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Damon Silvers, a labor official and financial industry expert, explains the roots of the Wall Street financial crisis and outlines a progressive approach to addressing it. He says that the regulatory black hole that many Wall Street titans operated in has to be closed. He also outlines why Congress should "tear up" the Bush administration's "blank check" proposal for a $700 billion bailout and replace it with legislation that embraces the "Call for Common Sense" that has been endorsed by a cross-section of grassroots organizations. Silvers is associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO. (Flip Video courtesy of the Voter Genome Project.)

Dr. Julianne Malveaux, president of Bennett College in Greensboro, N.C., discusses racial disparities in the American economy and questions why a federal government that rushed to bail out large financial institutions has not done the same to hard-hit, long-depressed communities. She agrees with the theme of an advertising campaign by the Institute for America's Future that calls for "a debate worthy of a great nation in trouble." She was a featured speaker Sept. 18, 2008, at the release in Washington of an Economic Policy Institute report on the economic plight of African Americans. (Flip Video courtesy of the Voter Genome Project.)

We need to work harder to bring a larger set of voices into "the progressive moment," says Pam Spaulding, the founder of Pam's House Blend and one of the leading African-American and LGBT bloggers. Spaulding, in this interview at The Big Tent in Denver during the Democratic National Convention, offers some suggestions on how people of color and lower-income people who are not active in the blogosphere can be brought more closely into the coalition.

Flip Video courtesy of the Voter Genome Project

The Sierra Club's executive director, Carl Pope, discusses how progressives should respond to Texas oilman T. Boone Pickens' plan for energy independence and political obstruction on energy issues in Washington. Pope also explains harmful natural gas policies that need to be corrected by the next administration. Pope was interviewed after a forum at The Big Tent in Denver during the Democratic National Convention. (Flip Video courtesy of the Voter Genome Project.)

We went right into the lion's den and aired this TV ad for conservatives and media members gathered at the 2008 Republican National Committee Convention. The ad broadcasts unforgettable moments from conservatives’ last eight years in power -- memories they now wish the country would forget.

Thanks to the generous support of Campaign for America's Future supporters, we raised over $20,000 -- enough to saturate the airwaves with this ad throughout the convention host city -- which in turn attracted the national media exposure needed to broadcast the ad across the country.

Campaign for America's Future co-director Robert Borosage talks to Robert Kuttner, editor of the American Prospect and author of the book, "Obama's Challenge," about the challenges progressives face in setting the stage for changing the course of the country in 2009. Borosage asks Kuttner if it will be enough to expect external conditions, such as the state of the economy, to be the driver for dramatic change or will progressive activists have to forge a movement that drives change.

Their conversation takes place outside The Big Tent near the Democratic National Convention in Denver, after a three-hour "Take Back America" miniconference sponsored by Campaign for America's Future.

(Flip Video courtesy of the Voter Genome Project.)