Four years ago, today, I uploaded to a site that I was running, a draft copy of the 2004 Democratic National Platform. You can find a copy of my blog post, with links to the draft in archive.org.

A few weeks earlier, I had written an introduction to the website (archive) where I said,

The purpose of the site is to promote open dialog about the platform, the process, and all aspects of the convention. . . . you can click on Platform Committee to get a listing of members of the platform committee. There is information on the state they are from and whom they are pledged to. You can find everyone from a given state or pledge to a specific candidate, by clicking on the state or candidate name below each entry.

As platform planks become available, you will be able to view the planks, as well as provide comments and the planks.

All of this led up to the Platform Committee meeting in Florida on July 10th. Many of us used the site to share ideas, to find platform committee members to lobby, and to report of the successes in adjusting the platform.

In particular, Marla Camp wrote about being a member of the platform committee and some of the efforts behind the scenes to get a more progressive platform. (see archive). I had met Marla through the Dean campaign. She spent a bit of time talking with Charles Lenchner, whom I believe had been coordinating the platform activities for the Kucinich, and talks a bit about her experiences on the now archived blog.

This year, hopefully, will be a bit different. Today, I received an email from Sen. Obama, sent out on behalf of the DNC which starts,

Every four years, the Democratic Party assembles a platform that outlines the party's position on a number of issues.

Traditionally, the drafting of the platform is not open to ordinary people.

This year, that's going to change.

For two weeks in July, people all across America will hold Platform Meetings in their own communities to discuss the issues and share their input. The outcome of these meetings will be reviewed by the Drafting Committee as it creates the final Platform.

This is a step in the right direction. Exactly what ‘reviewed’ means is a little ambiguous and disconcerting and I would love to see this taken much further. Will the DNC publish the list of Platform Committee Members and encourage people to contact those members? Will drafts of the platform be available online to look at and discuss? Will people be able to see suggestions from other supporters and discuss those suggestions?

The Obama campaign has set up a site to organize community meetings to discussion the platform. It includes a link to the 2004 platform. Organizing a community meeting to discuss the platform is a great first step, and I hope many of you do this.