If You Weren’t At The Blogger’s Caucus…

If you were not at the Blogger’s Caucus tonight, you missed the very best party and networking even that the this year’s convention had to offer.

I must say that, as I type this at a Kinkos somewhere in the BFE district of Fort Worth ($24 cab ride, thank you very much, when the hotel has NO INTERNET ACCESS THAT WORKS) that this year’s Blogger’s Caucus truly was one of the best TDP events I’ve ever attended.

Anna from Annatopia organized it all (well, at least 92 percent) and I was pleased to be among a number of bloggers who took part in the event plus more than 350 people who attended (according to the guy at the door when I finally walked at 1:20 a.m.).

By virtue of the fact that I have the very loudest voice among Texas bloggers (thanks, no doubt, to the fact that I was Drum Major for my high school from 1993-1995), I was asked to get everyone’s attention and introduce former House Speaker Pete Laney. After that, I introduced Barbara Radnofsky (candidate for U.S. Senate) and then actually stood on a chair and introduced the rest of the candidates and bloggers.

I cannot count the number of candidates who were present; Dembones from Eye on Williamson actually (with the help of Anna, me, Kuff and others, though he mainly did all the work) did complie a list of the majority of candidates/officeholders who attended. That is here.

I know there were at least two other State Reps who attended (names escape me during the present “Kinkos” moment,”) though, who came after Dembones left.

I was pretty much the last blogger to leave the building; that was after chatting with Angela Brown of the Associated Press and one of the folks who works for Quorum Report whose name presently escapes me.

I have a BUNCH of podcats to upload, but the MP3 player isn’t jibing with the laptop at present so, sadly, those may have to wait until I get back home (unless I can get Kinkos to assist me). I interviewed Nick Lampson, his campaign manager Mike Maliase (sp?); Karen Felthauser (HD-52), and many, many others including former Speaker Pete Laney who, as you are no doubt aware, is the namesake for one of Ellie’s pups in her litter of puppies.

As far as bloggers go, all of the royalty of the Texas Blogsphere was there (except for Karl-Thomas, who was busy with the Maxey chairmanship campaign). And, except for BOR’s Byron LaMasters, all of the members of the innaugural Blogger’s Caucus back in 2004 who are still blogging (me, Kuff and Greg) were on hand. To have been part of the first event (which included about 10 people) and to have been part of the second event (300 plus) was truly an awe-inspiring thing. To know what the impact of the Texas Blogsphere is/has been is amazing.

To me, one of the greatest honors of the night was meeting Pete Laney. I can’t remember who (but I think it was Matt) asked me if there was a way I could get everyone’s attention to let the large crowd know that Rep. Laney had arrived. Of course, since I am the loudest one in the bunch, I got everyone quiet pretty quick and announced the presence of our former speaker, who was received with thunderous applause. I later did the same with Barbara Radnofsky.

But, of all the members of the House I’ve met or known, I’ve never, ever met Speaker Laney. To meet him in his final term was on of those “watershed” moments for me as a Democrat. I cannot remember a time in my life (or so it seems) when the speakership wasn’t in the hands of Laney or Gib Lewis. To see Laney leave the house is really a sad thing.

Other than that (and forgive the rambling, but the cell phone will NOT stop ringing, even at 2:33 a.m.), the event was a huge sucess. It was, truly, an awesome thing.

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