Howie Klein and the other Blue America blogs (FireDogLake, Digby, and Crooks&Liars) are showing more principle than we saw yesterday in the Democratic Senate caucus. Howie explains how-so at DownWithTyranny:

OK, so last night Stevens was defeated bringing the Democratic majority to at least 58. An intense recount procedure looms for Minnesota, where only 206 votes separates Al Franken and rubber stamp incumbent Norm Coleman. And early voting has already begun in the December 2nd Georgia run-off between Jim Martin and Saxby Chambliss.

Political insiders are all excited about all this stuff. Should the grassroots be? I’m not so certain. Sure, I think Norm Coleman and Saxby Chambliss are two of the absolute worst members of the U.S. Senate and each makes the place and even bigger disgrace than it would be without them. And both Franken and Martin seem like decent and conscientious guys. (Even Allen Buckley, the Libertarian candidate who threw the Georgia race into a run-off, thinks Martin is a better choice.) I’m rootin’ for him and Franken. But no fund drives at Blue America. We’ve given enough this year. And what did we get in return? Joe Lieberman smirking on TV. If I lived in Georgia I’m sure I’d go vote for Martin. If the pitiful slobs in the Senate Democratic caucus want him to win… they’re stinking rich and basically take as much in bribes from corporate America as the Republicans do. They don’t need our money. We’ll be saving it for primaries in 2010. [Emphasis added]

Bloggers spend a lot of time supporting Democratic candidates and asking their readership — the core of the online progressive movement — to donate their hard-earned money to support these candidates. People like me have had jobs on campaigns to help facilitate that process and grow online donor support for campaigns from the progressive grassroots. But at what cost? The long-term risk of unquestioned continued fundraising for any and all Democratic candidates (or even ones that have learned how to say the right things to bloggers) is that the progressive base will be alienated by the lack of meaningful results.  Yes, we can do a lot to help get people elected. But are they the right kind of people? Do they run on a progressive platform, yet vote with the centrist leadership every step of the way? Do they lie to our face like Chris Carney? Do they win with the support of people like Chuck Schumer, Harry Reid, and Rahm Emanuel — and then feel obligated to dance with the girl that brought them to the Hill, thereby strengthening the wrong parts of the Democratic Party when they should be defining a shift to the Left?

What truly scares me is if things continue to go as they have gone during the 110th Congress and into this lame duck session and, as a result, the progressive base turns off. They stop donating to good candidates because their trust has been broken so many times by Democrats. They stop using grassroots pressure tactics to get Democratic legislators to vote the right way on key issues because the offices on the Hill never, ever listen to their input. They stop reading progressive blogs because they realize the asks for their support, time, and money on behalf of candidates was unwise in the face of the evidence.

I think Howie is making a good point. The progressive online movement needs to prepare to put our people in office. No more acts of faith for the ability of the DSCC or DCCC to pop champagne bottles because another Democrat from a place that’s not a Democratic country got elected. We need to pick our candidates and run them to win against the worst of Washington, regardless of whether their opponents are Democrats or Republicans. It’s the only way to get the country on track. A majority has not yet been proven to be sufficient for change. We saw that clearly yesterday.

Lorelei Kelly has a really important piece up at Huffington Post, calling on 20-something bloggers to go work on Capitol Hill.

So here’s my pitch: You twenty-somethings who are reading this, if you can’t take your day job after being part of such a political earthquake like last week’s election, go find your local Member of Congress and apply for a job. Take the district job over one on Capitol Hill. Even though DC is as giddy as that prisoner in Plato’s Allegory of the Cave–you know, where he is chained immobile to a wall for years–and then gets taken out to see the sun–the states are still where the most important action is going to be found because influential citizen input is a missing link for many issues on Capitol Hill. Then, when you write your letter to the Chief of Staff or mobilize your contacts, bill yourself as a “New Media” or “Citizen Participation” Specialist. The great thing about being part of a new movement is that you get to make up your own job title. You will know more about how this election was electronically organized than anyone working in the office (but don’t brag about it). In fact, apply for the job advertised, and sell your qualities for fulling those requirements, but come with a creative plan about how you are going to keep the citizens of the district involved and inspired.

As a blogger who moved from outside the system and has spent the last two years working on campaigns, I can say this is a path that the online progressive movement needs many, many more people to follow. We need more and better insiders. That’s how we can achieve change. Bloggers tend to be movement progressives and we need to get people inside the DC/Democratic Party system that will bring progressive ideals into closed-door planning meetings.

Moreover, change is a long, slow process. We need people inside now who in five, ten or fifteen years will be in positions of major influence throughout our party. We can’t count on change coming over night, so it’s time to do the hard work to be better positioned down the road.