The Progressive Democrat Newsletter grew out of the frustration of the 2004 election. Having organized protests against the Republican Convention, I found I had a core of activists who were looking to me for support after Bush "won" re-"election". My carefully thought out suggestions as to where we could go from that defeat led to this more-or-less weekly newsletter. EVERYONE REMEMBER: TUESDAY IS ELECTION DAY IN MANY STATES. VOTE!

This week I discuss the declining Republican Party, Ann Coulter's Extremist Intolerance, Child Soldiers in Burma, Rudy Giuliani's screwing of New York's firefighters, and rape and women's rights in Indian Country. I also focus on local actions and events in New York State, New York City, New Jersey, Virginia, California, Iowa and Mississippi. Don't forget to visit an advertiser or two and if you want more, please visit Culture Kitchen.

When Deval Patrick began his campaign for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts last year, he had zero name recognition. Attorney General Tom Reilly seemed like the all-but-inevitable Democratic nominee. He had been a fixture of state politics for 25 years. He had raised $3 million.  All of the leading potential Democratic challengers opted to stay out of the race.

But Deval Patrick decided to take him on. "Deval who?", people asked.

Patrick had been best-known for heading the Civil Rights Division of the U.S. Department of Justice in the Clinton administration. He later served as general counsel and as a senior executive at Coca-Cola and Texaco, companies that had brought him in as an agent of corporate reform. But long before all that -- he litigated voting rights cases and represented death row inmates as a lawyer for the NAACP Legal Defense Fund. He had a rich and varied career before deciding to return to public service via the tough road of statewide electoral politics. His family had lived in the state for many years and he had been active in politics, but he had never before run for office and was not known to electorate. So, he has taken the time to go out and talk to people and let them get to know him.  He has run an authentic grassroots -- and a netroots -- campaign.  He was the first statewide candidate for any statewide office to give interviews to bloggers.  I was an early supporter, and many MA political bloggers have since joined me in endorsing Patrick, notably Blue Mass Group.

Unlike most squeamish inside the beltway types, he is forthrightly prochoice and unequivocally pro-marriage equality.  He is calm, knowledgeable and principled in his discussion of these matters -- like he is on everything else. If he wins the primary, he has a good shot at being the first African-American governor of Massachusetts. And if he wins the general election, he will not only have a Democratic legislature to work with, but one that has been considerably improved in recent years. If the country wants to see what a Democratic agenda can look like, we are poised to do it right here.

But I am getting way ahead of my story.

Deval Patrick, a progressive, reform candidate for the Democratic nomination for Governor of Massachusetts received a big boost today. In a conference call with Massachusetts political bloggers, Jim Dean, Chairman of Democracy for America (DFA), announced its support for Patrick. DFA, which describes itself as "a political action committee dedicated to supporting fiscally responsible, socially progressive candidates at all levels of government-from school board to the presidency," was founded following the following the 2004 presidential campaign of Howard Dean.

Dean described Deval Patrick as "a truth teller" who is "not afraid to make tough choices." He also said that Patrick epitomizes the kind of candidate who is not so much about left vs.right, but the "the culture of activism vs. the culture of incumbency." Indeed, Patrick spoke passionately of how he seeks for his campaign to be one of inclusion, and that like the Dean campaign, he wants to inspire those who have checked out of civil and electoral life, to "check back in." Patrick believes that national politics has been "hijacked by deeply cynical people" and that for him, the DFA endorsement is one further way of reaching out to and empowering an active citizenry in Massachusetts.

"Deval is inspiring people to get involved the process," Dean said, "and empowering people to be involved, and to have a real stake in this thing."

There are two candidates for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts this year. One is a statewide elected official who has raised $3.7 million from fat cats and has padded his office payroll with highly-paid public relations staff. The other has been a civil rights leader, government official and corporate lawyer. He is running a grassroots campaign with a large and enthusiastic volunteer field organization.

The media have generally touted the former as the inevitable candidate and dismissed the latter as having an uphill climb from political obscurity.

But the tipping point may have arrived.

This is an idea off the top of my head. Everyone complains about how "The Democrats" don't represent us adequately, ignoring that WE are "The Democrats" as much as "they" are. But our elected officials do NOT always reflect our views.

But can we train them?