Markos wisely advises "leave nothing on the road." Get Out the Vote (GOTV) and election protection are the most critical (only?) needs right now up and down the ballot as we approach the last week of the campaign.
So should DailyKos and other progressive blogs "close" for the final 7 days or so, to encourage as many people as possible to get off their PeeCees and Macs and out into the field for the final push -- or at least use those IP telephones to call prospective voters instead of surfing blogs?
By "close," I mean something like this temporary regime:
- A temporary "code red" (orange?) mini-layout.
- Closing new diaries.
- Allowing (limited, on-topic) comments within two master frontpage stories: GOTV-related and EP-related. The master stories would get reposted to allow room for new comments, with periodic updates from the editors in the main text. ("More volunteers needed in X city...")
- Frontpaging how to get involved in GOTV (e.g. ride sharing, finding local volunteer centers, phonebanking from home, etc.), with appropriate links.
- Frontpaging the blog's resumption time for normal service, when election night reporting begins (e.g. 7 p.m. Eastern).
While diaries about the latest energy saving technologies or the best financial incentives to reduce carbon emissions, as examples, are both interesting and helpful, how about not in the 7 days before the election? Isn't there only one priority now?
Anyway, I toss this idea out as a suggestion to the community -- and to relieve some burden from our kind hosts as well. Does this idea make sense? Any improvements to this core idea?