Le Vieux Carré

I'm New Orleans bound with reservations at the Royal Sonesta this weekend for the final DLC Leadership Conference for the inaugural DLC Fellows Program. I'll make the drive this morning/afternoon, so I'll be away from the blog until tonight. The two-year program has been grounded in the "New Democrat" philosophy and focuses on how to adapt that philosophy to changing times. The DLC has been tagged as the conservative or "pro-business" wing of the party, and that's not inaccurate. Still, there's a lot more pragmatism preached at these conferences than ideology. This conference comes at a good time for much of the class, since many of us are facing specific situations where pragmatic solutions are needed.

The class is made up of 23 elected officials from around the country (here's the lineup). I've blogged about many of the members of the class, from up-and-comer Bakari Sellers of South Carolina, NY Senate Majority Leader Malcolm Smith, and one of our members just declared his intentions to run for Governor of Pennsylvania. Last year's conference was in Little Rock at the request of former President Clinton (here are pictures).

Tomorrow's program will include remarks from U.S. Senator Mary Landrieu. I'll post updates from the programs. Disclosure: Lodging and meals are provided by the DLC.