Erik Moe Art & Design

Somehow my consumer choices have made it possible for marketers to confidently address me as “Yankees Fan.” I’m not sure where it all went wrong. Was it the arugula?

P.S. Win Twins!

By request (and against my better judgment), you can now support my residential campaign by buying these buttons at CafePress.

The Sunday before an election is traditionally a time when newspapers make endorsements. In that spirit, here are a few notes in support of two candidates for this coming Tuesday’s primaries and caucuses: Illinois Senator Barack Obama for the Democratic Presidential nomination and Al Franken as Senate nominee for the Democratic-Farmer-Labor party in my home state of Minnesota.

On the cold weekend morning when Sen. Obama announced his candidacy last winter, I had been living in Chicago for about four months. The widespread enthusiasm for Obama in Chicagoland seemed genuine, honest, and – despite constant fawning from media sources I tend to distrust – unmanufactured. As I worked on Chris Dodd’s campaign over the intervening year, I watched cable news dig into and tear apart every minute detail of the “top tier” candidates’ personal and political lives to justify their omnipresent “BREAKING NEWS” graphic. Amid this caustic environment, Obama has continued to turn out huge crowds and energize groups that have historically had little voice in the nominating process. His campaign has raised absurd amounts of money through small online donations, making him much more of a true “people’s candidate” than a candidate of corporations and the wealthy. His early decision to pursue community organizing in crime and poverty-ravaged neighborhoods of Chicago rather than the easy money of corporate law shows the kind of commitment to common good that should be at the core of a progressive Presidency.

Al Franken’s netroots-savvy campaign has similarly energized Minnesota progressives. Over the past several years he has done serious legwork across the state to prove that he is not a novelty candidate merely coasting on his celebrity. In his years as a comedian (sorry, “satirist”), author and radio commentator he has been a leading voice in the effort to reject the very framing of American politics: we do not live in a blue and red nation, but in a have and have-not nation – with the disparity growing rapidly. As a Minnesotan, I will be honored to have Franken take on Norm Coleman in November and add his name to the proud list of prominent progressive Minnesotans that includes Humphrey, Mondale, and Wellstone.

After much consideration, I am pleased to announce my candidacy for Resident of New York. Can I count on your support?

In a sign that the battle is indeed continuing, ex-Dodd über-blogger Matt Browner Hamlin and his always frequently sound commentary has a new home over at Hold Fast. Do stop by. While you’re visiting, complement him on his lovely tattoo-themed WordPress installation.

Image: Dodd concession speech at Temple for Performing Arts, Des Moines, Jan. 3, 2008

Thanks to all for the kind words on the Dodd campaign and our online efforts. I couldn’t have asked for a better introduction to online campaigning and working with the netroots than I had with the Dodd internet team: blogger Matt Browner Hamlin, internet director Tim Tagaris, data dude Brett Schenker, and tech directors Aaron Welch and Tim Cullen. The real props, of course, go to Senator Dodd who stayed true to himself and showed real leadership in the Senate and on the campaign trail regardless of what the poll numbers said. If all campaigns fought that way, we’d be living in some kind of Star Trek future world by now.

Meanwhile back in the Senate, the FISA bill Dodd fought back just before Christmas is coming back to the floor.

Stay tuned - the fight goes on.

This morning I’m on my way to Des Moines to help with Chris Dodd’s final push for the Iowa caucus. I haven’t blogged at all really about my work for the campaign these past months (graphics, web design). With Christmas behind us and the caucus just seven days away, it is long overdue that I educate all twelve of my readers a bit about Senator Dodd and why he deserves your consideration. Thankfully, Mike Caulfield of Blue Hampshire has done the hard work and put together a timely endorsement post that uses a great series of clippings from throughout the Senator’s long career to make a case for Dodd as an experienced change candidate. Also, he seems to be the only candidate who’s participated in a “donut fight.” Off to Iowa!

Three quick items posted from DC on a lovely September day:

1. My old stomping grounds at documentaries.about.com are up and running again. Stop by and say “hi” to to Jennifer Merin, your new guide to documentary film.
2. Good luck to Agnes Varnum, who is moving to Austin to work for the Austin Film Society.
3. I’ve been pondering A.J. Schnack’s About A Son Soundtrack Challenge for the past week or so. Perhaps I take these things too seriously. 14 songs to score a biopic about yourself? Maybe I’ll have the answers before Thanksgiving.

So, after an extended settling-in period, I’m finally starting the good habit of frequenting my neighborhood’s sole Minneapolis-worthy coffeeshop, Big Bear Cafe. I haven’t had a neighborhood coffeeshop to call my own in years, as the indie coffeeshops I lived near in Philly and Chicago suffered from any one of the many fatal flaws coffeeshops fall prey to (too claustrophobic, too much pressure to buy a $12 lunch, cigarette smoke, kitchen grease fumes, bad coffee, etc.). Big Bear does it right. It is spacious, filled with diverse neighborhood folk, has nice windows open to the outdoors, and (of course) good coffee. On Sunday morning the street outside was filled with a lovely farmers market and the only problem was a premature shortage of breakfast substantials.