Meet Daniel Biss.
Daniel is a Democratic candidate for State Representative in Illinois. He's running to represent the state's 17th District. The 17th District votes overwhelmingly Democratic for most offices, but that state seat has long been held by Republican Elizabeth Coulson. Coulson has been a state representative since 1997. And in 2008, she will be defeated.
I say that with confidence because Daniel Biss's campaign perfectly encapsulates what our people-powered movement is all about.
A 30-year-old mathematics professor at the University of Chicago, Daniel's story will ring familiar to many of us. It was after 9/11 and the Iraq war that he began posting on political blogs and becoming more involved in grassroots activism. He stumbled across a little site called Daily Kos, and he's been a Kossack ever since (user ID# 38,936, for those wondering).
Over the last several years, he has worked tirelessly to elect Democrats to both state and national office. And then, deciding that "it didn't make sense to be a disappointed observer" and feeling that it was not enough anymore "to work on math problems," Daniel decided to run for office. I've had the chance to meet and hang out with Daniel, and every time we talk, I am awed by his dedication to people-powered politics.
Often, we wonder how the most vapid and vile of our country rise to highest echelons of power. Well, that's because far too often, we have the good, decent, and smart people who should be in public office refuse to leap into the public arena. The cringe-worthy media, the stress of campaigning, and the sheer fortitude of spirit and strength that running for office requires frequently turns off even the most ambitious citizens.
But that's what this people-powered movement is all about, isn't it? Giving the best among us the support they need to elbow their way in positions of influence, so that those good, and decent, and smart people can enact meaningful and lasting change.
As you well know, support in the people-powered movement is about more than just donating to the shining faces of top-tier national candidates. It's about more than just reaching up to these superstars--it's also about reaching out and supporting our peers and our friends who are bold enough to wade into the political process.
And boy, on that front, Daniel has made quite a splash. He was recently profiled in the Wall Street Journal for this amazing feat:
CHICAGO -- Presidential candidate John Edwards has long been one of the top money-raisers at Democratic fund-raising site ActBlue.com. But, for a short time recently, he was almost surpassed by Daniel Biss, a 30-year-old mathematics professor running for the Illinois state legislature.
The Biss phenomenon illustrates another way the Internet is shaking up politics and changing the way races are run this year: online fund raising is now filtering down to low-dollar state and local races, where a little bit of extra money goes further than it would in a national race.
It is that coupling of online fundraising and local races which is going to define the bottom-up change that this movement is all about. It is that support structure that is going to help talented, deserving Democrats like Daniel to not just enter a race, but to dominate it. And the end result? More and better Democrats, not just on a national level, but in every nook and cranny of our political system, from school boards to city councils to state legislatures.
So if you've ever thought about running for office but have tossed the thought delicately out of your mind, or if you've ever felt drawn to public service but have had doubt and hesitancy nibbling at your dream, well, I leave you with the words of a Democrat whose actions and campaign may help put things into perspective. From Daniel's speech at a kick-off rally on August 19, 2007:
Our responsibility is to foster new leadership here in Illinois, to foster new progressive leadership here in Illinois, and to nurture our own community so that our reach continues to extend.
And so, we do this community building here at home, but we do our work knowing that across the country, communities just like ours are doing the same kind of work, rejuvenate the role of people in American government. And together, those communities make up a movement.
Now, the goal of that movement is nothing less than to redistribute power in American society so that it will no longer be the case that our politics are determined by lobbyists and insiders and by coal and oil, and by insurance or pharmaceutical companies or by the children of the powerful. And it’s no longer going to be the case that our politics are dominated by petty games and dishonest debates. And political power will no longer lie only in the hands of the fortunate, no longer lie only in the hands of the connected, and no longer lie only in the hands of the wealthy.
And so, I ask you today, when our work is done and when we have succeeded, in whose hands will political power lie?
Ours.
Ours and everybody’s.
Everybody’s.
And it’s really that simple.
On the web: Daniel Biss
Contribute: Daniel's ActBlue page