Netroots Nation meant a lot to the Women’s Campaign Forum this year because of you. You joined hundreds of other attendees in pledging to support pro-choice women leaders in government. You cheered our endorsed-candidates at our breakfast. You celebrated your own political ambitions at our recruitment training. You shared your frustration with misogyny in the media at our panel. Quite simply, you made this year’s Netroots Nation the best conference yet. You and I know that at times it feels like the cards are stacked against us; that the challenges we face in achieving representation for women in government feel insurmountable. Just last year, we saw the first backslide in women’s representation in government in over 30 years. For those reasons and more, your support at Netroots means a lot to WCF. That’s why we created this video of WCF’s time at Netroots to capture your amazing support for pro-choice women in government. I hope you enjoy our video, and that it means as much to you … [Read more...]

I had a wonderful time at Netroots Nation 2011. It was very informative. Every Liberal and/or Progressive activist should make this a yearly conference to be attended. The breakout sessions were invaluable. Learning how to improve on engaging communities both online and offline, learning in how to get news coverage, learning how to engage minority communities that are an important segment of our base, and much more was covered. We even discussed southern strategies given the GOP dominance in the region. In addition to simply networking with other working activists this conference served the purpose of having person to person conversations with our leading politicians and their staff. Meeting potential challengers to Republican representatives provided a connection to that should assist them in getting their message out through alternative media, the bloggers and online new sources. Al Franken – Minnesota Senator & previous talk radio host at Air America Radio. He gave Sam Seder Of … [Read more...]

The Women's Campaign Forum (WCF), a nonprofit non-partisan organization focused on electing women had a breakfast that focused on women candidates for office. It presented one of the better breakouts at Netroots Nation in that it gave researched information to candidates on how to fight attacks that women from all parties usually face. Siobhan “Sam” Bennett opened the floor to three distinguished women. Greenville MS Mayor Heather McTeer who is running for Congress in Mississippi District 2, Tarryl Clark who is running for Congress in Minnesota District 8, and Krystal Ball who ran in Virginia District 1. Each of the above mentioned women had a story to tell. Their similarity relative to sexism was astounding. Sam Bennett detailed how women should handle it. Additionally she is encouraging women to run in mass in elections throughout the country. She had a very telling statistic. On average even Conservative Republican women vote more Progressive than Democratic or Republican male politicians. That … [Read more...]

Tarryl Clark came to Netroots Nation to tell her story about women running for political office. She ran against Michelle Bachmann. During her campaign against Bachmann she raised a credible $5 million dollars from the grass roots. Unfortunately Michelle Bachmann spent $11 million dollars and went negative from day one of the campaign. It would have been difficult anyway in 2010 as it was one of those tsunami years that swept away any candidate in marginal districts. Tarryl Clark is an endorsed candidate of the Women’s Campaign Forum (WCF). After listening to her at Netroots Nation it is obvious why. She demonstrated a poise and even headedness that everyone wants in the politician representing them. Once you listened to her speaking a most important quality is immediately evident, her selflessness. When a negative mailer hit the citizens in the district she was campaigning for, her first thought was not the campaign; it was her children. How was this going to affect her boys? I am sure if she was … [Read more...]

One of the most informative breakouts at Netroots Nation was the breakfast sponsored by the Women’s Campaign (WCF). There we met several women that had run or are running for national political office. One could not help but be impressed by Heather McTeer. Heather McTeer is the mayor of Greenville Mississippi. She has been the mayor there for the last 8 years. She was the first and youngest African American woman to be mayor of a city in Mississippi. She was only 27 when she became mayor. Mayor McTeer has received the endorsement of the WCF to run against the powerful Congressman Bennie Thompson who is the ranking member of the Homeland security committee, founding member of the Progressive Caucus, and member of the Congressional Black Caucus. Mayor McTeer is running partly because she does not believe that long serving politicians are performing their elected duty to serve their constituents. After listening to the passion she articulates and the conviction to serving in Mississippi it is … [Read more...]