We haven't had a Bloggers' Brunch for a while and I thought I'd just invite my fellow bloggers out for a meet-n-greet this Saturday.  I'll be there from noon to 4 and I'll even bring nametags if folks want them.  We've got a ton of new bloggers who it would be nice to meet and of course the regulars are all a treat.  Even the folks who just read but never post should stop by and see that we're all just regular folks.  Well, mostly regular folks.

I think that events like this help us to remember that as we fire our missives off into cyberspace, there are real people on the receiving end of those comments.

This will of course be a non-sanctioned event so you'll have to buy your own drinks.  :)

Actually on that same note, I do want to emphasize that this is a community meetup.  Folks from the paper are welcome to be there as guests of the community.  Heck, I might even buy drinks for a few of them.

Who's in?

Interesting article from Politico here.  Democrats are just barely recovering from this same thing.  http://www.politico.com/new...

At a time when the GOP presidential nominee will need more assistance than ever, a number of state Republican parties are struggling through troubled times, suffering from internal strife, poor fundraising, onerous debt, scandal or voting trends that are conspiring to relegate the local branches of the party to near-irrelevance.

In some of the largest, smallest, reddest and bluest states in the nation, many state Republican organizations are still reeling in the aftermath of the devastating 2006 election cycle, raising questions about how much grassroots help the state parties will be able to deliver to presumptive GOP nominee John McCain.

The state party woes are especially ill-timed since McCain will face a Democratic nominee who may be considerably better funded and organized, and since Republicans will be facing an energized Democratic party that is shattering primary election turnout records.

“After twelve years of being in power, you tend to get fat and lazy, and in some cases arrogant with respect to your positions,” said Saul Anuzis, chairman of the Michigan Republican party. “There is no doubt that we have had people who have gotten caught up in both illegal activities and immoral activities and none of that helps the party as a whole.

“If you go back to 2006 most people would agree that not only did we lose our brand, that we damaged our brand significantly,” Anuzis said. “We are clearly rebuilding.”

Nowhere is that clearer than in two of the nation’s largest states, California and New York.

According to figures compiled by the California secretary of state’s office, the number of registered Republicans there has dropped by roughly 207,000 since October 2006. At the end of January, California’s Republican party was in the red, with $3.2 million cash on hand but more than $3.4 million in debts. California Democrats, by contrast, had $5.5 million in the bank and just $83,000 in debts.

Republican Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger, who has clashed with conservatives in his party, used Hollywood terminology to paint a dire picture last fall at a state party convention.

“We are dying at the box office,” Schwarzenegger said. “We are not filling the seats.”

I have to say I'm impressed the genius of Publican, one of our newer posters here.  His understanding of Presidential Politics is greater than mine and in an objective test, I was roundly beaten.  I am both impressed and humbled by his presence here and can only hope he'll spend more time with us so that I may better learn.

Thank you, sir, for your time and patience.