Allow me to inject some reality into the endless squabbles about who's a "real Democrat"

[davidthegnome]

17. A fair point.

There is no group that sits around and says, "Okay, this person can be a democrat and that one can't." There is no true definition or standard to go by to say that someone either is or isn't a democrat - other than simple registration or party membership. We've got a mighty big tent.

I think you underestimate the power of blog sites and forums though. A lot of ideas that take root here do make it pretty well up the chain, and a lot of what we think about and talk about here does have some kind of ripple effect. There are precious few places where you can talk so much about (and read so much about) politics, world events, general ideas and opinions. For the most part, this is now done on the internet, through blog sites and/or forums. The politicians, elected and hopefuls, might be the ones who ultimately write the legislation, but it's ideas and passion like we have here that gets them there.

Also, I'd like to point out that the members of DU are, generally, very "real" voters. We've even had candidates and elected officials here from time to time. We don't decide who is a democrat and who isn't, but we definitely have some level of significance on a grander scale.