How did you discover DailyKos?

An alternate title for this diary could be, "Why do most DailyKos members support Obama?"

It is undeniable that the vast majority of Kossacks support Obama, but if there was a meeting in which we all got together and decided this, I wasn't invited. So why is it that most of us support Obama? Is it just coincidence? Or does our support for this candidate have something to do with how we all arrived here?

Or is it that Obama's candidacy actually grew from this community?

In my mind, DailyKos was actually born on March 15, 2003, when a certain Democratic governor gave a speech at the Democratic convention in Sacramento:

What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting the President's unilateral intervention in Iraq?

What I want to know is what in the world so many Democrats are doing supporting tax cuts, which have bankrupted this country and given us the largest deficit in the history of the United States?

What I want to know is why the Congress is fighting over the Patient's Bill of Rights? The Patient's Bill of Rights is a good bill, but not one more person gets health insurance and it's not 5 cents cheaper.

What I want to know is why the Democrats in Congress aren't standing up for us, joining every other industrialized country on the face of the Earth in providing health insurance for every man, woman and child in America.

What I want to know is why so many folks in Congress are voting for the President's Education Bill-- "The No School Board Left Standing Bill"-- the largest unfunded mandate in the history of our educational system!

As Paul Wellstone said-- as Sheila Kuehl said when she endorsed me-- I am Howard Dean, and I'm here to represent the Democratic wing of the Democratic Party.

I remember hearing this speech replayed on NPR -- I was driving through Long Island City in Queens, and I almost veered my car off the road. I pulled over and wrote down this guy's name: Howard Dean. I went home, did a search for him on the internet, and moments later, I became DailyKos member #5535.

When Howard Dean gave that speech, something snapped. Not just in my head, but in the heads of people all across the nation. He really captured the zeitgeist of the moment. We were pissed off. We were confused. We were angry. And we wanted to know what the hell was going on.

We were tired of Democrats cowering with fear that some meany Republican might accuse them of being "liberal." We wanted Democrats to stand up and support a progressive agenda, and be proud of it.

From that speech, a movement was born.

The financial power of this community, and the others linked to it, hurled Howard Dean to the forefront of the election, and even though he lost the primary (due to campaigning inexperience in my opinion), we demonstrated to future candidates that they could fund their campaigns through hundreds of thousands of small donations from individuals, as opposed to large donations from corporations and lobbyists. And some of these other candidates took note. It wasn't long before scores of Democratic candidates signed up and started posting diaries.

I don't want to sound cynical about this. Let's be honest -- they're after our money. But that's fine. I think it's a wonderful arrangement. I think we're helping Democrats be the progressives they truly want to be.

Now ask yourself, had it not been for the groundwork that we laid with Howard Dean, what would Barack Obama's candidacy look like today? I'm not sure it would even be possible.

And what would Hillary Clinton's candidacy look like? I doubt it would have changed a hair.

A friend of mine, who is a rabid Hillary supporter, recently said to me that she likes Hillary because she's a fighter.

What I want to know is, who is she fighting for? Me, or her?

I'm not suggesting that one can't support Hillary here. I supported her in the fall. What I am saying is that if you are a Hillary supporter, and you feel a bit outnumbered here, there's probably a reason for that.

Anyway, feel free to post in the comments what it was that brought you to DailyKos.

•  support group

  My recollection is that dkos was born as a support group for those of us despondent over the 2000 election debacle.  Sort of a suicide hotline, if you will.

  by A Chicagoan in Naples on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:44:32 AM PDT

  •  This really can be a support group! n/t

    by mommaK on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:15:44 AM PDT

  •  madly searching for other sane voices way

    back when----thought everyone had gone nuts but me-----cheering for war, electing Bush---again!  There were no dissenting voices on the teevee, very few in print.  I was writing LTEs like crazy gently pointing out the war was based on lies and goofballs in my area responded by calling me Jane Fonda! and other scary names like that.  
     I was an early Dean supporter, even have a cute shirt that I only got to wear twice----then did all I could to help Kerry.  I was first directed to BuzzFlash---and found dkos from links from there----and thought---aha! ---like-minded people, smart people, saying smart things.
     And as for Obama, since I'm from Illinois, I've had my eye on him for a long time---when he first began to get some press attention----and knew right away----as did so many others----that this is someone extrordinary----with great appeal for so many reasons and looked like he had the potential to go big----and he has.  And he will.  Yes, he can.  Yes, we can.

    by dotster on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:22:20 AM PDT

•  believe it or not...

  Bill O'Reilly (via Media Matters)

  by GermanAmericanDem on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:45:22 AM PDT

  •  Wow, German, go figure. n/t.

    by jdmorg on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:49:26 AM PDT

  •  Heh

    Same here, back when Billo first started going on about those evil far left leebruls. In fact here is the first diary I read (and laughed endlessly at.)

    by Grass on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:05:26 AM PDT

  •  the same for me.....

    My mom was/is a republican and she usually listened to the wingnuts on the radio and I think I heard it about it from them.   Though thankfully now my mom is reformed and voted Obama. ;)

    by Into The Stars on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:15:13 AM PDT

•  I agree with this

  many of us went to the blogs in 2002 because we couldn't understand why so many Democrats were voting for this idiotic war.  Those wondering why most here oppose Hillary can look to that vote, IMO.  We are about changing the party, not being "fair" to any and all Dem politicians.

  How did I come to Kos?  Link from Atrios, probably, I have been reading more or less since the beginning.  Although it was years before I felt brave enough to get an account, and later still to post a comment.  

  by mcfly on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:48:41 AM PDT

  •  That's my story, too, and I'm sticking with it

    (moist towelette, anyone?)

    I came because I was perplexed and outraged about support for the concept of giving Bush war powers.  John Edwards was my senator at the time, and I was casting about for reasons he was caving in on such a momentous decision given such flimsy evidence.  

    Of course, now we know he was just bamboozled.  Or some equally Seuessian-sounding act of persuasion.

    Found the link through Atrios, I believe.  

    by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:02:54 AM PDT

  •  Also found it through Atrios

    One of my best friends, who posts here as Linnaeus, was all into the blogs back in 2002 and 2003. I finally started reading in the fall of '02, mostly at Atrios. He kept linking to this "Daily Kos" place and I kept coming back, especially because of the Dean movement.

    I think it is undeniable that Obama is the inheritor of the Dean mantle, in some fundamental ways. That's not to say Obama and Dean are the same, or their politics are the same. They're not. But the Dean movement, when it comes down to it, was about giving a new role and new voice to the base Democrats who were livid for their party's complicity with the Bush agenda.

    by eugene on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:17:26 AM PDT

•  Actually, a majority of kossacks want Gore

  Not now, of course, but scratch a kossack and you'll find someone who has a secret wish.

  Up to September, all the kos polls and/or demographic or introduce-yourselves type diaries confirm this.

  by algebrateacher on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:48:44 AM PDT

  •  And after Gore

    it was Edwards who had the lead in all the straw polls, pretty much up through Iowa.

    I found Daily Kos through a link from, IIRC, Wil Wheaton's blog. Started posting in early 2004 and rarely looked back other than a hiatus later that year when I lost Internet access.

    Many older Kossacks who were politically aware back in the 1990s have misgivings about the Clintons, mainly because of their making promises on which they never delivered (health care, gays in military, etc.), while veering too far to the right on other issues (welfare "reform", DOMA, NAFTA). All the investigations conducted by the right-wing Congress were nothing but witch hunts, and we see them for what they were. In hindsight, the Clinton Era was heaven compared to the Bush Bookends -- but it wasn't the bastion of progressive action that some people would have us believe.

    I'm not saying that Obama is going to be any more progressive, of course -- he's still an unknown in many ways. But I, and it seems like many people around here, are looking for a new direction, the "and now for something completely different." And in Obama it appears we have the potential for that something different, a new approach where the old ones have fallen short. And that's why I think Obama's grabbed so much attention around here.

    by Cali Scribe on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:09:21 AM PDT

•  I heard Joe Trippi talking on Hardball...

  and thought, hmmmmmm I got to check this Daily Kos thing out.  I logged on and was hooked ever since.  Lurked for a long time, wrote a few bad diaries, but thoroughly enjoy the discussion and a fellowship of sorts unlike anywhere else.

  by jdmorg on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:48:45 AM PDT

•  Link from Air America in `03

  then lurked for a year before joining.

  by Wino on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:48:50 AM PDT

•  The Majority Report

  Although i did not create a uid until Yearly kos.
  ps.  seder on sundays is on today.  I hope they give him a daily show again.

  by allie123 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:49:58 AM PDT

  •  He's been filling in

    quite a bit for Rachel Maddow when she's taken a day off for her MSNBC duties.
    Might be a good sign.

    by Cali Scribe on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:11:45 AM PDT

    •  Sedar has a great podcast with maron

      which is very funny, but i can't remember how to find it. this week one of the morning guys was missing (i don't catch why. I'm hoping now there's room for sam or mark will do the am drive.

      by mad cow on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:18:31 AM PDT

    •  I hope so.

      I work at that time so haven't been able to catch it.  I try to watch him on Tuesdays with Maron when I can.

      by allie123 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 12:26:10 PM PDT

  •  Me too.

    In the lead up to the 2006 elections.

    by cjallen on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:30:28 AM PDT

•  You hit the nail on the head

  Brlliant insight:

  Now ask yourself, had it not been for the groundwork that we laid with Howard Dean, what would Barack Obama's candidacy look like today? I'm not sure it would even be possible.

  And what would Hillary Clinton's candidacy look like? I doubt it would have changed a hair.

  There's no love lost between Hillary Clinton and dKos as an organization.  I'm not sure she understands the concept of "people-powered politics."  If she does get it, she's hiding it well.

  by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:50:02 AM PDT

  •  Let's all toast to Howard Dean!

    Cheers!!

    by calderonn on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:03:02 AM PDT

    •  I'll drink to that

      Sniff.  I miss those heady salad days of my youth.

      by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:05:24 AM PDT

      •  It's incredible how time flies by

        in the years I've been visiting I've graduated from college, fallen in love, gotten married and had my first child.

        by calderonn on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:06:56 AM PDT

        •  With different people?

          by Zackpunk on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:09:19 AM PDT

          •  with the same woman

            by calderonn on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:11:32 AM PDT

        •  True! In these intervening years ...

          ... um ...

          Well ....

          Errr ....

          My cat's breath smells like cat food.

          by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:10:09 AM PDT

•  I like to think Dailykos discovered me.

  And everyone who posts here is a creation of my dualistic reality.

  by Dartagnan on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:51:20 AM PDT

  •  All for One and One for All

    couldn't resist, Dartagnan.

    by ksh01 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:55:14 AM PDT

  •  Kosito, ergo sum

    I Kos, therefore I am.

    by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:56:08 AM PDT

    •  Brilliant!

      But then, we are, aren't we?

      by sabershadow on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:59:52 AM PDT

      •  Oh, we are. Brilliant.

        Oh, yes.

        :: appropriately self-aggrandizing grin ::

        by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:04:03 AM PDT

        •  Interesting. I believe I have that same

          grin on my face.

          heh.

          by sabershadow on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:18:49 AM PDT

•  asdf

  The run up to war with Iraq was a crazy time.  I felt I was the only one in the whole world who could see that we were being manipulated into war.  Then I found the DFA website and went to see Dean speak at the start of his summer bus tour (Falls Church).  It was absolutely electrifying.  Finally some one who got it!  I was hooked after that.  I found Dailykos through Dean for America.

  by BDA in VA on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:52:28 AM PDT

  •  Yes

    I wasn't a 'Deaniac' at the time, but I couldn't understand why no one was talking about what an awful idea the Iraq war promised to be. Media, politicians - anyone with a microphone seemed to think this war would be the greatest thing ever undertaken. What few dissenting opinions that were aired, were generally trivialized.
    CNN would have a debate on the war that pitted actor Tim Robbins against 3 retired generals - the whole world seemed to have gone mad. So I turned to the intertubes for more and better information. Then I found voices of sanity here, at TPM, Atrios and the like. Within a matter of weeks, I seemed to be better informed than CNN (to say nothing of FOX), if not 3 days ahead of their reporting. Since then, I have never left.

    by JoeWPgh on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:08:05 AM PDT

•  gave birth to twins in 2003

  and was staying up all night to get time to myself.  I googled "George Bush is toast" and got Nathan Newman's Blog and then found his blog roll.  I swear I visited every blog listed.  I found this place and lurked for a long time before registering in 2004.  I can't even remember what it looked like then.

  by ksh01 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:52:43 AM PDT

•  Oh and thanks Zack for the diary. n/t.

  by jdmorg on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:53:39 AM PDT

•  Countdown with Keith Olberman

  Don't remember who was talking, perhaps it was Trippi...mentioned the site, this was sometime during the GE late summer 2004...so I came to site see...became a member but was a regular long time lurker until just recently...

  by bws on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:53:55 AM PDT

  •  Countdown..

    heard Keith Olbermann talk about it...Thanks KO!

    by evdebs on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 12:22:18 PM PDT

•  When I finally got Hi speed intarwebs

  right around Katrina. I found Drudge then Huffpo and there a link to the Great Orange Satan.  Been hooked every since.  A whole community of like minded individuals, it was heaven.

  by buddabelly on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:54:13 AM PDT

  •  Katrina was how I found

    DKos. It was our last day of camping when Katrina hit LA. When we were back home the next day, I went searching for info on Katrina. I found HuffPost first, used the links there and then hit on DKos. It was love at first site.

    I lurked for 6 months before signing up. I'll been here almost everyday since I  found the site. DKos is the first thing I read in the morning and the last at bedtime.

    by MadMs on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 12:07:25 PM PDT

    •  I couldn't deal with having to

      load the page twice to read the comments so I signed up almost the first day I found it.
      I did lurk before posting though......:)

      by buddabelly on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 05:08:03 PM PDT

•  Salon

  I heard about Kos when I was a regular at Salon's Tabletalk.  Not much of a poster, I finally had to register when I absolutely had to vote on something.  Living in a red state, trending purple, DK was my lifeline when the '02 elections came around.

  by Kestrel228 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:54:33 AM PDT

•  I looked under the parsley and there it was.

  Actually, at the urging of my brother.

  by Crashing Vor on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:54:51 AM PDT

•  I came to the site when I met markos

  During his book tour with Jerome. They came to Asheville, spoke very eloquently. I shook his hand and asked him about his publisher, then came home and logged on to see what was up with the Daily Kos. I have been a member ever since, and never once regretted it.

  (Apologies if this posts twice. It hung up the first attempt.)

  by BeninSC on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:55:26 AM PDT

•  My brother said, "Hey there's this website...

  ...of Dean supporters."

  And I said, "Huh, that might be interesting."

  FOUR YEARS LATER....

  by JeffLieber on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:55:28 AM PDT

  •  From Dean to dildos?

    How the mighty have fallen? ;-)

    Four more years!

    by earicicle on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:00:54 AM PDT

•  I came to DKos late...about a year

  ago. I guess I must have followed a link. I used to read Crooks & Liars and HuffPo but once I started lurking here, this became pretty much the only blog I go to. It really was Cheers and Jeers that first attracted me in addition to the diaries about Gore. He was my first choice but went to Obama after it became clear Gore wasn't getting in it. I used to like and respect Hillary. That's long gone. I like the community I found here but it has been upsetting to have so much vitriol expressed in the candidate diaries. I don't read them much anymore. I do enjoy the first-person reports from people in the caucus or primary states. I spend WAY too much time here!

  by mommaK on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:55:45 AM PDT

•  It's been too long to even remember

  I was still in college at the time.  I've been visiting it since before '04.  I can't believe it's been over 4 years already!

  by calderonn on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:56:32 AM PDT

•  From a Sunday NYTimes story on bloggers

  Don't remember the year, but that's when I started reading dKos and eschaton.  But I didn't become a member til after DarkSyde's diary on felidae which was posted on my birthday.  

  So it was progressive politics and pooties that galvanized me to become an active member of the dKos community.

  by sabershadow on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:56:59 AM PDT

•  Counting down to 1/20/09 & looking to stay sane

  Joined on 1/19/08, so still a newbie here. So happy to have found a like-minded community of progs. My mind had long-ago been made up about my candidate. So I'm avoiding the Battle of the Pastry as much as possible, and diving into more interesting issues--the ones that will outlast the primary wars.

  Have felt very welcomed here, although my new commenting addiction has become a major procrastination tool. Am procrastinating from a work assignment right now!

  by earicicle on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:57:46 AM PDT

  •  Earicicle, I like your lead in..n/t.

    by jdmorg on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:01:47 AM PDT

    •  ;-) The sanity is questionable at times...

      But the countdown rolls on. January will come, one way or the other!

      by earicicle on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:20:35 AM PDT

  •  Hey -- did someone just euphemize "Pie Fight"?

    PIE FIGHT!

    by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:12:19 AM PDT

    •  Skirmish of the Scones? Tiff of the Tarts?

      Kerfuffle of the Cookies? We could be at this a while. But I am massively procrastinating from work, as per usual, the main reason I seem to have come to dKos after all. Politics? Pshawww...

      by earicicle on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:18:53 AM PDT

•  Josh Marshall kept mentioning this site

  by C Barr on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:58:37 AM PDT

  •  Yes, Josh, Raw Story, the old MyDD, DailyKos and

    Crooks and Liars.com

    They all kept referring to each other.

    by Spruce on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:16:51 AM PDT

•  My alternative path

  I found the site via a link posted on Wes Clark's campaign blog. It was about how DailyKos was "flooded" with Deaniacs. Ahhhh, the good ol' days, of Clarkies vs. Deanies.

  by exotrip on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:59:11 AM PDT

•  Can't remember

  I read for a looong time, then joined at some point, but Katrina was the catalyst for me in terms of some form of self-identification with the community.  I have rarely read writing as good, or seen interaction as meaningful, as happened with Hunter's diaries during that tragedy.

  by huckleberry on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:59:57 AM PDT

•  I found DailyKos while I was deployed to Iraq

  On Obama, I've been an Obama supporter since before I ever went to DailyKos. I went to Iraq in the summer of 2005, but it was 2004 when I gladly voted for Obama over that lunatic Keyes.

  Some history:
  Before joining the military I lived in Illinois, but before joining the military I was a Republican from Naperville in DuPage County, so Obama wasn't really on my radar. In 2002, when the Patriot Act and the run-up to the Iraq War was turning me into a Democrat, I noticed that there were only a few people in political positions taking a stand on the war, and Obama was one of them. I didn't pay much more attention to him until Jack Ryan's indiscretions handed frontrunner status to Obama, and he made that 2004 speech at the Convention. After that, I was hoping he'd run for President in 2008. I was told it was impossible, he was too new, he was too black, he was too liberal, etc. I'm quite pleased that he's shown all that up.

  by jabbausaf on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 10:59:58 AM PDT

  •  Hey jabbausaf, welcome,I am from Will Cty...

    right next door!  Thank you for your service to our country!

    by jdmorg on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:03:28 AM PDT

    •  Not next door anymore :P

      Moved to Columbus OH, my wife is from here in Ohio.

      by jabbausaf on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:19:47 AM PDT

  •  Thank you for your story & your service! n/t

    by earicicle on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:04:19 AM PDT

•  I was so upset about 2000 that I

  decided to finally get involved in politics. I had been apathetic until then.  I didn't know the difference between the House and the Senate so I started reading everything I could find online.  I began reading the political news from the LA Times, NYT and Wapo.  Everytime I encountered a term I didn't know I googled it or followed their links.  I believe it was the NYT or Wapo that mentioned the blog DailyKos and I wondered what a blog was.  I lurked for a while and then joined.  2003, I think.

  User ID ::  27679

  by navajo on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:03:03 AM PDT

•  A link from Oliver Willis...

  "like kryptonite to stupid"!  Can't remember how I found his blog. But I was politically motivated for the first time by the outrage and horror of Abu Gharib. I remember seeing that picture on the front page of the Sunday paper, and resolving to never be so naive and blase about politics ever again.

  by applegal on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:04:32 AM PDT

  •  Which is a big part of why

    the owners of the papers usually don't run those kinds of pictures!

    by Simplify on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 07:13:27 PM PDT

•  I honestly don't remember. I've known about this

  site for ages, and would read occasionally but didn't actually sign up until a couple of months ago.

  by a girl in MI on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:05:41 AM PDT

•  My brother-in-law's S.O. told me about it...

  ...I've been hooked ever since. I was writing an intermittent political email note to about 10-15 people at the time (still do, but the number's closer to 50 now) and he thought it would be a perfect spot for me to "hang out".

  It helped my early focus on DKos that during the time leading up to the 2004 election cycle I was unemployed, my company have evaporated in the bursting of the telecom bubble.

  It has been great - that is, when we're not all committing suicide by circular firing squad.

  I've stayed through PIE, through the MSOC chronicles, through the 2004 Democratic primary season, attended the original YKos '06 in Vegas, and survived the emotional lead-up to the 2006 election cycle.

  I'll stay through this cycle too and I hope that we'll be able to unify support for the Democratic Party's nominee before we burn down the house with flaming negativity.

  The site is dominated by candidate diaries and flame wars right now, but there are still great diaries and FP articles coming out every day. And once we get the Party's nomination settled, I'm hoping we can pivot quickly and focus all our guns on winning the presidency and taking firmer control of both houses of Congress in November. Step #1 toward that was Bill Foster's win last night.

  by frisco on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:06:11 AM PDT

•  I first got wind of DK

  when Marcos made wingnut heads explode by calling the Blackwater guys who were killed and defiled in Faludja "mercenaries."

  I was a Kevin Drum reader at the time - I had discovered him in his coverage of the the Bush-AWOL issue. There was a big debate there about how good or smart Marcos was to say what he said.

  In any case, the issue drew me to this site, and I immediately recognized the democratic wonder of it all. As I've said a few times since: "Daily Kos: the greatest innovation for democracy since the pnyx."

  by semiot on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:08:36 AM PDT

•  Magazine article

  About two years ago I attended a presentation for CTG by Kos and Jerome at a local bookstore.  At the time I had no idea who he was, and had never heard of DailyKos.
   A couple weeks after that, I read an article about Bay Area progressive activists (including Kos and some of the MoveOn people.)  I figured it was sort of serendipity (coming so soon after I'd heard Kos speak), so I checked out dKos, and have been here ever since.
   I'm only an Obama supporter by default, after Edwards dropped out.

  by FoundingFatherDAR on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:09:02 AM PDT

•  During the '04 debates i googled "wire bush"

  no i was not interested illegal wire tapping, i was looking for information on whether bush was wired for the debates.  I found a very lively diary on suit tailoring and hiding wires. I was hooked. I could not believe the depth of knowledge of Kossacks. Currently, i'm staying clear of CD's and am looking for alternative cites.

  by mad cow on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:10:29 AM PDT

  •  opps,

    i'm in the middle of writing a brief, that would be sites. Preview is my friend.

    by mad cow on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:13:31 AM PDT

•  I've been waiting for a diary on this question

  Alright, so basically after the 2002 losses I was despondent, and I began looking sround for places to find like-minded people (this was at the height of Bush-love, you may remember) and someone in the College Democrats (of which I was a member at James Madison University at the time) told me about DKos.

  I haven't always agreed with the outlook of this site, but I've always admired the energy that just radiates off this place.  To anyone who says apathy is riding high, come to DKos and learn differently.

  I know I'm likely at least not in the majority in that I wasn't a Dean man in 2004 (I was for Kerry, thought his military record would make him harder to attack, whoops).

  But nobody had to convert me to the 50-state strategy.  My home state, Virginia, was long overlooked, until a netroots effort (with a little GOP self-destruction help) made Jim Webb our nominee, and soon after my senator.  It's proof that 50-State isn't just a cute idea.  It really can work.

  Ultimately, that's the prime reason I'm for Obama.  He knows the 50-State strategy can work, and he's laying the groundwork for it to grow even more.  Plus, the last thing we need is two presidents in a row despised by 48% of the public.  Whatever you think of Clinton's tactics, it's hard to deny that she is definitely more hated by the other side, and definitely the less palatable for independents.

  I was here for the crush of 2004.  I was here for the beautiful win of 2006.  And I hope to be here again for another win this fall.  Cheers!

  by Harkov311 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:11:03 AM PDT

•  BiPM

  Cheers & Jeers was my entre.

  by pinhighin2 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:11:23 AM PDT

  •  Yes, he's a gateway drug

    You start out with some ribald humor and pootie pleasures and before you know it you're up at 3 a.m. clutching your keyboard and screaming vile things about That Other Candidate.  

    by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:15:26 AM PDT

    •  I used to get up early just for Cheers & Jeers!

      Yay for BinPM!

      by mommaK on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:16:51 AM PDT

      •  I love seeing my bank statement each month

        and seeing that little deduction for my C&J contribution.  Makes my heart swell with pride to know a little bit of BiPM is indentured to me.

        by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:19:19 AM PDT

        •  Where else could this have happened?

          by mommaK on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:19:58 AM PDT

          •  NOWHERE!!

            Truly unique in the purest sense of the term, and it does my heart good to be part of this amazing community.

            by MsSpentyouth on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:24:44 AM PDT

            •  Mine too. n/t

              by mommaK on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:27:05 AM PDT

•  It was during the 2004 primary season

  A little late in the primary season ... in the April or May time frame.

  I was disappointed that Dean didn't win and mildly disappointed with Kerry as the nominee. One day I just decided I needed to find me some of them "lefty blogs" I had heard so much about.

  And an hour's worth of googling and checking a dozen or so out got me to dKos.  It took several months before I was compelled to register.

  But I've been hooked (with some necessary vacations from this site when things got ugly) since spring 2004.  

  by Glinda on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:12:19 AM PDT

•  I probably started reading this blog

  sometime in early 2003 but didn't sign up until later. How I found it? Probably linked from MyDD. How I found that site, who knows? It's not surprising at all that most people here have ended up supporting Obama. I was an Edwards supporter this time around. I think this site has always been about doing politics a different way, trying new strategies, questioning the conventional wisdom.  That's what made Howard Dean so appealing; he brought that sense of something new to politics.  So Obama comes closest to representing that, certainly when compared to Clinton.

  I firmly believe that had Hillary Clinton ditched the DLC, apologized for her war vote, embraced the blogosphere more readily, she would have a lot more support around here now. But then she's not interested in that so why would anyone expect her to?

  by TKinVT on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:13:15 AM PDT

  •  If she'd done things differently

    I'd be much more favorably inclined towards her. I'd be able to support her if she gets the nomination. Would have been nice. Oh well.

    by jabbausaf on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:18:42 AM PDT

•  Andrew Sullivan...

  He used to link here in a less than flattering light a few years ago, however I found I liked everything that he didn't, so I stayed.

  by Tom Enever on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:14:32 AM PDT

•  Another Dean person

  who managed to wander in here after becoming intrigued by his unheard-of (for a Dem) courage.  I don't remember exactly how I got here-- it may have been via a simple Google search on his name, or a series of links-- and it was during the late summer of 2003 (I'm only about 500 user IDs behind you, so the signup rate was considerably slower then).  I signed up after lurking for a week or two when I felt compelled to respond to something... and I still, after all this time, have never written a diary.  Too lazy and/or inattentive, I guess.

  by latts on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:14:38 AM PDT

•  The Majority Report.

  Before that, I had never heard of dkos or Atrios.

  by billybush on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:20:07 AM PDT

•  Election day, 2004

  I was doing GOTV calls for local congressional candidate. The guys running the office had Kos up so that we could follow the national polls.

  We kept refresh, refresh, refreshing the screen.

  It was so exhilarating, seeing evidence that Kerry was going to win...

  Let's hope things work out better this time.

  And yes, I'm still in the group that believes the polls were the accurate gauge of the election, not the "official" results.

  by davesnyd on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:25:40 AM PDT

  •  Indeed

    This site is always refreshing.

    by Zackpunk on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:30:43 AM PDT

•  Found dkos either through TPM or

  most likely TomDispatch over at The Nation.

  Those were my three main information sources during the dark days when the bush cabal oozed out of the primordial soup that the Rehnquist Court cooked up for us.

  Our... constitutional heritage rebels at the thought of giving government the power to control men's minds. Thurgood Marshall

  by bronte17 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:30:47 AM PDT

•  I got here from Dean for America

  And I think it's only natural that we are for the candidate who is using a 50-state strategy and broadbased small individual donors... The candidate who's building the party. And it's natural that we should be against the DLC candidate. Beyond that it's all just personality and emotion.

  by StevenW on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:33:35 AM PDT

•  Google News

  led me to Daily Kos.

  There was a time, years ago now, when Daily Kos stories  (the front oage ones, at least) were displayable at news.google.com. The site, being much smaller then, probably got quite an increase whenever a DK story was displayed at the top of a Google News item.

  by retrograde on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:35:36 AM PDT

•  another internet discussion group

  I had been on a women's tech discussion group and was looking for a good progressive blog preceding the 2004 election. Someone in my group recommmended Dkos.

  by lascaux on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:37:01 AM PDT

•  Huffpo

  New member here. Had not heard of Dkos before.
  I found the link, read, liked what i saw and stayed.

  Voted for Barack to become Senator so I was on the train already.

  by kiki236 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:47:07 AM PDT

•  Best thing that Bill O'Reilly ever did....

  Was show me the way to DailyKos.  Thanks Billo, this falafel's for you!

  by No Gods No Masters on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:47:20 AM PDT

•  Very recent addict to DKos...

  It was my interest in Edwards that lead me to Kos.  I was getting no love on the MSM, no information, no atta boys and no fair treatment. I fund NCDemAmy, TomP here and good news and hope for my candidate.  Also found Bonddad and news on the coming fallout in economics, IGTNT, which breaks my heart and strengthens my resolve to fight against he war in Iraq and Afghanistan.  A lot of other things, but that was my genesis on DKos.

  by gdwtch52 on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:50:01 AM PDT

•  Change

  A friend told me there were a lot of people who wanted a change and that I could see what they had to say on Daily Kos. I have seen my fellow citizens go to war with Iraq in order to protect us from weapons of mass destruction that did not exist. I have seen my fellow citizens support funding this war by borrowing huge amounts of money from China, while we give ourselves tax cuts. I have seen my fellow citizens support torture even though it would reduce the security of any who might become prisoners, including our own citizens. I have seen my fellow citizens support our constitutional rights to privacy and due process being taken away. I wanted to see fellow citizens smart enough to realize what the fear mongering Republicans have been doing to us.

  by Roxy Hope on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 11:55:12 AM PDT

•  Someone I know from a Tourette Syndrome list

  (I don't have it, my son does, among other diagnoses) mentioned that he was a "DailyKos addict" and tried to explain about the Trollhouse Cookbook, which remained mysterious. Like most Touretters I know, he's a very funny, bright guy so it stuck in my mind and eventually I had a look. Within weeks ... addiction. It's terrible, LOL!
  Since I'm living overseas, I hadn't felt much connection to political goings on at home and this has filled the gap. Besides, I missed committing journalism (gave it up for a different career) and the occasional blog post sort of helps that go away.

  by expatyank on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 12:02:04 PM PDT

•  My husband blogged here

  and still does but only occasionally.  I was on the old Clark blog.  He would talk about it and I checked it out, but didn't join till later.

  by chicago minx on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 12:06:50 PM PDT

•  how I found dailykos

  I think it was lnked from Jim Hightower's blog which was active at the time

  by bunsk on Sun Mar 09, 2008 at 12:41:49 PM PDT

•  I went looking for truth rather than cheerleading

  during the run-up to the invasion of Iraq.  The MSM lost me completely, so I sat down one day to google for voices of reason amid the steady drumbeat of viagre-laces neocon koolaid.  I found a clearinghouse kind of site that linked to what seemed to be - and proved to be - good, clear-headed, critical-thinking blogs (Daily Kos, Back to Iraq, Talk Left, The Agonist, Tacitus).  That site is gone, its name appropriated by shithead rightwing droolers, but it lived long enough to direct many like me to places where people think for themselves.  Sure, there's groupthink everywhere, but many left-leaning political blogs have a core of posters who like to think about things and post lucid opinions about them.  Sold me!

  by Man in the Middle on Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 05:59:15 AM PDT

  •  I remember now -

    it was warblogs:cc.  Gone now, but much appreciated.

    by Man in the Middle on Mon Mar 10, 2008 at 06:05:06 AM PDT