I just received the email confirming that Pam's House Blend will be credentialed in the general pool at the 2008 Democratic National Convention in Denver on August 25-28. Here's a snippet from the DNCC press release.Organizers also announced that blogs credentialed by the DNCC will have access to a dedicated "Blogger Lounge" inside the Pepsi Center, equipped with televisions, technology resources and workspace to facilitate their reporting. All bloggers will have access to the Convention floor, press briefing areas, caucus meetings, filing centers and other auxiliary events open to members of the media.
The credentialed blogs represent a large and diverse collection of voices and perspectives. The pool includes blogs covering national, state and local politics and those representing a variety of groups including the African American, Latino, Asian American, Native American and LGBT communities. Blogs focusing on youth issues, women's issues, labor issues, disability issues as well as those focusing on the environment and communities of faith will also be credentialed among many others.
...In 2004, the DNCC credentialed about 30 blogs to cover the Convention in Boston - the first Convention to credential bloggers. Recently, the DNCC announced that 55 blogs focused on state and local politics were selected to be members of the DemConvention State Blogger Corps. Altogether, the DNCC will credential more than 120 blogs for the Convention and many more individuals will blog the Convention via credentials issued through the U.S. Congressional Press Galleries. One reason celebrate is that it won't just be your humble blogmistress covering the convention, but the diverse barista slate as well - 'Radical' Russ Belville, Daimeon Pilcher, Autumn Sandeen, and the Educated Eclectic (Terrance said he'll be there via his day job). Gee, I haven't notified them via email. I guess they may find out here.  While you know I don't hold fundraisers for the Blend to fund the daily java you all consume each day, we do have to cover the considerable travel and lodging expenses to go to the 4-day convention -- and that's not pocket change. I have a Paypal button over in the left column, but I'll have a fundraiser badge up later if you want to help out. As far as commentary on the selections (or level of access issues discussed in prior posts), I'll take a pass for now just to get the information up. Off the top of my head, I'm not surprised at the preponderance of top-tier blogs; this is clearly a more diverse list, but I'm sure there will be plenty of discussion about who made the cut; since we don't know who all the applicants were; it's speculation until the folks who didn't make the cut weigh in. There's already an article about the state blogs that didn't make the original cut, that still have reservations about the difference in floor access that state vs. general receive, the same problem members of the Afrospear have cited numerous times. The full list of credentialed blogs, including the state blogs, is below the fold. |
