#NN09 A Huge Success

Following an energizing weekend in Pittsburgh at the annual Netroots Nation convention, the NDN Team is back in Washington, fired up and ready to go! In case you missed our tweets in real time, we'd like to take this opportunity to recap some highlights from the weekend:

• On Thursday afternoon, Simon spoke on a panel about the Right Wing Media's Hatred of President Obama. Joining Simon on the panel were Paco Fabian of America's Voice, Ari Rabin-Havit of Media Matters, and James Rucker of Color of Change. This panel was a great example of the power of the netroots to turn ideas into action: since the convention, groups like Color of Change and Media Matters have succeeded in getting over a dozen companies to pull their TV ads from Glenn Beck's program on Fox News.

• On Thursday night, Simon helped open the convention with an inspiring speech just before President Clinton addressed the over 1,300 attendees at the evening plenary. In his remarks, Simon reflected on the Clinton era, the ongoing fight against the Right, and the rise of the netroots in this new political age. This set the tone for President Clinton's speech, in which the President spoke about the importance of this moment for the future of the progressive movement and the ability of the netroots to organize and affect the conversation about crucial public policy issues in unique and unprecedented ways. This article from the WSJ discusses the President's speech and quotes Simon.

• Over lunch on Friday, NDN hosted a special sneak preview of 9500 Liberty, a powerful new documentary about the immigration battle in Prince William County, VA. Film makers Annabel Park and Eric Byler took questions from an eager audience after the screening. Those who caught the special screening of the film seemed as moved by it as we here at NDN were, as 9500 Liberty was truly the "tweet-talk" of the convention. Check out what these tweeters had to say about the film here. 

• Simon and the NDN team wrapped up our formal role in NN09 on Friday afternoon with a panel about the changing attitudes and values of America's new youth. Simon joined NDN Fellow Mike Hais for a panel discussion about America's Millennial Makeover. Simon and Mike received rave reviews during the Q&A for their smart analysis and predictions about the future of progressive politics given the values and priorities of the Millennial Generation. 

On behalf of the entire NDN Team, I'd like thank to the organizers and attendees of Netroots Nation for making the convention such a success. See y'all in Vegas for NN10!