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. I am looking forward to checking out the Big Tent and meeting all the bloggers I missed out on meeting at Netroots Nation.
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, or at least meet up in the Big Tent for a few beers.
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.