OverKosI attended every event at Netroots Nation 2009. Here's what I found.

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There are really two Netroots Nations. There's the keynote series featuring big speakers like Bill Clinton and Valerie Jarrett, who turned up in Pittsburgh this weekend to reassure the liberal bloggers and activists in attendance that, yes, they do still matter and, no, Barack Obama and the Democrats have not forgotten them.

Susie Madrak, Ari Melber, and Rep. Joseph Sestak at Netroots NationThen, far from the pages of the New York Times and Wall Street Journal—or even the posts of TPM Café or HaveNoLifeBecauseIBlogAboutPolitics.com—there are the panels. This year's convention featured more than 100 events spread across three days in Pittsburgh's 1.5-million-square-foot David L. Lawrence Convention Center. The events generally fit into four categories: debates, promotional/informational panels, training sessions, and meet-ups. These are the events where egos clashed, internecine disagreements got hashed out, and agendas got set—or at the very least deliberated. I set out to attend every single one. With only a few exceptions—I drew the line at the fifth event on "messaging"—I succeeded.

If there was an overarching theme, it was How do we hold Obama to his campaign promises? There was plenty of concern about Obama's dedication to closing Guantanamo, abolishing indefinite detentions, shoring up gay rights, and implementing immigration reform. (Of course, between health care and climate change and fixing the economy, there are plenty of commitments the administration hasn't backed away from.) So the fundamental disagreement among attendees was: Should we of the Netroots be fundamentally supportive of Obama or should we oppose him from the left?

That was the question before one Saturday panel titled "Transformation? Or Shock?" There, an audience member argued that the Netroots has to back the president. She was sick of people on the left yelling at Obama, claiming that he didn't share their interests. A panelist, Digby, writer of Hullabaloo, said it's possible to be respectful but firm. She compared it to the story about Franklin Delano Roosevelt telling Democratic Party activists, "I agree with you, I want to do it, now make me do it." Everyone on the left wants to see Obama succeed. But they can't expect him to have the courage of their convictions. If they want a public option, gays in the military, an end to indefinite detentions, they can't expect him to do it on his own—they need to make him do it.

Another theme that came up over and over was What happened in 2008?—and, implicitly, How can we do it again? History is working against the Democrats in 2010. The party in control of the White House tends to lose members of Congress in its first midterm election. Yet Netroots attendees had a more optimistic take: Turnout is relatively low during midterms, so well-organized progressives have even greater influence than usual. Several panels tried to assess what went right with the Obama campaign. The answer is well-documented: trying to compete in all 50 states, working in states and regions other candidates (both Democratic and Republican) took for granted, and making voters feel like they had a voice in the campaign.

But the discussion wasn't all victory lap. Organizers also wondered what they could do better. One panel considered how to reach rural voters. (Learn the local issues and make the effort to visit voters in person.) Another explored ways to turn red districts blue. The challenge, said one panelist, is not just to elect a conservative who might be a Democrat in name only, but also to tease out the district's true blueness. What happens if there simply isn't any blueness to tease out? Bad question: That's not how an organizer thinks.

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Christopher Beam is a Slate political reporter. Follow him on Twitter.

Photograph of Susie Madrak, Ari Melber, and Joseph Sestak by Keith Srakocic/Associated Press/AP Images.

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