YearlyKos - announces Dodd will be joining the party !

[Catchawave]

Press Release:

Second annual convention invites candidates to answer questions from the blogosphere and engage netroots participants in unscripted citizen dialogue

JUNE 12, 2007—YearlyKos Convention organizers announced today that Sen. Christopher Dodd confirmed his participation in a Presidential Leadership Forum to be held August 4 in Chicago.

Sen. Dodd, Connecticut's senior Senator since 1989 and a former U.S. Representative, joins Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama, and Gov. Bill Richardson as a participant in the event—the first ever collaborative presidential forum with both a respected blogger and a leading member of the traditional media as moderators. Confirmations from other candidates are forthcoming.

"Dodd has done significant netroots outreach and we are very excited about his joining the Leadership Forum," said YearlyKos Convention Executive Director Gina Cooper.

Organizers say the forum is an opportunity to use technology to empower citizens to engage and evaluate America's potential leaders, both face-to-face and online. Many political candidates, including Dodd, already frequently use sites like Daily Kos to dialogue with the public.

Matt Bai, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of a book on Democratic politics to be released in August, and Joan McCarter, contributing editor at Daily Kos, will moderate. Author and blogger Dr. Jeffrey Feldman will facilitate questions from convention attendees and those submitted in advance from tens of thousands of blog readers.

Organizers are asking candidates to spend time in intimate, unscripted citizen dialogues with attendees, encouraging substantive discussions that transcend the competitive nature of most joint appearances on the campaign trail.

"We live in an Internet age with an abundance of information, and while we can visit a website to read about a candidate's policies or hear the latest speech, there is still no substitute for real live answers to real life questions," said Cooper. "The forum is an opportunity to have a discussion about the issues that matter and hear detailed responses to the questions America needs answered."

YearlyKos Convention 2007 will take place August 2–5, 2007 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to the forum, the conference will include panels and caucuses led by national and international experts; prominent nationally recognized political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; a progressive film screening series; and the most concentrated gathering of high-profile progressive bloggers to date.

The forum and convention are open to media coverage. For more information about the YearlyKos Convention or for credentials, visit www.yearlykosconvention.org/press.

ABOUT YEARLYKOS CONVENTION
The YearlyKos Convention is an annual convention gathering people from all walks of life who belong to the Netroots community, the US-based (but globally focused and inclusive) non-partisan grassroots community that uses the internet and blogs as primary tools for expressing viewpoints; building consensus; acting to change the status quo; mobilizing huge numbers of people and informing each other and the world about current events, grassroots actions, networks, meetings, policy and more.

Will be fun! Hope there's a DU meetup too :hi: :party: :bounce:

More info: http://www.yearlykosconvention.org/