It's 3am... I'm doing volunteer work...

Municipal elections in Illinois are April 5, with a primary in some communities next week on February 22. I'm up late doing a mix of freelance and volunteer work for a few different progressive candidates.

(more thoughts on the local races below the fold)

As Chairman Dean says, we have to fight for even the small races. We must show up. It's the only way we'll be heard. It's the only we'll win (literally and figuratively).

I myself ran for park board in my local burg two years ago. Wanted to do it out of interest in giving back to my community and contributing my experience and knowledge to an organization that I thought could benefit from that.

That got me to thinking: it's sort of a spiralling circle. I'm not really all that far removed from the folks "in power" in Washington. None of us are. As most of us realize, Congressmen and Senators often start out as school board presidents and village mayors (and even those folks start out as active members of the local homeowners association or Chamber or whatnot...).

How many fellow Kossacks are in elected office of any sort? Anyone else working on local campaigns in their states? What's up near you?