Observer » Kos Media LLC

Elsewhere: Numbers on Netroots, Book Sales

Wed, 23 Aug 2006 17:13:19 -0400

George Pataki hosted Republicans from the Granite State in Saratoga.

Daily Kos has August fundraising numbers from the netroots.

37% of of people surveyed by Pace University/New York Magazine want a definitive timetable for withdrawing troops from Iraq.

Rock Hackshaw wonders why the Times opted not to endorse indicted Brooklyn Assemblywoman Diane Gordon or either of her two challengers.

Empire Zone watches John Spencer's new ad and wonders "Has anyone actually seen them on television?"

And for anyone keeping track...the Spitzer biography is ranked 14,400 on the Amazon.com sales rank. Wayne Barrett's new book on Rudy Giuliani is ranked 752.

-- Azi Paybarah

Friday Blog Stroll

Fri, 14 Apr 2006 12:02:48 -0400

We swear this is a joke.

It's Good Friday, and we're still in holiday mode. So it seemed like a good time for a blog stroll, since so little else is happening out there.

Gawker has it completely unconfirmed that Bill and Hillary Clinton will be feted by Ron Burkle.

Media Bistro's Fishbowl NY blog points us to a Rob Corddry interview in the Onion where he discusses the Daily Show's nightly guests.

Sometimes now we have to offer disclaimers, where we didn't have to before. We have to actually say, "Look, I think you're really funny, but none of your jokes are going to make it on the air. So just answer my questions. Seriously."

And Daily Kos has an interesting take on a new Republican ad attacking Harry Reid.

—Nicole Brydson

Tasini? Not So Much.

Thu, 09 Feb 2006 16:42:50 -0400

For all the chatter about Hillary-as-lightning rod, her name doesn't seem to work any better as a fundraising tool on the anti-war left than it does on the (mostly fabled) Clinton-hating Right.

Stop Her Now, the most professional of the anti-Hillary operations, is now in debt. And the campaign of Jonathan Tasini, the liberal Clinton Senate challenger, had a remarkably poor first two months of fundraising, considering the wide attention he got on places like DailyKos and other energy centers of the Left.

He raised $24,236 from just 22 donors, according to his report to the Federal Elections Commission. (That's about $500 more than Stop Her Now raised, actually.) Barbara Ehrenreich maxed out. Lawrence Lessig chipped in. There was certainly no out-pouring of small-dollar Web support.

Tasini told me when he launched his campaign, "If there's a base of [financial and volunteer] support within about 30 to 60 days, I think this campaign has legs and is going to get off the ground.... This may not touch an nerve and then we're not going to be able to do it. We'll see."

Does 22 donors count as touching a nerve?

Kos

Thu, 05 Jan 2006 16:13:00 -0400

A couple of interesting Daily Kos pieces recently, including this very smart profile in Washington Monthly.

Also, in this Newsweek interview, Kos throws down a gauntlet: "Lieberman is going to get a primary challenger for his Senate seat next year if me and a lot of grass-roots groups have our way."

My instinct is that the media hype still exaggerates the electoral power of Internet politics (though it is growing fast), and that Lieberman will win handily, though a primary a huge headache for an incumbent. In any case, it seems a good opportunity to count the votes Kos pulls.

NOTE: Kos had some problems with the Washington Monthly piece, catalogued here. I'm not sure which side of the blogger/journo divide I am on this one, but it does seem wise to be careful when writing about people who can write back.

No Safe Districts?

Mon, 14 Nov 2005 15:48:00 -0400

A blogger over at DailyKos lists four New York congressional districts as among the likeliest Democratic pickups, though not that of Staten Island's Vito Fossella, who doesn't seem to have a challenger.

The post also takes the position, which seems a bit strong, but does reflect the way Democratic activists are feeling right now, that "There are no safe GOP districts in New York."