YearlyKos Comes to Chicago

By Kevin Robinson in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 1, 2007 1:50PM

Tomorrow is the kick-off the YearlyKos, DailyKos's annual "unconventional" convention for grassroots Internet political activists, or "Netroots" community. This year's party will be hosted in Chicago, at the illustrious McCormick Place.

Launched in 2002 by US Army veteran Markos Moulitsas as a response to "an oppressive and war-crazed administration", DailyKos now gets around 600,000 hits a day, and has become a widely read marketplace for left-wing ideas on the Internet. This year's convention is being sponsored by Democracy for America, the Teamsters, Change to Win, AFL-CIO, MoveOn.org, and Vote Vets. While the Internet has become a resource for political activists of all stripes to exchange ideas, strategies, and tactics, a convention like this is an opportunity to bring many of the Netroots players together with local activists and political actors for a week of workshops, speeches, and events.

With such challenging workshops and round table discussions as "Holding Congress Accountable for a Progressive Agenda," "Volunteer Recruitment and Development," and "Working America: Slugging it Out with the Christian Right for the Hearts and Minds of the Working Class," as well as caucuses such as "Religious Left Netroots," this is sure to be an event for anyone that is interested left political activism and using the power of the Internet to reach communities.

The convention kicks off tomorrow at 8 a.m., with keynote speeches by both Howard Dean and Illinois Senator Dick Durbin. We'll drop in later this week with more on the convention.