On Easter weekend, close to 80 progressives from Memphis to Knoxville and all points in between attended Democracy for Tennessee’s Convention ’07 in Nashville throughout the day on Saturday.

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Kicking off the ceremonies were myself and Jim Grinstead, who inspired DFA members to keep the momentum going for the progressive movement in Tennessee. I then unveiled “FROM THE GROUND UP: The Plan for a Progressive Tennessee”, DFT’s strategic plan that not only lays out our vision for the progressive changes we want to make in 2007, but also how we’re going to do it. Vote By Mail and Green Tennessee are two initiatives that we will be focusing on at the local level. Campaigns for Tennessee is a program involving campaign training (starting with the DFA Training Academy on April 28 & 29) and actual elections as we target the Nashville Metro Council races by helping elect a slate of new progressive candidates. Meanwhile, we will be unveiling Blog for Tennessee over the next few weeks. BFT will be a clearinghouse for state and local news that is important to progressives and will become a vehicle to push back against local conservatives’ propaganda.

Next, it was time to hear from Gray Sasser, the newly-elected chairman of the Tennessee Democratic Party. Gray talked about the future of Tennessee Democrats and their plan to pick up more seats in the state House and Senate in 2008. Gray believes that Tennessee is trending Democratic – a theory that is backed up by the most recent MTSU Poll that shows that more Tennesseans are self-identifying as Democrats than Republicans now. Sasser also emphasized his commitment to continuing with the path laid out by his predecessor Bob Tuke in working alongside with Democracy for Tennessee whenever possible to advance a better agenda for all Tennesseans.

The first round of workshops began at about 10:00 and those included Vote By Mail, Green Tennessee, and a panel discussion titled “Building the Movement”.

The Vote By Mail workshop, which was run by DFT's resident election reform activist Dave Thomas, also featured an appearance via conference call from Adam J. Smith, who heads up the national Vote By Mail Project organization. Dave and Adam educated people on VBM, why it’s the best solution to having verifiable elections and in improving participation in our democracy, and what’s happening with VBM efforts across the country. Here in Tennessee, one bill that pushes for no-excuse absentee balloting is out of committee and another one that sets the stage for form a full VBM pilot project is underway. To sign the petition to support Vote By Mail or to join the campaign and host a Town Hall meeting in your county, visit www.VoteByMailTennessee.org and if you want to read Dave’s blog diary on the VBM workshop, click here.

Next door, the Green Tennessee workshop kicked off with panelists Doug Morse (the GT campaign manager), Seannalyn Brandmeir (presenter for Al Gore’s Climate Project), and Jeff Barrie (filmmaker of Kilowatt Ours) on hand to launch the campaign to make Tennessee a more “green” state. The Green Tennessee campaign combines global warming tutorials by Climate Project presenters and screenings of Kilowatt Ours (which is part of Democracy for America’s national agenda this month), with organized efforts to pass specific “green policies” at the county level. The legislation includes everything from installing geo-thermal heating in county schools to energy audits for municipal governments, to setting city and county governments on a path to implement LEED standards (“green” building codes). This workshop got great attendance and great feedback and we need you to help out by staging events and participating in the campaign. Stay tuned, the Green Tennessee campaign website will be online in the next two weeks.

The “Building the Movement” panel discussion was moderated by Nell Levin from the Tennessee Alliance for Progress (which has it’s Compass Conference this coming weekend in Nashville). Panelists were Cynthia Bennett with Tennessee’s NOW chapter, David Lubell with the Tennessee Immigrant and Refugee Rights Coalition, and Tony Garr with the Tennessee Healthcare Campaign. As expected, the discussion on how progressives can work together better was lively and full of ideas. Thanks to all the panelists who participated.

After the first round of workshops, it was time for lunch, which was kicked off by our first Democracy for Tennessee "Trailblazer Award", which was given to one of our best activists - Joan Nelson of Oak Ridge. Congrats Joan! We did some re-organization business too in which I handed over the reins of Democracy for Tennessee to our new chairman, Jim Grinstead. Jim has demonstrated good political judgement and a willingness to work hard for the organization and he brings an amazing set of skills to the table that will move DFT to the next level as an effective organization. I’d like to thank Jim, Tom Burns, and the other members of the DFT Steering Committee for the award they presented me with. It was an honor to serve with all involved and I will continue to help DFA’s cause whenever possible.

But the main event of lunchtime – and of the whole day, for that matter – was an amazing speech by our keynote speaker... Ned Lamont. As you know, Ned challenged (and defeated) Joe Lieberman in the 2006 Democratic primary. He gave a great speech on Iraq, drawing a connection between the situation there and in El Salvador, a place he’d recently visited. Lamont also discussed the role the grassroots played in his campaign, how DFA was the nucleus of his organization – both online and on the ground – and how he’d like to see more “non-political” people, either regular citizens or new entrepreneurs, decide to run for office. Ned received several standing ovations and was questioned about whether he plans on running for office again. His response: “you never completely rule anything out”. For more coverage on Ned’s speech as well as a great one-on-one interview by local progblogger Sean Braisted, visit his blog here or check out Sean's post on Daily Kos about the DFT Convention.

After lunch, it was back into workshops. The schedule included “Root Camp”, “Grassroots on the Hill” and “Citizen Journalism 101”.

The Root Camp workshop was a two-hour crash course on running a better political campaign. Ned Lamont and Jim Dean were guest lecturers as our own Freda Player and Georgia Weindling covered everything from framing a solid campaign message to door-to-door canvassing. Ned and Jim offered some great insights from Ned’s 2006 race and were a great inspiration for several local candidates and campaign managers who are gearing up for their races this year and in 2008. This Root Camp training is just a taste of things to come as we gear up for the weekend-long DFA Training Academy coming to Knoxville at the end of the month. Click here to sign up for one of the best campaign training programs in the country.

The Grassroots on the Hill workshop, hosted by lobbyist Stewart Clifton and state representatives Janis Sontany and Rob Briley was a real eye-opener for attendees. Clifton’s program, which included “10 Tips on Being a Citizen Lobbyist” and “How to Show That You Were Raised Right (when you’re at the legislature)” educated people on a process that many progressives instinctively distrust. Clifton, Sontany, and Briley brought it all down to a human level. “In Tennessee, most of our legislators have to give up their jobs and their families for several months at a time to do what – make less than $20K a year? And if the session doesn’t finish on time, they have to pay for their hotels and expenses out of their own pockets. Think about that the next time someone tells you that these people are all in government for the money”. Briley explained the realities of politics in the assembly. “You may disagree with a legislator on 99% of their issues or legislation, but you never want to burn bridges because there will be one time when they are on board with your issue and that can make all the difference with getting it passed”. Sontany’s take on how to get a legislator on your side? “Be prepared to help the legislator understand your issue and who can help on it. We usually don’t have time or staff to pore through all the white papers and build consensus around your issue – you need to come with everything ready to go.” The "Grassroots on the Hill" workshop got some of the best reviews from the Convention attendees and we thank Clifton and our legislators for putting on an amazing session.

Progressive voices will be heard more loudly and more clearly as a room filled with DFT activists learned the skills of framing, blogging and getting online during the Citizen Journalism 101 workshop conducted by Jim Grinstead, Sean Braisted, and Angela Trigg. One of the main components of this workshop was to teach writers how to discuss events using progressive frames and to avoid terminology that reinforces conservative messages. CJ-101 attendees learned about the basics of journalism, framing, and how to organize their stories in a way to have the greatest impact. Sean Braisted, creator of Nashville for the 21st Century, explained the discipline of blogging, how to develop an audience for a blog, and how to select issues to write about. Angela Trigg, the creator of the CampaignWindow software that many DFA groups in Tennessee use, closed out the session by teaching the class how to get online and post entries on the brand new Blog for Tennessee. Blog for Tennessee will be a community site that focuses on blogging about local and state politics and will combine the voices of DFT activists and independent writers into a comprehensive resource for progressive news and opinion in Tennessee. Stay tuned for more details about Blog for Tennessee in the coming weeks.

The Conventioneers regrouped in the main room of the IBEW hall to wrap things up, talk about what they’d learned through the course of the day, and give us feedback on how we did (the verdict: great!).

We ended the day with a special DFA Candidate Forum that featured five of the six major contenders to become Nashville’s next Mayor. DFT and DFA Nashville plan on being involved in this election as well and it was an educational experience on where the candidates are on the issues. While you can read more in-depth coverage of how the candidates did from Tom Cash’s report at the DFA Nashville website, we do want to mention that all of the candidates were supportive of Vote By Mail and our Green Tennessee initiatives. Nashville DFA members should stay tuned too for information on how to vote in our Mayoral Straw Poll in the next two weeks. We’ll also be posting video from the Candidate Forum on our YouTube channel, DFtv, within the next two weeks.

Thanks to all who attended, who volunteered, and who sat as panelists or instructors at “Convention ‘07”. A special thanks to Ned Lamont and Jim Dean, the Connecticut Yankees who made time during their busy schedules and a holiday weekend to visit the Volunteer State.

And of course, thanks to all of you – in Tennessee and across the country – that continue to stay involved and get active in the progressive cause. The tide is turning and we must continue to make changes in our government at every level and take our country back from the corporate special interests and the right-wing ideologues that have hijacked our democracy.

Remember, we have the power… now let’s use it!

Mark Naccarato
Founding Chairman, Democracy for Tennessee
www.DemocracyForTennessee.com