Four years ago, while watching the Democratic Convention in my living room in England, I joined DailyKos so I could talk about the speeches and our candidate with other Americans interested in politics. I had friends who were Americans and others where were interested in politics, but I had to go online for the combination of the two.
This year I will watch the convention from a very different seat, as a member of the Pennsylvania delegation. How did I become a delegate? The short answer is that I applied last December and the campaign picked me. The longer answer is that I helped start Philadelphia for Obama back in August, and have been building a movement here in Philly for about a year now. I have participated in every phase of the campaign, and stayed here in PA even when it was very tempting to abandon my turf and head to an earlier state. I have been the point person for the visibility outside two Democratic Presidential debates, one in October the other in April, and helped make sure that Obama had a full slate of delegates on the ballot for the first time in at least a generation.
The third very real answer about how I got to be a delegate is that I read blogs. It is because of blogs that I knew over the summer that Obama was the candidate who was closest to my politics. More importantly, I knew that Obama could win Iowa and that if he did it would be a long campaign. A year ago when people would ask if the campaign would come to Pennsylvania I would tell them it was a 30% chance, it was probably about right and no one would believe me if I said anything higher. It is also because of blogs that I had been involved in a few races in 2006 before I was inspired by Obama. I cannot imagine that without the blogs I would be a delegate. The information I read was essential, but the call to action was critical.
I am not the only delegate who blogs, but I am probably the only one who started as a blogger and then got involved in electoral politics. I am the only one who was endorsed by atrios, Chris Bowers, and Booman. Sadly I have not blogged much in the last year between lack of time and self censorship.
If there are any other delegates (super Ds included) who read this diary, please give us a shout out. Maybe we can have a meeting of the Netroots Caucus of Democratic Delegates.
In order for me to get to Denver and cast my vote at the convention for Barack Obama, I need your support. Years of thesis writing and long months of volunteering have left on a very spartan budget without room for trips like this on.
This donation counts as a donation to a Federal Candidate, so if you give $200 or more then you need to fill out a form with the FEC and you have to be an American national. Then again I am not planning on running any media buys so donations of $15.01 or whatever you can afford is more than welcome.