OpenLeft was a
political blog
A blog (a truncation of "weblog") is a discussion or informational website published on the World Wide Web consisting of discrete, often informal diary-style text entries (posts). Posts are typically displayed in reverse chronological order ...
founded July 9, 2007 by Matt Stoller,
Chris Bowers
Chris Bowers (born January 23, 1974) is a blogger for DailyKos and a manager of their email list. He was a blogger and co-founder of OpenLeft, and was until July 2007 a front-page blogger for MyDD. His focus is on polling and data-driven analy ...
, originally of
MyDD
MyDD was the first large collaborative politically progressive American politics blog. It was established by Jerome Armstrong in 2001. Its name was originally short for "My Due Diligence." In 2005, MyDD was profiled in Campaigns and Elections ...
, and
Mike Lux, a former official in the
White House
The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. president since John Adams in 1800. ...
under
President
President most commonly refers to:
*President (corporate title)
*President (education), a leader of a college or university
*President (government title)
President may also refer to:
Automobiles
* Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...
Bill Clinton
William Jefferson Clinton ( né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician who served as the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. He previously served as governor of Arkansas from 1979 to 1981 and agai ...
. Covering political and social issues from a
progressive
Progressive may refer to:
Politics
* Progressivism, a political philosophy in support of social reform
** Progressivism in the United States, the political philosophy in the American context
* Progressive realism, an American foreign policy par ...
standpoint, it spearheaded a number of causes, including focusing attention and criticism on the
Blue Dog Democrat
The Blue Dog Coalition (commonly known as the Blue Dogs or Blue Dog Democrats) is a caucus in the United States House of Representatives comprising centrist members from the Democratic Party. The caucus was founded as a group of conservative De ...
s and supporting
net neutrality
Network neutrality, often referred to as net neutrality, is the principle that Internet service providers (ISPs) must treat all Internet communications equally, offering users and online content providers consistent rates irrespective of co ...
. The website's campaign garnered criticism from a number of Democrats, including
Brian Baird
Brian Norton Baird (born March 7, 1956) is an American psychologist and politician. A member of the Democratic Party, he served as a U.S. representative for from 1999 to 2011.
After leaving the U.S. House of Representatives, he served as the p ...
.
On February 4, 2011 Bowers announced that Open Left would cease publishing new content, although previously published content would remain available. He explained, "As the people who founded the site, myself included, moved on to other projects, we have gradually run out of money to maintain operations."
''A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq''
Stoller endorsed and helped create the document ''
A Responsible Plan to End the War in Iraq'', a policy plan designed for progressive/liberal Democratic congressional challengers (or incumbents) to endorse and point to as their "plan" for the
Iraq War
{{Infobox military conflict
, conflict = Iraq War {{Nobold, {{lang, ar, حرب العراق (Arabic) {{Nobold, {{lang, ku, شەڕی عێراق (Kurdish languages, Kurdish)
, partof = the Iraq conflict (2003–present), I ...
. The plan had several high-profile military endorsers, including retired General
Paul Eaton
Paul D. Eaton (born 1950) is a former United States Army officer who commanded the operations to train Iraqi troops during Operation Iraqi Freedom. Eaton served in that capacity between 2003 and 2004, and then returned to the US to become Deputy ...
.
Collaborative legislation writing with Dick Durbin
In July 2007, Senator
Dick Durbin
Richard Joseph Durbin (born November 21, 1944) is an American lawyer and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Illinois, a seat he has held since 1997. A member of the Democratic Party, Durbin has served as the Senate Dem ...
(D-IL) visited OpenLeft to seek input into drafting broadband legislation in the Senate. The effort garnered notice for the coordination between senior lawmakers and bloggers.
Public option campaign
Throughout the health care debate in 2009 and 2010, Chris Bowers worked with readers at OpenLeft to maintain a public whip count on the supporters of a health care public option. His whip count was an attempt to demonstrate that there were in fact 51 Senators who would support a health care reform bill through reconciliation that included a public option. Chris also engaged in a series of posts demonstrating that reconciliation was a viable means by which to pass a public option. Upon proving 51 Senators existed for such a goal, OpenLeft, in partnership with
CREDO Action, bought ad space in traditional media sources such as The Washington Post, Slate, Roll Call and The Hill, funded by its readers. The ads were aimed at
Majority Leader Reid and President Obama with the message of “no excuses”, pointing to the whip count, and asking Reid to put a public option in the merged Senate bill, which he later did.
Net neutrality
Since its inception, OpenLeft has done significant work and reporting on the issue of net neutrality. OpenLeft's writers worked with Congressional and Senatorial candidates to encourage their campaigns to support net neutrality. Congressman and 2010 Senate candidate
Joe Sestak
Joseph Ambrose Sestak Jr. (born December 12, 1951) is an American politician and retired United States Department of the Navy, U.S. Navy officer. He represented in the United States House of Representatives, U.S. House of Representatives from ...
wrote a piece on the site voicing his support of the issue. Former OpenLeft writer Matt Stoller played an instrumental role in gaining a commitment from every Democratic Senatorial candidate in 2008 in favor of net neutrality.
Searching for John McCain
During the 2008 presidential campaign, Chris Bowers launched an initiative to influence search engine results for
John McCain
John Sidney McCain III (August 29, 1936 – August 25, 2018) was an American politician and United States Navy officer who served as a United States senator from Arizona from 1987 until his death in 2018. He previously served two terms ...
, and asked readers to do so as well. Readers raised the Google pageranking of links to certain articles on McCain's record so when voters searched for information on the candidate, those articles would be the first to come up. This effort helped voters become more familiar with McCain's negative history on issues such as Social Security, health care for children, and the Iraq war.
Protect Maine Equality
In 2009, Adam Bink wrote heavily on the "No On 1" campaign to protect Maine's marriage equality law, discussing the importance of a win for the LGBT and broader progressive movement, and encouraging readers to contribute. Over the course of the election, his efforts helped raise nearly $1.4 million on ActBlue, included over $8,000 via OpenLeft's "Better Democrats" page on ActBlue.
In October, Adam Bink raised money from OpenLeft readers to travel to Maine and report from on the ground. While in Maine, he engaged on a number of issues to elevate attention to the election, including rank-and-file Catholics' response to the Bishop's involvement; the emerging role of new media infrastructure in supporting the campaign; and pushing back on opposition efforts. He also filmed and produced a thank-you video from the campaign to the netroots and organized several online blogosphere fundraisers. Adam also co-produced the 3-2-1 Countdown for Equality designed to help online activists understand the who, what, and where needed for the three LGBT-related elections in November 2009 (Washington State, Maine, and Kalamazoo, MI). When it was “swarmed” by nearly 50 other prominent blogs, it became the equivalent of tens of thousands of dollars in free media in the final days of the election.
''The Progressive Revolution''
In January 2009, OpenLeft co-founder Mike Lux released a book title
''The Progressive Revolution: How the Best in America Came to Be'' In it, he discusses the history of conflicts between progressives and conservatives, disputes long-time conservative myths about progressive leaders and accomplishments, and details why the time is ripe for another “Big Change Moment.” The book was published by
Wiley & Sons
John Wiley & Sons, Inc., commonly known as Wiley (), is an American multinational publishing company founded in 1807 that focuses on academic publishing and instructional materials. The company produces books, journals, and encyclopedias, in p ...
. After its release, Lux went on a 60-event, 29-city book tour to discuss the book and the future of the progressive movement. He also wrote a series of posts from the road on what the mood is out in the states among progressive activists.
Movement-oriented campaigns
OpenLeft.com was known for being one of the few blogs on the internet to have built its own infrastructure, including its own email list, fundraising apparatus, and legislative contact tools for e-action. It is part of a left-leaning coalition of websites that pool their web space together to sell to advertisers. OpenLeft has used these resources to create several partnerships to interest progressive media and build broad action campaigns. Such partnerships include working with
CREDO
In Christian liturgy, the credo (; Latin for "I believe") is the Nicene-Constantinopolitan Creed – or its shorter version, the Apostles' Creed – in the Mass, either as a prayer, a spoken text, or sung as Gregorian chant or other musical setti ...
to create action campaigns on the public option, including buying ad space and creating petitions to Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid; Service Employees International Union (
SEIU
Service Employees International Union (SEIU) is a labor union representing almost 1.9 million workers in over 100 occupations in the United States and Canada. SEIU is focused on organizing workers in three sectors: healthcare (over half of members ...
) on building a coalition for health care action, and with Friends of the Earth to provide on-the-ground coverage in December 2009 of the climate change conference in Copenhagen.
Copenhagen Wrap Up: Climate crisis left unabated, diplomatic chasms created
OpenLeft, December 21, 2009
List of notable regular contributors
*Chris Bowers
Chris Bowers (born January 23, 1974) is a blogger for DailyKos and a manager of their email list. He was a blogger and co-founder of OpenLeft, and was until July 2007 a front-page blogger for MyDD. His focus is on polling and data-driven analy ...
* Mike Lux
*David Sirota
David J. Sirota (born November 2, 1975) is an American journalist, columnist at ''The Guardian'', editor for ''Jacobin'', author, television writer, and screenwriter. He is also a political commentator and radio host based in Denver. He is a natio ...
References
External links
Openleft.com
website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Openleft
American political blogs
Internet properties established in 2007