YearlyKos 07': The Day After

So YearlyKos 2007 in Chicago is now over. Everyone has gone home, the lights at McCormick Place are turned down and the place is being cleaned up. I am sitting here back in Manhattan after dealing with flying into Newark this afternoon (we circled the airport for half an hour due to air traffic and waited for the bags for forty-five minutes), enjoying the somewhat cool and muggy air.

The four days went by so quickly, in part because there was so much going on.

Thursday was a day of panels and workshops. I made some amazing contacts and great friends that I had mostly only known by their orange names on DailyKos (mine is proudprogressiveca btw, the ca is because I was living in CA when I signed up). I learned so much and heard many great things, but before I knew it, the time had come to sit down to an appetizer-style dinner and listen to Sam Seder, comic relief, a taped message from Senator Durbin and then finally an incredible speech from Howard Dean. By the end I heard myself chanting "Howard, Howard, Howard" like I had started doing four years ago. In a way it saddened me to think about those good ole' Deaniac days, but also grateful to see how far we have come since his campaign ended.

Friday was another great day that was full of running around from room to room, seemingly miles apart (probably only a quarter to a half mile, but who's counting). Hearing Wesley Clark deliver a powerful message to the ballroom audience was inspiring. Having the honor to see Eric Massa, Cenk Uyugr and John Dean in one room was fantastic. Then it was off to hear George Lakoff and Jeffrey Feldman talk about how to frame the issues. Later on I got to talk to Bob Geiger on how I can get more than five hits a day on this little blog. He gave us the message that if he can do it, so can all of us.

I missed the netroots candidate party that night due to a meeting and by the time I could head up there, I would have missed it due to the very long walk. So Friday night gave me a chance to relax with my non-DailyKos friend and get away from the McCormick behemoth.

Saturday turned out to be the longest day for me. I got there at seven in the morning and left at eleven at night. There was only one panel I attended, the second one I was going to was Tim Tagaris' campaign blogger thing but it was mysteriously canceled. No big deal though, because the best was yet to come.

This was when I got my macbook photo with Governor Richardson, followed by the Presidential forum with everyone attending minus Joe Biden. I was sitting four tables back dead center, so the view was great. But the fireworks on stage were fantastic to see. The breakout session with Edwards was also incredible. I ran up there as fast as I could and snagged a front row seat. Unfortunately he didn't call on me for the Q & A session, but there were plenty of good questions thrown out there.

Then things cooled down a bit, with the Teamsters BBQ by the lake. It really does amaze me that the body of water that looks like a sea is actually a lake. I'm used to the ocean and it looks quite similar minus the big waves. Then the night wrapped up with the keynote. Markos did his thing up there following a couple of comics and then it was over for the night. Sunday's brunch was a great wrap-up to the convention and we all said our goodbyes...but it sold me on coming back next year, even with the new "Netroots Nation" name.