Last night, the usual suspects turned out for the big event organized by MyDD’s Chris Bowers. It was a kind of pep rally and opportunity to meet the congressional candidates from Philadelphia and surrounding counties. Here’ s what Chris has to say:

[...] That was the Meetup that established Philadelphia for Dean as one of the pre-eminent Dean organizations in the country.
As good as that was, tonight was much, much better. The basic reason it was better is because it revealed just how far we have come in the past two years. From a bunch of disconnected strangers generally new to politics, tonight was a who’s who of the emerging Vast Left Wing Conspiracy in Philadelphia.

In the past, we made general rhetorical gestures about retaking the party. Tonight, with Howard Dean as our Chairman, at least thirty new, or soon to be, committee people were at the event, thanks largely to our local Neighborhood Networks organization.

In the past, we all talked about Blog for America, after explaining to some people what a blog was. Tonight, there were at least ten bloggers from the Philadelphia area at the event, who combined to have a readership at least the equal of the Philadelphia Inquirer.

In the past, we talked about recruiting candidates for every race. Tonight, we had five congressional candidates from four different Republican-held districts in the area. In each of the four districts, we had at least one candidate who ran in 2004. As many around here are fond of saying, you have to run twice to win in the House.

In the past, no one knew who we were. Tonight, state reps and members of the press came even though we didn’t tell them about the event.

Yep, it’s starting to smell like a real organization. The event was held at Yards Brewery and the owners donated free beer (although I don’t drink beer, my beer-buzzing friends call Yards’ Philadelphia Pale Ale their favorite).

It was ungodly hot with no A/C. I mostly spent the evening in search of a cool breeze, without much luck. (Ended up stealing ice cubes from the office refrigerator and then wiping myself down with them. Hey, it helped.) Did some talking, some handicapping of the various races and networking with the other members of the Vast Left Wing Conspiracy, etc. Tried to hunt down a job, too - got a couple of good leads.

People are always remarking on how many well-known bloggers live in Philadelphia. “Is it something in the water?” people often say to me.

Well, it’s a number of things, I suppose: Philadelphia is not a cutthroat town. From the very beginning, the local blogging community has helped each other out, and those at the top of the blogging food chain have been very good about reaching down and pulling up the rest. (We also socialize a lot, which helps.)

Maybe it’s that Philadelphia has always been a place where important ideas generate and take form - remember that little thing called the Continental Congress? Every time I talk to another local blogger, there’s a new idea - and the next time we talk, it’s already on its way to becoming real. People here are also very good at sharing - there aren’t many resources you couldn’t find here (OK, both Jim Capozzola and I really need a free dentist, but other than that…) and someone will always help.

I guess if I had to sum it up briefly (and I know you wish I would), it would be this: Some people may look at a problem and say, “We can’t do anything about that.” In Philadelphia, people look at a problem, talk about possible solutions and say, “Well, why the fuck not?”

UPDATE: Albert was hot, too. Kyle has more…