Amidst Lollapalooza and an African American Shriners and Daughters of the Sphinx ball in all their dazzling pageantry (yes, hats too), our YearlyKos Convention held its ground, maybe not with rock stars and Rolls Royced master masons, but with bloggers, big media, progressive organizations, presidential candidates and the full weight of the Netroots Nation.

There were party-line brawls, parties, and a fitness program designed just for the laptop-chained blogger—a convention center of epic proportions. Our numbers were decked out in their finery: campaign buttons, bright orange lanyards, and t-shirts featuring side-splitting wisdom (a cartoon salt and pepper shaker become "A salt with a deadly weapon.” Good one, sterno!).

My most memorable moment of the weekend was watching the seven presidential candidates: Clinton, Obama, Edwards, Kucinich, Gravel, Richardson and Dodd, walk onto our stage with Jeffrey Feldman, Matt Bai and mcjoan (wasn't her performance breathtaking???). Tears welled in my eyes as I realized that we had actually pulled this crazy thing off. Talk about an audacity of hope!

Like Gina said in her closing night speech, “I always knew we’d do it, but I can’t believe we did it!”

I thought my second most memorable moment was the Gravel breakout session. More wandered in later, but he told the first ten of us to pull up chairs in a circle around him and proceeded to teach us about the Constitution and our Founding Fathers. Holy surreal college seminar, Batman!

But I learned more with him than I ever had in any poli sci class. He really made me think—about how laws are made, how the government really works, and what the Constitution is all about. I felt just like Sonny did at the Lincoln Memorial in Protocol.

So that was Great Moment in Blogger History #2 until I hit the Teamsters cookout. AC/DC’s, “Back in Black,” came on the loudspeakers and Markos and Jim Hoffa drove up in a big rig cab honking the massive horn.

SERIOUSLY.

When it wasn’t memorable moments-o-rama at the Convention, it was drama-rama. Congresspeople and Senators having to stay in Washington, scheduling snafus with Hillary, right wing media attacks, and whatever it was that y’all got up to after hours.

Uh-huh. You know what I mean.

Here back at home in San Francisco, it’s foggy and cold. I’m sitting here with Entertainment Tonight on in the background (it’s all my brain can take at the moment) trying to make sense of all my notes and everything that happened.

Like why did I go, how did it all happen so fast? At the bar talking to Kid Oakland last night (Bay Area!), we thought about how this year was different from last.

We were nostalgic for Vegas and the Riv, some sense of innocence and new-ness. When we were all piled in together off-strip in the middle of a big experiment. Chocolate fountains, enough said.

No one expected anything from us; they didn’t even know who the hell we were! This year we were kinda all grown up. Right?

And now we’re changing our name. Things are moving fast, yet our fundamental reasons for doing what we do haven't changed a bit. A byte. For me, it’s you. I wouldn’t keep coming back if it weren’t for the people.

Like the organizers are insane. They all have full time other jobs, but they work tirelessly. Okay they were tired from lack of sleep, but you know what I mean. They are inspired. YOU are inspired, inspired enough to come out and join us. And what’s more inspirational than that?

You don’t get that a lot, and for me to spend an entire week among totally inspired people is really on a selfish note pretty damn inspirational. I am totally revved up to kick ass in all aspects of my life!

I hope you are too. To think that we, a nation of just netroots, in our second year of existence, managed to pull off an entire Presidential Leadership Forum is...is...well i don't even know what it is.

So maybe it’s time, between now and our next event, to write that book. Take that trip. Apply for that job. Move to that new city. And live your ultimate Netroots Nation life.

We can do it! Markos said it best: “Alone, we were nobody. But together we are somebody. A very important somebody...none of us can win on our own and we don’t have to. We have each other.”

Because without you, WE are nothing. There is no Nation. We've come a long way, baby, and there's still so much farther to go. Stay tuned to this channel for the latest news as we look ahead to 2008. We still have many more surprises and master plans up our pithy t-shirt sleeves.

Let's take this momentum and run with it!

 YKC 2007