Hey, y’all. Netroots Nation is upon us, and I wanted to offer an early welcome to Austin, the Democratic capital of Texas. We’re so excited to have you all coming down to convene in this crucial election year. I hope some of this information helps you settle in and enjoy your trip!

Here’s what I’ll cover in this diary:

• Fun Parties and Events at Netroots Nation
• Food, Nightlife, and Tourism
• Airport Transportation and Getting Around Austin
• Other Austin Resources

Before you join us here in Austin, join me down below!

Markos, you wrote last week that you were withholding $2,300 from the Obama campaign, claiming that your individual donation didn’t matter. As if you aren’t the proprietor of an influential blog devoted to electing Democrats. As if you aren’t one of the key forces behind "people power" taking back our politics. As if many, many of your users, the ones who frequent your website and generate your ad revenue, aren’t struggling to make donations 1% the size of that.

You wrote:

At the end of the day, I'm pretty irrelevant in the whole affair. Obama is going to raise a ton of dough and win this thing whether I send him money or not.

What if even a fraction of your immense readership follows your lead? Maybe you need a refresher course in people power. I’m challenging the users of this website, thousands of people who are, in your words, "pretty irrelevant in this whole affair," (if you believe that or not!) to donate $2,300 collectively.

No matter what anyone says, we all matter, when we work together.

The new Rasmussen poll shows what I've been feeling for a long time now -- the race in Texas between Barack Obama and John McCain is tightening. McCain can't assume that the Lone Star State will love him with votes like they did Bush, even though McCain seems to love him some George W. Bush.

It's so exciting to be on the ground here in Texas helping in this historic election. Obama's rising support is also a great boon for Senate candidate Lt. Col. Rick Noriega. Plus, the Obama campaign has committed tremendous resources to Texas -- a reported 15 staffers, a good number of Obama Organizing Fellows, and even assistance building the infrastructure to help recapture the Texas House of Representatives. It's not just a 50-state-strategy any more. In these parts, it's a 254-county strategy.

But wait, there's more! Best of all, it's how YOU can help Obama close that gap in Texas. Dig your spurs into the flanks of the Republican party, and send them running once and for all.  

Today Americans came together across the nation to talk about Barack Obama at a Unite for Change event. I hosted two such events here in Austin, TX, where people showed up to learn how we’re going to elect Barack Obama this November.

There were over a dozen events across the city, and many more around Central Texas. Some folks held pool parties, others barbecues. My group gathered at a local coffee shop, Flightpath, where my precinct organized during the primary. Originally I’d just scheduled one meeting for noon, but when it quickly filled up to forty RSVP’s on my.barackobama.com, I added a second at 3 p.m. That one filled up too. The list of names was largely new to me, which was exciting—it’s always great to see more people involved in taking our country back.

More party pictures, observations, and ways you can help below.

Yes, the FISA bill stinks. No, we shouldn't protect corporations. I agree. Yes, it's not a "compromise" at all -- I agree, it's a capitulation to the White House and the Right Wing.

Of course it is. The Right Wing designed it that way. They set a trap. But it's not just the Democratic leadership that fell into it -- many of you all did, too, through your quickness to weaken your support of Obama, if not abandon him entirely.

See, the Right Wing's greatest success on this might not be letting the President break the law -- he does that anyways! -- but getting activists to think they're being betrayed, thus eroding one of Obama's biggest advantages.

A bit more on the flip, plus some added bad news as a bonus.

I just received an email (as most of you probably did!) from Steve Hildebrand, deputy campaign manager for Obama, as follows:

Today, I am proud to announce that our presidential campaign will be the first in a generation to deploy and maintain staff in every single state.

The network of volunteers and the infrastructure built up during the historic primary season -- on behalf of all the Democratic campaigns -- have given us an enormous and unprecedented opportunity in the general election.

We need to register new voters and bring people back into the political process. We need to reach out to Independents and Republicans who know that our country cannot afford another four years of George W. Bush's disastrous policies.

More about what this means on the flip.

WELCOME TO AUSTIN!

So I hear y’all are coming down to Austin in a few weeks for the Netroots Nation convention, and I reckon you might wondering what there is to eat, drink, see and do while you’re here. Though I’ve only lived here for about two years, I’ve come to really love Austin. It’s a great city, and I hope you all get a chance to see some of it while you’re down here.

To that end, I’ll be posting a few diaries over the next few weeks to get you excited about coming to Austin, and give you a sense of what’s around. They will cover food, nightlife, tourist attractions, shopping, and basic getting-around info.

Join me for the first one below the jump!

Obama supporters, tomorrow night we celebrate the final two contests of this long primary campaign. Could it be that five months ago to the day we were watching in exuberant surprise as Obama ran away with the Iowa caucus? Finally, the end to this primary season is here, and that means you have one main responsibility:

TIME TO PARTY!

Across the country, grassroots groups are organizing returns-watching parties and posting them on my.BarackObama.com. Find your event, and make plans to go lift some glasses and even pop a few corks for our nominee, Barack Obama.

More on the flip.

I'm a rarity in modern society: I’ve never owned a car.

I grew up in New Jersey, but we didn’t get our drivers licenses until age 17, at which point I was done with my junior year of high school. I knew I wanted to go to college in New York City, so owning a car for fifteen months seemed moot. After college I moved to Chicago and then back to New York, never needing a car. Now, I’m even surviving here in Austin without a car. True, I do a good degree of carpooling and my fair share of swearing at the absent public transit. But, I’m living proof that it can be done. It’s just that our society isn’t yet widely set up to accommodate this choice.

Tonight, let’s talk about the choice to go carless, and how it can (or can’t) work for you.

We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos. Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain. We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.

One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.

Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations at made at topcomments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.

These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But hopefully they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.

Please come in and make yourself at home! Join us beneath the fold...

We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos.  Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain.  We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.

One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.

Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations at made at TopComments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.

These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But we hope they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.

Please come in and make yourself at home!  Join us beneath the fold...

We have so many insightful and powerful diaries written here at Daily Kos.  Our diaries inform, inflame, impassion, and even entertain.  We Kossacks have strong voices and an even stronger will to be the change we wish to see in this country.

One of the richest, and perhaps most under-appreciated, areas of thought come in the form of comments attached to these diaries.

Here at Top Comments we strive to recognize and promote the talent of this community by highlighting outstanding comments found throughout the day by the diarist, and through nominations at made at TopComments at gmail dot com by your fellow Kossacks.

These nominations are subjective, and certainly not complete (as no one can read the complete site on a daily basis!). But we hope they will serve to shine a light where deserved, and to give the reader a good starting point in finding conversation on the site.

Please come in and make yourself at home!  Join us beneath the fold...

Today was a great day for Barack Obama, and an even better day for the hundreds and thousands of new voters registered today across the United States. Here in Austin we ran a voter registration drive that crossed the city, looking to make as many new Democrats as possible.

The biggest problem we faced? Most people are already registered! But we did our best to make new voters, especially those who just turned 18 and felons who have served their probation or parole and are eligible to vote again.

Here’s some photos from our event today. Enjoy!

...if they're NOT REGISTERED TO VOTE!!

This weekend marks the kick-off of the Obama campaign's Vote for Change 50 State Voter Registration Drive. Have you signed up in your community? There are hundreds of events nationwide with thousands of volunteers looking to make hundreds of thousands of new voters for Barack Obama.

It's time to look towards November and how to beat John McCain. The Obama campaign knows it, John McCain knows it, and now even the media knows it. What better way to get things started than with a nationwide effort to recruit new voters for Barack Obama?

We’ve know it for some time now, but at long last the media is finally catching on: Barack Obama will be the 2008 Democratic Candidate for President. From today forward, we’ve got our sights set on beating John McCain and sending a Democrat back to the White House.

What better way to kick things off than to donate to Obama now?

With yesterday’s endorsements by Congresspeople Bruce Braley (IA), Baron Hill (IN), and Lois Capps (CA), Barack Obama now moves into the lead of superdelegate endorsements by Governors, Senators, and Representatives.

At this point, Clinton’s ever-narrowing lead amongst superdelegates is relegated to DNC officials and so-called "Party Leaders." More on these numbers, and the so-called "Party Leaders" below the jump.

While we at DailyKos tend to fixate on Presidential and Congressional races and issues, it’s worth pausing from time to time to look at local races and think about how they can have much more of an impact on our daily lives. As Tip O’Neill once said, "all politics is local." While he was talking about the way in which concerns at home shape representatives’ actions in D.C., it’s true that in terms of making a difference, each of us pretty much has to start on a micro-level in our own neighborhoods.

It was with this idea of shaping the politics close to my home that I decided to volunteer for Randi Shade, a candidate for Austin City Council Place 3. I know her campaign manager, Marti, as we live in the same precinct and are both delegates for Obama to the Texas Democratic Party Convention. I liked the idea of being able to have a greater impact on a race due to its size and proximity to, well, me.

With that in mind, yesterday morning I arose bright and early to block-walk for Randi Shade. Photos, videos, and a few anecdotes below.

"Why bother?"

This is the question Michael Pollan poses in the New York Times Magazine today, wondering why Americans make the effort to reduce our carbon footprint and do right by the planet when so much of the rest of the world seems willing to pick up the slack in our stead. Global warming is proceeding faster than the scientific models predicted, and most rational folks will conclude that whatever we might do, it’s probably too little, too late.