Last weekend, Minneapolis hosted dueling conferences for online political activists. Netroots Nation, the progressive conference, was held at the Minneapolis Convention Center, while RightOnline, its conservative counterpart was just a couple blocks away at the Hilton. While the short distance was enough to keep the orange lanyards separated from the green, a quick twitter search of the conferences’ hashtags (#nn11 & #ro11) shows that some partygoers were as interested in each other’s conference as their own.

Unfortunately, much of the Tweetage is negative – from both sides. There are tweets about crashing and disrupting each other’s conferences, about whose speakers were better, who had smarter attendees, which conference was better attended….

But if you sift through the combative and the contentious, you’ll find some peacemakers in the stream, tweeting across the aisles, seeking common ground in Minneapolis, including one from an unlikely source.

From airport on way home, very much enjoying reading #NN11 and #RO11 threads. Meanwhile watching POTUS & Boehner golf together on TV.

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 11:47 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@sallykohn

Sally Kohn

Anyone else concerned the lame "glitter toss" at Bachmann at #ro11 will ignite revenge at #nn11? Lets keep things professional ppl #nn11lgbt

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 2:39 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@szumwalt

Scott Zumwalt

Seems there's more bipartisanship at #MSP than in DC or St. Paul. Maybe pols could learn from new media peeps. #RO11 #nn11 #tcot

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:21 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@BridgetSutton

Bridget Sutton

New post: #NN11LGBT: Violent, confrontational 'glitter' protests should be re-thought http://bit.ly/l0LsLu #lgbt #nn11 #ro11

June 20, 2011 Jun 20, 11 | 10:26 am via InterstateQ.comReplyRetweetFavorite

@interstateq

Matt Comer

#MPLS folks who attended both #nn11 & #ro11: let's meet up to find common values & dismantle harmful misconceptions. Who's in?

June 20, 2011 Jun 20, 11 | 10:48 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@AprilStreich

April Lukes-Streich

Had a perfectly pleasant interaction with a #ro11 attendee today about the futility of Lions football, growing up in Detroit, etc. #nn11

June 17, 2011 Jun 17, 11 | 10:16 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@DMillerDC

David Miller

@Pam_Spaulding - Great to meet you last night! There are so many issues we can agree on when we take out the two parties. #ro11 #nn11

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:14 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@matthewhurtt

Matthew Hurtt

@matthewhurtt and yes, the parties inevitably blind many to the fact that we can often agree. :) #nn11 #ro11

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 1:53 pm via Twitter for AndroidReplyRetweetFavorite

@Pam_Spaulding

Pam Spaulding

There's a lot more anger than I'd like to see from both sides here in Minneapolis. Political diffs don't need to cause that. #ro11 #nn11

June 17, 2011 Jun 17, 11 | 5:28 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@gregpalmer

Greg Palmer

Picked up a lot of great new Twitter friends from #RO11 and, gasp, even some from #nn11. #harmony

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 10:15 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@TeriChristoph

Teri Christoph

Any #ro11 conservatives willing to help organize a friendly #NN12 vs #RO12 CARE pkg competition next year? #NN11 #NFTT

June 20, 2011 Jun 20, 11 | 5:21 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@Eclectablog

Eclectablog

Back in WI from Minneapolis. #ro11 was an awesome time. #nn11 can keep it classy!!

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:51 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@miketatewatch

Mike Tate Watch

Split a cab here w a guy from the other conference. #BigTentSteve #ro11 #nn11

June 19, 2011 Jun 19, 11 | 11:24 am via Plume  ReplyRetweetFavorite

@stephenkruiser

stephenkruiser

Had a great time tonight. Really great to see #nn11 and #ro11 folks having fun together. #GOProud

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 10:10 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@JimmyLaSalvia

JimmyLaSalvia

Heading home early from #ro11 for my son's 7th birthday. Nice meeting so many enthusiastic troublemakers & even some nice #nn11 types!

June 18, 2011 Jun 18, 11 | 12:21 pm via Mobile WebReplyRetweetFavorite

@AndrewBreitbart

AndrewBreitbart

Have you seen any other bi-partisan tweets from the weekend? Let us know and we’ll ad them to the post.

Coal River Mountain Watch
CRMW is a grassroots organization based in southern West Virginia as an opponent to mountaintop removal. The Welch family, kids pictured here, talk about the cause with passion and eloquence, and have plenty of visual aids to support their organization, including coal-shaped soap. Tomorrow, the film “The Last Mountain,” which examines the battle over Coal River Mountain, will be screened at NN.

Yards to Gardens
Founded in Minneapolis, Yards to Gardens connects gardeners looking for space with people with extra gardening room in their yards. As you can see in their Google map overlay, the program has really taken off in Minneapolis, and is now spreading to San Francisco and New York. At the booth, the greenest in the whole hall, you can make your own seed bombs, pictured above.