency of responses makes it hard to stay engaged very long.

Rick, I'd be happy to help with the computer work necessary to convert to new forum software.

Pat,

Let's give it a try. Email me.

What I was really hoping for with this post was to inspire some kind of ACTION from the centrist community.
What if we created a "Centrist PAC" and raised enough money to help two congressman, from each party, to get elected who were passionately committed to, and uncommonly articulate about, bi-partisan problem solving.
Perhaps John Avlon and Mark Satin could be the spokepersons. We ask the RMSP and DLC to provide organizational support. And we use a blog to refine a list of Candidates and issues. The Press would eat it up.
I will commit $1000 to this.
Wouldn't it be satisfying to make an impact for a change? (pun intended ;-) )

Paul in Austin

Not a bad idea atall. Other things a PAC could do are push / advertise centrist agenda items like redistricting reform.

IMHO, what we've been missing is somebody / people with enough time and energy to do precisely that.

Interested in volunteering?

Don't have overly high hopes of the DLC and the RMSP - they'd probably be interested in coordinating with us, but they have their own organization agendas and identity - we probably have to what we want to do with more like sympathy than direct support from other groups.

P.S.: I'm also in Austin. Mebbe we should do coffee sometime - if you're interested, you can email me- for once I'm using an only slighly spam-resistant email addr.

What if the Centrist Coalition and Centrist.org(which are somewhat dormant) were combined and relaunched as the "Centrist PAC" or "Sensible Center PAC".
We spread the word through cyberspace that this group gives to viable centrist candidates of either party.
We aim for close races where we can make the most impact.
We evolve an online criteria and screening process for candidates.
We leverage our success by collaborating with the DLC, RMSP, IMP, etc.

Isn't anyone out there interested in more than just talking about how we wish it were.

Talking is not just doing nothing. Blogs are exerting more and more influence over the political dialogue today. A strong centrist blog with the readership and audience participation levels of DailyKos or RedState would be a powerful force in the political debate. If we stopped talking about ideas and focused more on getting specific individual elected, we might simply become partisan in our own right. I'd rather apply the pressure of facts and logic to both sides. If we do that successfully, we can influence a lot more elections than just one or two.

One thing we could work on doing, with an updated site, is to get members of Congress to particpate from time to time. RedState has had some success with diary entries from actual office holders. Surely there are at least one or two relatively net-saavy, somewhat moderate Congressmen out there who we could entice to participate in our discussions.

More people would find this blog if it were the front page of the website, instead of an obscure link on it.

I think that's a good point Susan. It's a common convention that one has a web site and the blog is a subservient part of the web site. This matches the preferred hierarchy of the people in charge.

But if the vast majority of a web sites activity centers on the blog, that calls the hierarchy into question. Arguably, the center of activity deserves to be center stage.