This morning, we ran a full page ad on the back of the Denver Post convention section called "Democracy in Distress."  It's a color version of this ad.

This same morning, Rep. Robert Wexler spoke at the Progressive Central forum in Denver and if I hadn't known better, I'd have thought he was reading from the ad and from our Recapture the Flag campaign agenda to restore the rule of law and the Constitution.  Apologies for the shoddy video quality, but it's worth watching just to hear Wexler hitting the bulls eye on torture, executive privilege, inherent contempt for Karl Rove, and other examples of executive abuses of power that should not stand as precedent for future administrations.

I handed Wexler a copy of the ad after he spoke, and he was pretty excited by it.  Here's hoping we find a few more like Wexler in Congress ready to join us and take back our democracy.

On a tangential note, Denver has been enlightening, worthwhile and sometimes fun, but I am ready for a full night's sleep again.

The gridlock in New York's state capitol has gone on for way too long. It is becoming increasingly clear that working in Albany to bring about change in the way Albany operates is not enough. This election year, which may bring historic change to the State Senate, provides us with a perfect opportunity to use the election and campaign events to move reform issues back to the center of political discussions in New York.  We have to show our elected officials that the issues that we work on to bring effective and accountable state government to New York are supported by ordinary New Yorkers throughout the state. We can't do that simply by lobbying officials once they've arrived in Albany.  We have to move the discussion into districts throughout the state. The Pledge for Change campaign is designed to do precisely that.
 

In Denver, it's easy to get the feeling that the telecom companies are funding this convention.  And it's pretty close to true.  AT&T, Qwest, Verizon, and Comcast are heavily invested in the Denver DNC, and are similarly paying for a good chunk of the RNC next week.  If you want to see a big special interest buying its way further into the halls of power, you've got it here.  And anyone who cares about the future of the media, the internet, and the election system in this country should be getting mad.

On the ground in Denver, it's the little things that catch your attention - like almost every delegate has a lanyard around their neck that says "Qwest Qwest Qwest" (see the pics).  When half the people you see have a Qwest band around their neck, you notice.  And it gets in your head.

And then it's the parties.  Of course, folks like me can't get in - but delegates, elected officials, lobbyists and their staffs usually can.  AT&T is hosting a reception virtually every day, sometimes several.  (Check out Sunlight's Party Time blog for some great coverage of the convention parties.)  Yesterday I went to see who was at the AT&T-sponsored luncheon for "western delegates" only to get turned away at the door and informed that the event had been moved to a different fancy restaurant on the other side of town.  Tuesday night I wandered past a private event sponsored by Verizon for Iowa delegates; they had reserved a café on the main drag through town and locked out the public, as you can see from the photo.

Those are the obvious images, but what's less visible to the naked eye is more significant.

This morning at the Big Tent, Air America and MSNBC's Rachel Maddow hosted a discussion with Dr. Eric Schmidt, CEO of Google. The subject of the talk is how the internet is impacting the 2008 elections.

Maddow started out with pointing out that for the last several elections, broad claims have been made that the internet was making a major difference - but has it? Eric Schmidt responded that it is becoming more and more the case. His example of how the internet has recently made a big difference was how in the 2006 Senate races the GOP candidate in Virginia used the word "macaca" to describe a person of color, and it got around on Youtube, which may have been the pivotal point in that election. The viral nature of that video made a big difference in the shift of power in the US Senate.

Is that just increasing? It seems to be the case. More and more citizen journalism is emerging, and here at the Big Tent that is certainly evident.

Senate Assistant Majority Leader Dick Durbin dropped by the Big Tent today. Durbin is the champion and co-author with Sen. Arlen Specter of the bipartisan Fair Elections Now Act (S.1285), the bill to create a full public financing system for U.S. Senate races. The average Senate winner spent $9.6 million in 2006, and as Durbin likes to point out, it cost an average of over $7 million to lose a Senate race last cycle.

Durbin spoke to bloggers and other media but I caught him on his way out. I thanked him for his leadership on public financing. True to form, he ignored the praise and spoke of the work to be done. With a hostile Supreme Court on the campaign finance front, Durbin was unfazed. "We still need to do this," he said, regardless of the Court. "I don't think we're sunk, not at all."

With folks like Sen. Ken Salazar saying we need to do something on campaign finance reform, and Durbin and Specter in the lead, 2009 is shaping up to be a big and critical year to move forward in changing how we finance federal elections.

I have to give a lot of credit to the American public. As the mainstream media headed down in quality, we the people decided to take action and instead of just whining or resigning ourselves, we decided to create our own media.

There is no better example of that than here in Denver right now. The hundreds of bloggers at the Big Tent, the public access show producers crawling all over town with cameras, and the alternative media are all doing what the mainstream media isn't.

While the big cable news networks are focused on parsing the words in speeches to try to determine the impact on the horse race for president, the citizen media is out there reporting on everything from what is going on with the police in Denver during the DNC to how well the "greenness" of the convention is working.

Cross-posted from The Hill...

The highlight of Tuesday-indeed, the most widely-attended presentation at the Big Tent so far-was longtime newsman Dan Rather giving a powerful, and at times emotional, talk that Jon covered in more depth earlier.

His key message at our symposium on media and democracy is that we NEED citizen journalism, we NEED owners with the guts to take any heat from talk radio, and we NEED to stop media consolidation. I caught a few minutes on video that don't do it justice, but hopefully they give a sense of his passion, including a moment of choking up about a minute and a half in.

But the day was about much more than Dan Rather. Indeed, that was the whole point -- that a healthy democracy depends on a diverse and free media that prods, questions, and educates the public rather than a small handful of networks controlling what people see and hear and what constitutes "news."

Yesterday at the Big Tent events in Denver, we held a workshop titled "Is Civil Discourse a Civil Right?". Right to left in the photo are:

• Alex Nogales, President and CEO of the National Hispanic Media Coalition,
  
• Cathryn Hazouri, Executive Director of the ACLU of Colorado,
  
• Mark Lloyd, Vice President of Strategic Initiatives at the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights and Affiliate Professor of Public Policy at Georgetown University,
  
• and yours truly acting as the moderator.

We had a lively discussion about how access to the media, including media ownership, public access and net neutrality impact the communities fighting for their civil rights. Alex Nogales pointed out how Latinos in America have their civil rights violated day after day by the impact of hate speech on radio and TV. Cathryn Hazouri pointed out that from the perspective of the ACLU, she opposes censorship of the media to deal with hate speech, but does support the idea of a modernized version of the Fairness Doctrine so that issues are presented in a truly fair and balanced way. Among other issues that Mark Lloyd talked about, he brought up how the Digital TV Transition might impact low income and minority communities more than others, and take away their access to the information they need to participate in our democracy, unless they get the word now about how to be prepared for the transition.

This is just a short snapshot of the event, we went over our allotted hour. It was videotaped, so we hope to get that video out online in the future and possibly distributed on public access.  

In general though, while these discussions might not be happening over at the DNC Convention, they ARE happening here in Denver at the Big Tent.

Veteran journalist Dan Rather is currently on stage at the Big Tent in Denver speaking on the dangers of media consolidation.

(remember, live streaming coverage can be found at http://www.commoncause.org/bigtent.)

He is pointing out something we discussed in our media reform plan for a new administration that the founders of this nation explicitly protected the press in the Bill of Rights because it is the role of the press to inform the public about what the government is doing right or wrong.

Rather says that his experience is that consolidation and corporatization of the media has led to a media that focuses more on safe stories and regurgitating the administration's message as to what they want the people to hear. And of course, that is what the media is NOT supposed to do.

He says the reason the mainstream press isn't more critical is that they are afraid of being accused of editorializing simply by researching and reporting facts that don't fit with what the administration wants people to hear.

His key message is that we NEED citizen journalism, we NEED owners with the guts to take any heat from talk radio, and we NEED to stop media consolidation.

Day Two at the Big Tent started sleepily, but the place is hopping now.  Sen. Ken Salazar stopped by and did a long round through the place -- including a short hello with Bob Edgar (see the pic).

I caught Salazar on his way out (no picture) and introduced myself.

Before I could get out my question, "Will you support public financing for Congress?" Salazar cut me off: "Common Cause! Campaign finance reform.  I want to do something about campaign finance reform," he said.  A little surprised, I thanked him, said we're working on public financing, and handed him a flyer about the Fair Elections Now Act.  Getting a moderate Senator like Salazar on board would be terrific for our prospects to pass the bill next Congress.

Cross-posted from The Hill...

Common Cause will be very active this week and next at the Democratic convention in Denver and the Republican convention in Minneapolis. Today, along with FCC Commissioner Jonathan Adelstein, I will kick off the Symposium on Media and Democracy at the "Big Tent." It will be a panel discussion on how the media and technology increasingly shape our democracy and how we can ensure more diverse and independent news sources.

The Big Tent is an 8,000 square-foot structure near the convention center that will be home this week to hundreds of bloggers and citizen journalists covering the convention. There are bloggers from small sites you've never heard of, as well as some of the most popular political blogs on the Web, like Daily Kos. You can watch a live feed of the Big Tent on our website at: www.commoncause.org/BigTent. We will also be sending back regular updates through the course of the week about what's happening, which you can find at www.commonblog.com.

Next week, in Minneapolis, I will speak on several panels with journalists, academics and activists about some of the most pressing issues our next president will face.

Check out this full-page ad that Common Cause is running Thursday in the Denver daily newspapers and then again in the Minneapolis Star Tribune on Monday, when the Republicans start their convention in that city.

The highlight of today--indeed, the most widely-attended presentation at the Big Tent so far--was longtime newsman Dan Rather giving a powerful, and at times emotional, talk that Jon covered in more depth earlier.His key message is that we NEED citizen journalism, we NEED owners with the guts to take any heat from talk radio, and we NEED to stop media consolidation.I caught a few minutes on video that don't do it justice, but hopefully they give a sense of his passion, including a moment of choking up about a minute and a half in.

But the day was about much more than Dan Rather.  Indeed, that was the whole point -- that a healthy democracy depends on a diverse and free media that prods, questions, and educates the public rather than a small handful of networks controlling what people see and hear and what constitutes "news."

Today is the Common Cause sponsored Media Symposium at the Big Tent in Denver. The goal of the day is to bring issues of media reform to the alternative media that is gathered here at the Big Tent as well as to many of the DNC delegates who are in town.

Check out the footage of Glenn Greenwald and Jane Hamsher attempting to talk to attendees of a swanky AT&T sponsored party last night.

AT&T's name is littered across both the DNC and RNC party lists as a host of lavish receptions as well as a major donor to both conventions' Host Committees.  AT&T has a lot at stake in Congress in 2009.  Smells wrong.

Earlier today I sat in on a panel at the Big Tent on climate change.  Featured among the panelists was Robert Kennedy Jr., along with Prof. David Orr and others.

While the conversation focused on global warming and the policy solutions--capping carbon emissions, ending the subsidies for fossil fuels like coal and gas, investing in renewables, and strengthening our electric grid--the panelists were in agreement and a couple, including Kennedy, got into the political reasons why we haven't made progress on virtually any of those fronts.

I'm spending the week in Denver at the site of the Democratic National Convention, along with several other Common Cause staff.  We're helping to lead a full day on media and democracy issues at the Big Tent, home of bloggers, independent media, and other activists, which you can view through a live web feed.

We'll also be watch dogging the many lavish parties to see who's trying to buy access and influence with lawmakers, and contributing to the Party Time blog of the Sunlight Foundation.  We'll be urging candidates to sign the Voters First Pledge for public financing of elections and to Recapture the Flag by committing to restore the rule of law and the Constitution.

Keep an eye out here for updates from Denver.  Here's one to start off, with a quick look back to a week ago.

I am sitting here in Denver at The Big Tent seeing something that could not happen without net neutrality.

At this event (which we co-sponsored) there are hundreds of citizen journalists using the new media to create real time coverage of the Democratic National Convention, coverage about the coverage, commentary about it, commentary about the commentary, etc. The Internet's neutral nature is what allows this to thrive.

There are people here blogging for scores of different major websites like Daily Kos and Slate.com and smaller websites like www.turnmaineblue.com. There are people using videocameras to create content to post to youtube and other video websites. And through the online forums as well as the personal interaction here, we are seeing the same kind of "newsroom" collaboration that we are losing at the newspapers all across America as big corporations like News Corp gobble up local papers and force them to cut back on reporting and just fill their papers with nationally produced content.

The kind of collaboration you saw in "All the President's Men" is alive and well, and it's here in the Big Tent. But as I said earlier, without net neutrality, this could all go away.

Common Cause Minnesota spent an exciting summer recruiting our board members, establishing our local office, and contacting legislative candidates to learn about their views on issues that matter most to our members. In fact, over the last six months we have built a solid foundation for our state chapter. We were thrilled to have Common Cause President Bob Edgar visit Minnesota in June as we kicked off our foundation-building summer. Please view Bob's message to Common Cause supporters here -

Where do the two major party candidates stand on the media reform issues we highlight in our new report, "Media and Democracy in America Today: A Reform Plan for a New Administration"?

It's a mixed bag.

McCain has a strong record of supporting Low Power FM Radio, increasing diversity of media ownership, funding public broadcasting and free air time for campaigns. However, he has opposed stopping media consolidation and is against net neutrality.

Obama on the other hand has been a vocal supporter of net neutrality and has actively opposed media consolidation. While generally good on most of the issues we highlight in the new report, he has less of a record to show for it.

And there are gaps in our knowledge. That's why we would like to hear from their campaigns and anyone else who can tell us where they stand on issues like reforming the processes at the Federal Communications Commission and if they support PEG Access TV.

We have a full chart of their stands on the issues we raise in our new report - as far as we know them. Check it out, and let us know if you have any more information.

Today I am proud to release Common Cause's plan for media reform. The report, titled "Media and Democracy in America Today: A Reform Plan for a New Administration," lays out a plan of action for the next President and Congress to take to ensure the media performs its appropriate role in our democracy.

This was a major undertaking, and I want to thank all who participated from within and without Common Cause to help put it together. Now the key thing is to make the recommendations in this report a reality.

That's going to take several things.

It's going to take other bloggers and journalists to spread the word about what needs to be done.

It's going to take politicians to listen to the people and take action on these recommendations.

And the biggest thing is that it is going to take the public to make some noise about how important these issues are to our democracy!

We're here to help facilitate the making of noise by you the people. Let's have our voices heard.

The text of our press release follows below: