The Kos Primary

One of the most interesting stories of 2007 is the progress of what I call the Kos Primary.

Such a thing was not imagined, let alone possible, four years ago. Four years ago Markos Moulitsas (left) was a common blogger. Like me (and many others) he became an early fan of Howard Dean, and in the summer was hired as an Internet consultant to the campaign. His suggestions were not followed, he was let go in the fall, and the rest, as they say, is history.

Today his site, DailyKos, and fellow consultant Jerome Armstrong’s MyDD are the largest Democratic Party clubhouses on the Internet. They are both best-selling authors, and their communities (not blogs, communities) are where new liberal ideas are tried out, where Netroots consensus is built on politics and policy.

Markos himself has not chosen a candidate (although it won’t be Hillary Clinton). He has tried, in this cycle, to act as a reporter, although one with an obvious point-of-view and some self-awareness of his influence. Thus his recent attack on Barack Obama is important, and may have done more than Elizabeth Edwards’ cancer diagnosis to raise John Edwards’ profile among the Netroots.

Then we have today’s news. Obama’s $25 million campaign haul, from 100,000 people, $6.9  million from the Internet alone, 100,000 total donors. It’s a sign of significant grassroots support, as well as institutional support. Obama has become the Tiger Woods of the Democratic field. But Tiger doesn’t win every tournament. And Barack only has one shot.

So money alone won’t win  Obama the Netroots primary. What will?  Confrontation with the Bush Administration, over Iraq and other matters. Leadership.  Some meat on the bones of his call for a "new kind of politics," which is what so many in the Netroots crave more than anything. There needs to be some there, there.

To many Internet campaigners, John Edwards has looked like yesterday’s
man. His dissing of  bloggers Amanda Marcotte and Melissa McEwan hurt,
a lot. So did his overt populism, in a way, especially with younger
voters. We don’t want class warfare.  We want, as I’ve written here,
consensus-building, using the values and myths of this medium to inform
and direct power between elections, not just at election time. We want
to feel we’re part of the process, not just the fundraising process,
but the political process and (yes, even) the policy process.

In the last few weeks Edwards has picked up on that, while Obama has
grown more distant. Thus the Netroots primary is still up-in-the-air.
Despite the flirting of some with Richardson or Dodd, this will be,
like the 1968 Republican race, a battle for Big Dogs only. Clinton,
Obama and Edwards are the Big Dogs — Clinton the candidate of the old
AntiThesis, Edwards the candidate of Unapologetic Populism, Obama the
— what, exactly? Fill in the blank, really.

Obama can win this thing. He can be elected  President. Everyone knew
that wasn’t possible with Jesse Jackson. And it’s not because he’s
"clean." Or "well spoken." Or half-white for that matter. It’s because Obama’s  had his ticket punched at all the requisite stations of the
political cross (if I may) — Harvard, state office, national office.
He’s had his ticket punched in places Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton never could get into, and has (finally) acknowledged his debt to them. He is, in fact, the same age Bill Clinton was in 1991 (and he gave a better speech at the last convention). This should be
his time.

Seizing it means telling us what he’d do, and how he’d do it. The initiative in the Kos primary still belongs to him.

But it can be lost. By September this primary will likely be over. The
Netroots will have made its choice, and will be battling the Clinton
forces for control of the Democratic Party (and with it the nation).

Now’s the time. You’ve got our attention, Barack. What do you have to say?