I've been involved in politics off and on since 1976, when I volunteered for the Jimmy Carter campaign as a teenager in Pittsburgh. My Dad drove me down to the victory party at the William Penn Hotel.
I got a journalism degree in 1982, worked as a newspaper reporter, and put political involvement on the shelf until 1991, when I quit to become a freelance writer - in large part because I wanted to be able to work on campaigns.
Work, as in volunteer. I volunteered for Paul Tsongas in 1992 and helped a few local Idaho candidates now and then, but most of the 1990s were spent on family and career. Then George W. Bush was elected. Then 9/11 happened. Then Iraq.
In 2003, like many of you, I became involved with the Dean campaign. Blog for America rocked my world (and was I ever thinking of "the bats" today as we raised money for our netroots canddiates). I volunteered to go to Iowa for the (Im)Perfect Storm. I was there in the Val-Air Ballroom that fateful night of the Iowa Caucus. No, I didn't hear the scream. We were all way too loud. I sulked a while, then wound up volunteering for ACT, running virtual phone banks to Oregon in the final weeks of Election 2004.
Fast forward to November 2005, a year after Kerry's crushing defeat. I'd been writing my own blog, Red State Rebels, since 2003, but I was seriously thinking of putting it on hiatus and slipping politics onto the back burner for a while. And then I got an email from Larry Grant.
I knew he was running for Congress here in Idaho. He asked whether I could meet with him to talk about how the Internet might help his campaign. I said sure. We met, and by the end of our meeting, he'd offered me a part-time job - my first ever in politics - as his paid campaign blogger. I had Larry's blog up and running within a few days, and I've been posting almost daily ever since.
Which brings us to this week, when Larry was endorsed by the netroots and added to the fundraising page at ActBlue. In the past 36 hours, more than 300 people have donated to our campaign. As I wrote an hour ago at Grassroots for Grant:
"Think of it. More people have contributed to Larry Grant in the last day than attended our opponent's big shindig with Vice President Dick Cheney two weeks ago! Of course, none of these people are shelling out $1000 apiece. Many of the donations are just $5 or $10. But they're coming from people all over the country who want to help send Larry Grant to Congress, and are doing whatever they can to make it happen."
I am awed by the power we have. The Republicans have their fat cats; many of them are pumping thousands of dollars at a pop into our opponent's campaign, much of it via the Club for Growth. They seek nothing less than the destruction of the very sort of America we progressives cherish: a nation where we look out for one another, where we honor committments to our seniors and children, and where we fight to be sure everyone has a shot at a decent job, affordable health care, quality education, and basic human rights.
They have bought off our nation for far too long. But we are rising up and saying we've had enough. Politics isn't just about money, but we use our money to signal what we value. Five and ten and twenty dollars at a time, we're saying we value a Congress that will stand up to the unitary excutive and restore the checks and balances our forbears created.
Yes, it's been a great day. And to top it off, I learned tonight that Max Cleland has endorsed Larry and will be here October 16 to help our campaign.
When Dick Cheney was here two weeks ago to help our opponent, the extremist GOP nominee Bill Sali, the Sali campaign could barely fill one of the smaller rooms at the Boise Centre on the Grove. No one's quite sure whether Idaho Republicans were avoiding Cheney, or Sali, or both of them.
On October 16, Max Cleland will headline a rally at the Idaho Center.
That's an arena seating several thousand people.
It's the same place the Rolling Stones will play a few weeks later, and it's in a district that voted nearly 70% for George Bush two years ago.
Given the events of the past two weeks, can anyone doubt that the West is ready to shed its red reputation? I can hardly wait for 10 weeks from tonight.
Fastening my seat belt ...