Matt is a good friend of mine so I'm really pleased with his announcement yesterday. He said he wanted to get some Hill experience to see how it all works up close and in person.

I've taken a job inside the House of Representatives (more on that when I've cleared what I can say) to see how the place works and to help create the space for more progressive policies. Ultimately what I've learned, from many of you as much as from the task of writing for the public for the last five years, is that there is a serious leadership gap in this country.

And by leadership gap, I mean something very specific, so specific that I'm going to give it a name. I call it a 'rootsgap'...read on

I think they can learn a few things from Matt.

Matt Stoller's got the story...

The last I heard, the right was feeling quite pleased with itself because there was some evidence to suggest the traffic for the top liberal blogs was trending down, while the traffic for the top conservative blogs was trending up. This item, relying on SiteMeter data from the end of December, argued, “It has long been understood that the largest liberal blogs have generally produced more web traffic than the largest conservative blogs.... After surveying the traffic stats of many major political blogs, I found that web traffic for several major liberal blogs either declined sharply or stayed the same while major conservative blogs saw a sharp increase in traffic.”

Now, apparently, the right is prepared to argue the opposite — liberal blogs are more popular — but with a rationalization to explain the phenomenon.

Erick Erickson, editor of the popular conservative megablog RedState, conceded that progressives currently enjoy an advantage over conservatives online — though he attributed it to an asymmetry in free time, since conservatives “have families because we don’t abort our kids, and we have jobs because we believe in capitalism.”

I’m not quite sure how best to respond to something like this — it’s unusually unhinged, even by the standards of the far-right blogosphere — though I think Matt Stoller is on the right track by relying on simple mockery: “Now, being a doctor who performs abortions is in fact a job, so one might find conflicting narratives in Erick’s quote. And if the way to use the internet well politically is to up the number of abortions, then the GOP is kind of fu**ed.”

As a follow up to our Lisa for President post of yesterday, Matt Stoller evaluates the other candidates.

Matt Stoller of MyDD is reviewing The Thumpin': How Rahm Emanuel and the Democrats Learned to Be Ruthless and Ended the Republican Revolution , at FDL's Book Salon.

Check it out, it looks like a fascinating study of the 2006 elections.

Don't look now, but there may be a little bit of spine showing. As John noted in this post, MoveOn.org has been organizing against giving Fox any legitimization for sponsoring the Nevada Democratic Party Presidential Debate. It's coming together really well.

First, PoliticsTV.com has declined Fox's offer to webcast the debate. PTV's CEO, Dan Manatt explains:

Matt Stoller wants some answers and so do I.

Clearly something is not right in how this decision was made. Nevada Democrats do not support it, the Executive Board never voted on it, and I doubt that many who mouthed support for this decision were fully briefed on what this decision meant...read on

I talked to Jane three times on the phone Friday and today. She sounds unbelievably strong after such an intense procedure. It looks like she'll be out of the hospital by Monday if all goes well. Thanks so much for all your support---it has really helped and meant a lot to her. I received a couple of emails from two right wing bloggers wishing her well also...Digby spent like 16 hours at the hospital on Thursday...

Update: from the comment by "Renee in Ohio" Light a candle for Jane

A reader of C&L and FDL---who worked on Buffy TVS, saw our reference to the show and is bringing us a poster from Season 6. That is really kind of him...

I talked to Matt Stoller and Howie Klein for a moment who are at the hospital just now. Let's keep her in our prayers and in our hearts.

Christy:

Jane will likely remain in the ICU at least another day or two for recovery, so her visitation and calling will be limited. Since folks have been asking about that, I thought I would pass it along — and I am trying to subtly hint here that Jane needs her rest...read on

Arianna Huffington:

I've just gotten back from visiting Jane Hamsher in the ICU unit at St. John's Hospital in Santa Monica. For those of you that don't know, Jane has been diagnosed with breast cancer -- her third go-around with it -- and underwent 8 hours of surgery yesterday.---

Knowing Jane, she'll be there -- in a low-cut dress -- ready for bear. And for Dick Cheney. According to Jane's close friend Tom Swan, when Jane was being wheeled into surgery, in her anesthetized twilight state, she muttered to the doctors: "I have to be back in DC in two weeks to watch Dick Cheney sweat on the stand." Good thing Jane's surgeon, Armando Giuliano, is not among the deluded few who still approve of the VP.

Jane, we love you, we miss your voice online, and can't wait to read your Libby takes

Matt Stoller a great assessment up of the elections, the netroots and Rummy's firing. Matt also goes into what impact Rahm actually didn't have. TNR also has a summary up and saying that the greatest impact came from the netroots (ht Mo from the comments).

Larry Johnson has some warnings on our possible new Secretary of Defense:

Before the media goes overboard extolling the virtues of Bob Gates as the replacement for Don Rumsfeld, it is important to look back at Gates' record and reputation. Gates has some "splaining" to do. The press has forgotten that Bob Gates, during his time at CIA, acquired a reputation for trying to tailor intelligence to satisfy political masters in the Reagan White House...read on

And that is the InstaPundit himself, Glen Reynolds joining in via webcam at last night's blogger party.

"Just saw them saying on CNN that 'Corruption' was the number one issue mentioned by voters in exit polls. If -- and it's a big "if" -- this is an accurate reflection I think the GOP will wish it had passed all those promised ethics reforms that it didn't deliver," says Glenn Reynolds at Instapundit.

In our ongoing "Rubber Stamp Congress Project," Matt Stoller brought over a thousand and seventy seven rubber stamps to Arlen Specter's office so that Arlen had the appropriate apparatus to use as he approves everything the President does. Remember, Specter didn't feel that Alberto Gonzales should be put under oath during the NSA hearing.
Download | play -WMP Download | play -QT

ReddHedd:

Our first Rubber Stamp Republican Congress stamp delivery went well. And we have the video to prove it! We decided to target Sen. Arlen Specter of the Senate Judiciary Committee as our first rubber stamp recipient--Matt Stoller of MyDD and the fantastic folks at PoliticsTV helped us make this delivery possible, and I cannot thank them enough for all their hard work in putting the video together for everyone. Big thanks to all the wonderful bloggers who pushed this initiative forward — and ENORMOUS thanks to everyone who took the time and the cash to order a stamp or two and send it on its way to Washington....read on