A little bit of news

From:Mlux@progressivestrategies.net To: mlux@progressivestrategies.net Date: 2010-08-17 17:47 Subject: A little bit of news

So I wanted to announce a little bit of personal news to those of you who have been close friends and allies over the years. A couple of things have developed in terms of my work over the course of the summer that will be important in terms of shaping my role going forward: 1. The first is that I have agreed to help Moveon.org develop a major new campaign re cleaning up corporate corruption in Washington. This project will tackle corporate special interest influence over our political decision making, and is shaped by the experience progressive activists have had in working for health care reform, financial reform, climate change legislation, jobs bills, and a host of other important legislation over the past year and a half. In spite of partial victories on some of these issues, it is clear that major corporate interests still have way too much power in DC, and that only a concerted long term effort is going to keep them from not only stopping future gains but rolling back what we have won. Moveon and I have been working to enlist groups to endorse the campaign (we have over a dozen major national groups signed on already), get grassroots activists signed up online (we have several hundred thousand of those already as well), and enlist candidates and members of Congress to take this on as well. Our goal right now is to reframe the 2010 elections as a crusade to take on these special interests, but we also know this is a long term fight that will be fought over many years to come. 2. The second announcement is below. After 3 years of working together at the blog we founded, Chris Bowers and I were approached by Markos to help him build on the strong foundation Dailykos has created, and we agreed to merge our blogging efforts with his. Our goals are two-fold. First, we want to create a major new hub of activism off the DK platform- an email list and an action site that will dramatically bump up the ability of DK to fight for good legislation and help progressive candidates. As part of that, the 3 of us will be working together to exponentially expand Blogpac, the candidate fundraising pac Markos started a few years ago. I think we will be able to dramatically expand Blogpac's ability to help progressive candidates win. Secondly, we want to build on the capacity DK has as a multi-media site, and I will be working with Markos and the team to expand DK's capacity as a media platform. There are only a small number of organizations at the heart of online organizing and media, and Moveon.org and Dailykos have been among the leading pioneers in this field, so I couldn't be more thrilled to be working with both of them at the same time. I think working with the two of them simultaneously will give me the ability to leverage a lot of exciting opportunities to help the broader progressive cause. If I can ever be helpful to you in any way, or if you have an idea related to these projects and organizations, don't hesitate to let me know. All my best, Mike An insider goes outside <http://www.openleft.com/diary/19835/an-insider-goes-outside> <http://www.openleft.com/showDiary.do;jsessionid=B3A4CFFE20222B108A1EFF9 407927232?diaryId=19835> (+) <http://www.openleft.com/hotList.do;jsessionid=B3A4CFFE20222B108A1EFF940 7927232?diaryId=19835> by: Mike Lux <http://www.openleft.com/user/Mike%20Lux> Tue Aug 17, 2010 at 13:30 Remember how your mom used to tell you to go outside and play so you could get some fresh air and sunshine? That's kind of how I feel today. This old insider, who has had one foot outside for a while now, is going to play with the kids outside for a while. When Matt Stoller and Chris Bowers and I decided to start OpenLeft a little over 3 years ago, we thought it would be worthwhile to have a site where there was some dialogue and interplay between an old DC insider like me and some of the really smart and strategic voices from the blogosphere. We've had more than our share of fascinating discussions, entertaining debates, and innovative activist projects, and I am very proud of the role OpenLeft has played in the blogosphere. When Markos approached Chris and I to work with DailyKos and help turn it into, in Markos' words, "an activist powerhouse", we were excited to sign up. The potential for working with the DailyKos community to build a platform for citizen activism is enormous, and we are both looking forward to being a part of helping it blossom and grow. In addition to that, I am excited to help Markos continue to build a truly dynamic media platform. The opportunity to work with him, Chris, and the entire DailyKos community is extraordinary. As for OpenLeft, we are exploring what will happen next. Chris needs to dive full-time into working at DailyKos, and he was our editor and heart and soul, so him being gone causes us to re-evaluate everything. I will continue to write some for OpenLeft, as will Adam Bink and some of our other talented writers, but I have never been even close to a full-time presence, and since I will be increasingly working with DailyKos, I will have less time at OpenLeft than before. One final note about my work going forward: I have also begun work this summer with MoveOn.org on their exciting project to clean up the corporate corruption in DC <http://fightwashingtoncorruption.com/> . While this project is currently focused on shaping the 2010 electoral dialogue, it will be a campaign we will need to keep on for years to come. To be working with both DailyKos and MoveOn.org, two of the leading institutions in the world of the progressive netroots, is an honor and a privilege. No matter what happens, I will however remain an insider. Once they inject you with the insider virus, it does change your DNA a bit. I know some folks think that makes me intrinsically evil (one of my all time favorite comments on a blog post came the other day when someone said that because I knew Rahm Emanuel, that automatically made me a bad guy). But I hope I can work with the DailyKos community, as well as with OpenLeft and MoveOn, to use my insider knowledge to help the entire movement get better at shaking up what happens inside, and to be a bridge between the other progressive insiders that are involved in national politics and the progressive netroots community. For all my insider-y status, my roots are in the deep and wonderful tradition of progressive movement politics- Alinsky-style community organizing, the labor movement, the movements of the 1960s. Building on that history and tradition, I look forward to working with all of you to create a stronger progressive movement in the future. <http://facebook.com/sharer.php?u=http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diary Id=19835&t=An%20insider%20goes%20outside> <http://twitter.com/home?status=RT%20@openleft:%20An%20insider%20goes%20 outside%20http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diaryId=19835> <http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diary Id=19835> <http://stumbleupon.com/submit?url=http://openleft.com/showDiary.do?diar yId=19835> Discuss <http://www.openleft.com/diary/19835/an-insider-goes-outside> :: (0 Comments) <http://csm.rotator.hadj7.adjuggler.net/servlet/ajrotator/616267/0/cc?z= csm> <http://theprogressiverevolution.com/buy> ------------------------------------------------------------------------ ------------ Mike Lux CEO Progressive Strategies, L.L.C. 1015 18th Street NW Suite 204 Washington, D.C. 20006 202-628-7771 mlux@progressivestrategies.net Check out my blog at www.openleft.com <http://www.openleft.com/>