The Soul of the New Machine -- Jeff Seemann

[Kolesar]

The Soul of the New Machine
He's Ohio's Howard Dean -- minus the "Yeaaaghh!"
BY KEVIN HOFFMAN
[email protected]


When Howard Dean screamed himself out of the presidential race, his supporters took solace in their mantra that the campaign wasn't about the man, but the movement. Dean had shown that grassroots activism and the internet could transform a dark horse into a front-runner. Now was the time to apply that thinking to local elections.
Enter Jeff Seemann, whose quixotic run against Ralph Regula, the long-term incumbent Republican Congressman in Ohio's 16th District, which includes Canton, has transformed him into a national poster boy for the New Political Machine. The race pits a well-entrenched, old-school party stalwart against an unknown who used the web to gain traction.

...snip...

At first, Seemann was no better off. He started last September with no office, no staff, and no money. What changed everything was the Daily Kos, a popular lefty blog.

In April, Kos's 32-year-old founder, Markos Moulitsas, posted some harsh words about the American contractors who were murdered, burned, and strung up on a bridge by insurgents in Fallujah. "I feel nothing over the death of mercenaries," Moulitsas wrote. "Screw them." Right-wingers seized on the comments to demonize liberals as unpatriotic, and Democrats gave Kos the stiff arm. John Kerry's website denounced the intemperate remarks and removed a link to the blog. Other Democratic candidates pulled their ads from Kos.

Seemann stepped into the breach. He ponied up $400 to place an ad, and put out a press release explaining why: "It's his right to say it, and as a Democrat with a backbone, I'm not gonna be bullied." For liberals accustomed to watching their candidates get slapped around by right-wing hit men like Matt Drudge, Seemann's words were as galvanizing as "I am Spartacus!" Within 24 hours, Seemann tripled his campaign war chest, thanks to $10,000 in online donations.

...snip...

http://clevescene.com/issues/2004-08-25/news.html/1/index.html

[Old and In the Way]

1. How's he doing?

Jeff is exactly the type of freshman Democrat we need to elect to Congress. I'd love to see that dude butting heads with Tom DeLay.

[Kolesar]

2. I don't think anybody is spending money to poll in that district...

...so there is no way of knowing if Jeff is even close. I am just dreaming of a year like 1974, when Watergate caused republicans to get flushed out of Congress en masse'. If the lapdog press was not a shameless GOP propaganda machine, we would be at that point already.

[Moderator]

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