Cheers and Jeers: Thursday

From the GREAT STATE OF MAINE…

12 Weeks 'Til Netroots Nation!

Here's some news 'n stuff for the July 14-17 convention in St. Louis:

•  The "Grab A Booth" contest winners, who receive free booth space in the convention's Town Square area, were announced. Congrats to:

Institute for Palestine Studies

Katrina’s Dream

GIFT: Grassroots Institute for Fundraising Training

ACLU of Missouri

Metro Trans Umbrella Group

Jewish Voice for Peace

Ecovillage Network (Fellowship for Intentional Community)

If you're attending the convention, keep an eye out for these booths and stop by to demand free swag say hi.

• The panels and training session selection panel is still poring over the roughly 300 submissions they received.  Says communications director Mary Rickles: "We had some really great proposals this year. We'll be announcing our training lineup---40 awesome sessions---next week, and we're in the process of narrowing down the panels and finalizing the agenda right now. Expect to see announcements about the panels in a couple of weeks."  You can see the 10 panels and 4 trainings that got an automatic spot via community votes here.

• Yes! there will be a Daily Kos/Connect-Unite-Act/C&J eat-'n-greet at what sounds like a terrific Peruvian-style restaurant called Mango (a two-minute walk from the convention hall). So far over 40 DK attendees are confirmed for what’s become our traditional convention-eve shindig. To add your name to the RSVP list, email Navajo and then circle Wednesday, July 13 on your calendar. More details later, but for now I can definitely confirm this: Mango does, in fact, serve mangos.

•  I stumbled on this from April, 2006, when the first convention (called "Yearly Kos" back then and held in Las Vegas) was still in the planning stages and we had no idea if any movers and shakers were going to give us the time of day, let alone attend. One of the earliest supporters was Virginia Governor and now Senator Mark Warner, who wrote:

"The blogosphere is the town square of our time---and it's where some of our most engaged citizens are debating the future of our country and our planet. YearlyKos is the place to be if you care about progressive politics this year."

•  Registration and official Hotel info are here and here.

•  Follow Netroots Nation via Facebook here and Twitter here.

Meanwhile Cheers and Jeers, the daily convention that boasts more health and safety violations than any other in North America, convenes below the fold... [Swoosh!!] RIGHTNOW! [Gong!!]