I'd like to see two major things grow out of MyDD -- a way for Democratic professionals and candidates to understand the netroots, what it wants out of them, and what we would do if we ran the show, as well as a way for progressive activists and the netroots to better direct its attention and efforts. I envision the projects sidebar expanding to a sort of MyDD wikipedia, to break the mold of here-today-gone-tomorrow commentary and analysis and venture into a more permanent media, but the specific medium is something we can debate in the future (and the comments).

In terms of giving the party a window into the netroots, the netroots survey is a great example, as are the Candidate Memo and Adwatch, though in very different ways. Echoing sentiments Jerome recently expressed, I'd love to see a sort of consultant-watch, and even a campaign-manager-watch, if turnover isn't a prohibitive factor. Going a step further, there are a lot of Democratic campaigners who know there's a lot of good stuff on the blogs, they just don't have time to read it all. We could collect advice (sort of like the campaign memo) on all sorts of things, from turnout-messaging, GOTV, viral messaging, new approaches to paid media, etc. It's not that this info isn't out there in diaries, but a way to centralize the discussion would allow us to peer-review and collaborate, and produce a one-stop shop for the best advice the DCCC never gave.

Any good MyDD-opedia would naturally include information (from the netroots perspective) on our elected officials, the status of the state legislatures, the various party machines, etc. We all know Connecticut is a party-machine state, and I'm betting a lot of Connecticutians have decided to join their local Democratic Committee, but what about all the other state parties stifling progress that don't have high-profile netroots battles? Collaborative, long-term data collection is the first step to injecting this sort of topic into the sustained discussion, and provides an anchor by which we can monitor change as it happens.

As far as changing the party goes, one of the huge things we can do to focus our limited money and manpower to make the party more competitive, is to identify and challenge the other Joe Liebermans and Al Wynns in the party. I'm sure there are tons of great, insightful comments out there about who these people are, but there's no place to collect them and review them to spot the candidates in need of a good primarying. Primaries are the best way to focus our money and man-power into the electoral process, and if you have a good candidate, in touch with (and slightly grateful to) the netroots, they'll take those qualities to every decision they make -- we didn't tell Ned Lamont who to hire to make his ads; we didn't have to. Whether we're challenging incumbents or just taking sides in open seat primaries where the netroots' preference is clear, I hope we get involved in a couple dozen primaries in 2008.

Now, as far as the cost-benefit ratio goes for general elections, state races could use a great deal more attention than we've been able to give them. A good collaborative info-aggregator would allow MyDDers from all over the country to very quickly put together an accounting of which state legislatures are thirsty for an injection of external progessive influence. Some states are in dire need of Democratic redistricting, some states have legislatures significantly more Republican than their constituencies, some states have undergone a great deal of political change which has not yet been converted into seat gains. Identifying these states is the first step to affecting change -- even if candidates for the state legislature don't end up on the netroots, activists will know where there is rewarding work to be done.

To finish up, I'm pretty sure that most MyDDers are like me in that they are voracious consumers of information, love to write and be read, to share ideas and build them, and would welcome the chance to contribute their knowledge and research to a medium more lasting than the comments section. I'd love to see this blog grow into a medium for making collective ideas out of many individual ones.