OK, so who is Susie Flynn? She's ten years old and she's running for President. I know, I know, Susie can't actually be President. But that doesn't mean she can't run, and the campaign (a Children’s Defense Fund project) is geared toward putting the issue of health insurance for children (or lack there of) front and center.
It's an issue that is a no-brainer for Democrats, and can really put Republicans back on their heels. Many of us progressives probably agree that it is a tragedy that more than 9 million children in this country don’t have health insurance, but sometimes issues as important as this get lost in the coverage of the 2008 horse race and the non-stop debate over the Iraq war. John Edwards has talked the most about health care so far, and the other candidates have paid lip service, but more needs to be done.
This Zogby poll (Subscription required) from January asks which issue will be most important to YOU in 2008 and puts health care/health insurance behind the war and the economy, and before ethics and immigration (among others).
Susie Flynn for President can help put the issue on the map in a way others don't. The way this will happen, if it does happen - will have to be the Internet.
Maybe here is a good place to say, I'm a big fan of Daily Kos because I think harnessing the power of the Internet and especially Web 2.0 and social networking can be huge. When it comes to elections, Democrats have done a really good job these past few years of innovating and pushing things forward with their efforts online.
But there's a lot of improvement left for progressive interest groups, rather than campaigns. From what I can tell, issue-specific organizations aren't as up to speed. But the Susie Flynn campaign seems to get it - they're up on MySpace and Facebook to start. The cause is good, but it's encouraging to see CDF and Susie Flynn make use of these kinds of tools.
This campaign is definitely one us progressives should be supporting whole-heartedly. I encourage everyone to:
Sign The Petition
Befriend Susie on MySpace
Join her Facebook group
Cross posted atMyDD