Blogosphere Day

From dKosopedia

Category: Blogs

Blogosphere Day is held throughout the progressive blogosphere annually on July 19th. The day celebrates the blogosphere's positive and widely-recognized impact on politics, and each year a fundraiser is held to advance the blogosphere's efforts.

The tradition we now know as Blogosphere Day began in 2004 when, in a surprise statement, incumbent Rep. Jim Greenwood (PA-08) announced his retirement. Democratic challenger Ginny Schrader, with $7000 in the bank, came to the attention of the nationwide blogosphere via the front page of DailyKos, and over $30,000 poured into her campaign that day. Just three weeks earlier, a brand new fundraising platform for Democrats -- ActBlue -- was launched, and quickly adopted by those raising who were raising funds for Ginny Schrader. The movement started by Schrader in 2004 led to Democratic candidate Patrick Murphy capturing the PA-08 seat in 2006.

In 2005, Democratic candidate and Iraq War veteran Paul Hackett burst onto the national media radar after raising $100,000 online through ActBlue as part of the second annual Blogosphere Day. His August 2, 2005 special election for the OH-02 U.S. House seat was said to be a sure thing for the GOP. But when a few local activists took an interest in the campaign, their efforts snowballed into furious two weeks of fundraising -- ignited by Blogosphere Day -- in which ActBlue sent the Hacket campaign $500,000. The funds helped closed a 32-point Bush-Kerry gap to within 4, and put the country on notice that even the GOP's safe districts wouldn't be safe in 2006.

In 2006, Democratic candidate Ned Lamont was the beneficiary of the third annual Blogosphere Day. Already a movement candidate within the online community, Lamont raised $450,000 online through ActBlue and would go on to win the Democratic nomination for the the U.S. Senate in Connecticut. The race highlighted the importance of opposition to Iraq war as the key issue among voters who turned control of both the Senate and Congress to Democrats that fall.

In 2007, the fourth annual Blogosphere Day focuses on supporting ActBlue to build online fundraising infrastructure for the 2008 Democratic campaigns. ActBlue's innovative approach will leverage the funds raised into the technology and human resources that, over the next 18 months, will change the dynamics of power up and down the ballot.