Las Vegas, NV — Sen Al Franken (D-MN) wrapped up the 5th annual Netroots Nation conference in Las Vegas Saturday night, announcing next year’s convention will be held in his home state, Minneapolis, Minnesota. As the freshman Senator closed the liberal bloggers’ conference with his keynote address, the organization posted registration for next year’s event planned for June 16-19th, 2011. Netroots had planned to hold its 6th annual conference in Providence, Rhode Island next year, but due to a battle between union workers and the hotels, that plan fell through.

Franken cracked jokes and pandered to the attendees in Vegas, calling Netroots, “a force to be reckoned with.” He cited the progressive movement for “making government do great things” but sharing in their frustration that even with democratic control over the House and Senate, there are not enough progressive votes in congress to push everything through.

He urged the Netroots crowd, “No matter how dissatisfied you are, you can’t check out right now,” referring to the tough battles Democrats face this fall. He spoke of the “dangers” should Republicans take back the House and/or Senate saying, “while we shake our heads at things we didn’t get, Republicans are making plans to take back the things we did get.”

Next year won’t be an election year and after the mid terms this November, the political map could look very different in 2011. For Netroots political blogging, what happens in Vegas, now moves to Minnesota.