Drinking Liberally Reaches 200

A landmark:

Today, Drinking Liberally reached a major milestone. With the arrival of Pagosa Springs, Colorado the Drinking Liberally map has hit 200 chapters across the country. While beer companies should rejoice that more Americans are promoting democracy one pint at a time, it's the progressive movement that has cause to celebrate. With every new social club, Drinking Liberally, and its umbrella organization Living Liberally, are building a community that energizes and expands Liberal and Progressive America.

For the past three-and-a-half years, as it has grown city-by-city through local organizers, word-of-mouth and blog-fueled buzz, Drinking Liberally has never been about the "drinking." These progressive social clubs provide a regular (some are weekly, some monthly), welcoming, informal (a number have guest speakers, but most are more conversational) destination, in which newcomers can engage, activists can connect, and everyone can make progressive politics part of their every day lives. And that's taken different shapes around the country:

--In Reading, PA, Drinking Liberally is about hosting 100 activists to meet grassroot candidates before the '06 election
--In Gooding, ID, Drinking Liberally is about defending the word "liberal" from libelous attacks in the local newspaper
--In Natchez, MS, Drinking Liberally is about finding a bar where black and white patrons feel comfortable attending together
--In Louisville, KY, Drinking Liberally is about building a network that pledged thousands of dollars to local public radio