Will someone please explain why Gore would have chosen Lieberman as a running mate if he is essentially Republican-lite? I don't remember the pressure back then to prove to voters that Democrats can be right of center on issues like they have today, at least not to the same degree. Would Gore have been sorry about his choice for Veep if the 2000 election had gone in their favor?

I just got done watching a BookTV talk given by Bill Lofy, who wrote "Paul Wellstone: The Life of a Passionate Progressive" and who was one of Sen. Wellstone's staffers. Don't know if this is a rebroadcast or if people already know about the book or the organization Lofy is now associated with, "Wellstone Action" (http://wellstone.org/). If I understand correctly, it is centered around the idea of identifying and helping progressive candidates to win elections. It's all good, but I can't move beyond the idea of trying to come up with ways to club the Repugs with their own rhetorical games becase it's all it ever seems to boil down to with them. Makes me crazy!

Here is an idea for a campaign-style commercial, maybe encapsulating some of what is being discussed here...

a) Bush (and by association the Congressional rubberstampers) say they need warrantless spying on US citizens to "connect the dots" to "protect" us in the eternal war on terror.

b) Bush (and by association the GOP agenda/Congressional rubberstampers) are ensconced in a bubble is an image that seems to resonate with the public.

c) Use some sort of graphical imaging to reveal the dots as bubbles, and then each bubble as one failed policy or embarrassment after another (Iraq, Iran, even Katrina--there were plenty of dots there, too).

d) As the bubbles pop into thin air, convey the message that the Fighting Dems provide a viable, appealing alternative to the bubble-headed Repugs.

I like your analysis and regard it as a blueprint for future action. However, as someone who is new to the blogging and political activism scene, I don't think this was necessarily a failure. There are a lot of people out there like me who were discouraged that the Democratic leadership was not putting up much of a fight, and I took the defeatist attitude that Bush would just keep pulling hacks and ideologues out of his conservative judicial Dixiecup dispenser, and somehow we stumbled upon great lefty blogs that were attempting to influence the process anyway. I was drawn in by the great writing and clear thinking, the sense of community, and a locus for information regarding the who/what/when etc. of contacting the Senators. I hate to display my ignorance for all to see, but until this instance I never thought there was any point in contacting anyone other than my own elected officials. I was also strangely riveted to the Young Turks "Filibuster for the Filibuster" webcast, and I don't know how many permutations there were of "Wow, this is great; I'm glad Blog X mentioned it," but the sum total of this effort made me believe I was witnessing a seminal moment in the struggle turn the tide on Bushco and their media sympathizers. Maybe, maybe not. Sure, the lopsided vote was disappointing, but I think the lefty blogosphere is approaching critical mass as a force to be reckoned with if it can pull in apathetic and cynical folks like me. Y'all are doing SOMETHING right!