...In (one) way, Daily Kos and other blogs resemble a political version of those escapist online games where anyone with a modem can disappear into an alternate society, reinventing himself among neighbors and colleagues who exist only in a virtual realm. It is not so much a blog as a travel destination, a place where what you have to say can be more important — at least for a few hours each day — than who you are or what you do.

DailyKos isn't exactly Cheers. They deal the cards again in life, if you're lucky. Reinventing yourself, another chance, happens when you go to a new school, fall in love, achieve something, like yourself.

And...what you have to say -- at least for a few hours each day -- is who you are and what you do. It's not something to do between tending persona and performing.

I guess I don't like how Bai gets here, but here's his point:

And those who lead the most consequential revolts against the status quo never really vanquish the party's insider establishment. They simply take its place.

Yeah, you can become your parents. You can chide the amateurs in the Times.

But what the Democrats really need is new candidates, and influencers of candidates who can win, and innovative, effective, positive campaigns. The politician who sees this Vegas crowd as access to the virtual voting bloc doesn't get it:

-- There is no top-down access to bloggers. Ideas bubble up and ring true for people or they don't.
-- Every blogger drives her own bumper car.
-- The Web is not pipes, it's a technology people use for human exchange -- a "prosthesis for telepathy," as a painter friend called it. This self-organizing system is capable of galvanizing vast numbers of people quickly.

YearlyKos should tease out the extroverts, the ones who got themselves off their computers and out to Vegas. Some of them can probably get themselves to wakes and beaches, neighborhood barbecues and bocce and baseball fields this summer, too.

We here call that the analog world.

But don't let the grownups dazzle you with your chosen status, then reinvent you in their image. They'll stiffen you up just as Al Gore's experienced handlers did in 2000.

If your ads try to scare me with "terror," I'll turn away. We know better than to vote for whover says "Boo!"

If you want to make your religion the laws of our melting pot, please think again. That will tear America apart.

I'll likely support you if you want to spend our money at home on the needs of our own people, on the development of good tech jobs, on the computer literacy of the rest of us so we all can work, shop and learn as part of the online society.

Put videos on blogs where I'll see them. Say things worth reporting, not just safe lines wrapped in bunting. Don't hire actors to make your radio spots. Use your time to show me who you are, tell me what you'd change and why. And please don't talk mush to me.

And... I don't want podcasts pushed to my phone, nor political ads in my inbox or white metal mailbox.

"Casey Goodguy needs your vote" will do.

Here's where YearlyKos says you can watch coverage. C-SPAN Schedule. This Technorati search should yield the latest live-blogging.