Of course, I could be cynical at this point and warn against dilution and cherry-picking by the consultant filth that pollute the political process, but I'm sure you are already aware of this.

However, your confession that it has now gone out of your hands due to the lack of legislative experience does highlight a certain weakness in the Democratic party. The Dems are short of professional think-tanks and experts, preferring a low-paid volunteer model (as criticised by Kos & Armstrong in "Crashing the Gate"). I worry that this is something that the netroots need to apply more pressure about at Beltway level to improve the professionalism of the Democratic legislative development process. It seems such a shame to have done so much work simply to throw it into a shark-pool where the lobbyists will rip it to pieces before it ever has a chance to make it to mature legislative proposals.

keep to the Fen Causeway