<?php $nav = "http://" . $_SERVER['HTTP_HOST'] . "/du_includes/navigation.php"; include($nav); ?>

Blogology

Conaway Haskins


 

Caught in the Webb:

Lowell Feld

 

On the heels of Jim Webb’s victory in the Virginia Democratic Senate primary, Lowell Feld has seen his profile raised among Virginia bloggers. Originally known for helping create the Raising Kaine blog and political action committee ahead of the November 2005 statewide elections, Feld, a former federal bureaucrat, helped lead the move to “draft” Webb as the man to face popular Republican incumbent Sen. George Allen. Speaking on the impact of blogs on Webb’s electoral success, “Mudcat” Saunders, a top Webb adviser said, “The bloggers were driving this.”

 

Q: Lowell, what is your background - where you're from, education, job, family?

 

LF: I was born in New York City (1962) and raised in Connecticut. I have a bachelor's degree in international relations and psychology from the University of Pennsylvania (1984). I have a Master's Degree in Middle East Studies, with concentrations in international economics and national security policy, from the George Washington University (1986). Until about 3 months ago, I worked as a "team leader" at the U.S. Energy Information Administration, running that agency's most popular program on its website (the Country Analysis Briefs) and also covering world oil markets. I live in Arlington and have been married for 10 years to a beautiful jazz singing Scots-Irishwoman.

 

Q: You seem to have a deep interest in politics. Do you have a long history of involvement in it? You also mentioned being supportive of John McCain in past years, but now you are an active Democrat. How do you account for this?

 

LF: I first got involved in politics when I was 13 years old as a Teenage Republican (TAR) - believe it or not! - in Connecticut. As a TAR, I did volunteer work (envelope stuffing, mainly) for Ford/Dole. In 1979, I attended former Senator Lowell Weicker's one-week summer intern program in Washington, DC. Weicker was definitely my kind of Republican, unfortunately a dying breed these days. In 1980, with the rise of the religious right and the "supply side"/"trickle down" pseudo-economists, I started moving away from the Republican Party, casting my first-ever Presidential vote for John Anderson. After that, I moved more and more firmly into the Democratic camp, in large part because the Republican Party had left me as it became more and more extreme on a wide variety of issues. I also came to realize increasingly that my true political philosophy was a sort of Teddy Roosevelt Progressivism, combined with the best of FDR, Harry Truman, JFK, LBJ and RFK.

 

While in grad school and as a federal employee, I was only lightly involved in politics, although I followed it closely. After Bush stole the 2000 election from Al Gore, and then after 9/11, I became re-politicized. In 2003, I was heavily involved in the Draft Wesley Clark movement, running two grassroots websites (“Enviros for Clark” and “Hispanics for Clark”) and serving on Clark's "environmental leadership council." When Clark lost, I volunteered for Kerry/Edwards, started Raising Kaine, and finally took the initiative with a few friends to get Draft James Webb off the ground.

 

By the way, my vote for John McCain in 2000 was based on my feeling that McCain was a straight-talking, Teddy Roosevelt Progressive. Unfortunately, it has turned out that this is not the case.

 

Q: Where did the impetus for launching the Raising Kaine blog come from? What influenced the decision to create a PAC? What are the upsides/downsides with that operational model?

 

LF: Depression. I'm only half kidding. After Kerry lost in November 2004, like a lot of Democrats and Progressives, I was really, really bummed out. For about 1 ½ months I wallowed in a major funk, kind of going through the stages of grieving (Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, Acceptance). Except I seem to have skipped the "acceptance" part. Ha ha. Instead, I went back to anger and decided I had to fight the right wing. I looked up from my semi-depressive semi-stupor and said, "Hey, there's an important election IN MY OWN STATE next year. I talked to my good friend Eric the Super Techie, and we decided to start up the blog called "Raising Kaine." The goal was to help elect Tim Kaine, but also to "raise Cain" in a broader sense, taking it to the so-called "conservatives" for a change. I feel like we've certainly done that the past 1 ½ years.

 

Regarding the state PAC, we (Brian Patton and I) decided to try our hand at raising money to help elect Virginia candidates. We managed to raise enough money to run several newspaper ads, but I wish we could have done more. Honestly, I see no particular downside to having a Virginia state PAC, except that it takes some time and attention.

 

Q: Raising Kaine offers itself as the "Voice of Progressive Virginia" and refers to historic national politicians such as Teddy Roosevelt, FDR, JFK and the like in term of ideology. What is Raising Kaine's vision of progressive politics? Are there any Virginia politicians who typify this perspective?

 

LF: It's hard to speak of Raising Kaine's overall vision, since we are a group blog with a mix of contributors.  Current participants in RK range from conservative Democrats to traditional liberals to former Republicans to "TR/RFK Progressives" like myself.  Personally, my goal with RK is to elect strong, fighting Democrats, while pushing for Progressivism as much as possible.

 

In my view, Progressivism transcends stale "liberal" and "conservative" labels, or any particular political party for that matter.  Historically, Progressives fought against party bosses, robber barons, monopolies, and child labor. They fought for good government, women's suffrage, public education, progressive taxation, direct election of senators, and the environment. In general, I see Progressivism as distinct from modern American liberalism in that Progressivism is not based on narrow, "interest group politics." Instead, it looks towards a broad, sweeping vision for a better and greater America – not just for the rich, but for ALL Americans.

 

In today's politics, I would say that Wesley Clark and Jim Webb both fit the mold of strong "Progressives." In Virginia specifically, I certainly see Mark Warner and Tim Kaine as fighting for good government, the environment, public education, and a "forward together" viewpoint in general.

 

Q. Your blog was given some credit for helping Gov. Kaine win last November. Can you identify specific ways in which RK made a difference?

 

LF: I have no empirical evidence that Raising Kaine helped (or hurt) Tim Kaine win his election last year. However, what we TRIED to do was to constantly put out the good word about Kaine, to counter misinformation and distortions from the Republicans, and to get the truth out to the media and general public about who Jerry Kilgore was and what he stood for. In addition to the blog, we produced flyers that were distributed at Metro stops and other public places/events. And we used our PAC to publish several newspaper ads in favor of Tim Kaine.

 

Q: These days, RK is best known for being the leading blog in favor of the Jim Webb Senate candidacy. Top campaign officials and political observers acknowledge the bloggers played a major role. What was it that drew you to the Webb effort?

 

LF. After Tim Kaine's victory in November 2005, my thoughts – and several of my friends and colleagues – turned to 2006, an important mid-term election year. One of the top priorities, in my mind, was for the Democrats to find someone who could seriously compete with, and possibly defeat, George Allen. In late October 2005, Jim Webb said in a newspaper interview that he was thinking about running as a Democrat for U.S. Senate from Virginia. When I saw that, I immediately started researching Webb, and was extremely impressed with his background and political potential. I e-mailed him in the hopes of setting up an interview with Raising Kaine. Instead of an interview, I ended up corresponding with Webb through late December, when I finally had the opportunity to sit down – along with Josh Chernila and Lee Diamond – and talk with him for about 1 ½ hours.

 

All three of us, from different wings of the Democratic Party, were extremely impressed with Webb's character and politics.  However, we were concerned that he might not run if he didn't believe he would be welcomed by Democrats. To help remedy this situation, within a few days we started the "draft" movement as a means of convincing Webb that there was significant support for his candidacy. In a little over a month, we collected around 1,000 online "signatures" and $40,000 in pledges, all through blogging and other "word of mouth."  I personally believe that this show of support helped encourage Jim Webb to throw his hat in the ring (Webb himself said that we "got him into this"), although obviously there were many other influences and factors at work.

 

Q. While it was clear that RK was leading the "Draft Webb" effort, what role did RK play with respect to the campaign once Webb declared?

 

LF. Once Webb declared [his candidacy], the vast majority of RK members ratcheted up their efforts even more in support of Webb. Of course, we kept blogging on RK, Daily Kos, etc.  In addition, most of us volunteered dozens or even hundreds of hours of our time phone banking, canvassing, "tabling," marching in parades, talking up Webb to politicians we knew, etc. We also gave money, of course, to the Webb for Senate campaign. I believe that all this "offline" activity was at least as important, probably more so, than the "online" activity. This is a key point: We are not just "bloggers" floating ethereally out in cyberspace; we are citizen activists who are willing to get out there and get our hands dirty in the "real world" as well.

 

Q. During the campaign you and RK took a lot of hits for your actions from Democrats and Republicans alike. What do you make of these criticisms? Did they affect your work on behalf of Webb?

 

LF. Actually, I feel like we received far more praise than criticism, although sometimes the critics were the loudest (unfortunately). I believe that SOME of the criticism stemmed from people who were upset about a challenge to their "chosen" candidate, Harris Miller. Sad to say, but it appears that SOME establishment Democrats feel threatened by the rising influence of the "netroots," instead of embracing it as a tremendous opportunity for growing the party. Others might not have liked our tone at times, which overall was wildly enthusiastic about Webb and not at all friendly towards Harris Miller (especially after his campaign started attacking Webb as anti-women and anti-African American). In general, although there may have been a downside, I feel like our efforts helped the Webb effort. I also believe that if you asked everyone who was involved, the vast majority would do it all over again in very much the same way.

 

Q. Now that the primary is over, what will RK's role be for the general election campaign? How will you and RK respond to the low turnout numbers outside of Northern Virginia and Webb's under performance in locales with a significant African-American presence?

 

LF. Tough questions. On RK's role, I'd say that we will attempt to do what we did last year with Tim Kaine and Jerry Kilgore, but now with a much larger readership base. Much of what we do or don't do will depend on the resources we have at our disposal. We are always looking to expand our reach into groups that traditionally don't get their news online, but that's easier said than done. We also are always looking for contributors from different parts of Virginia, from different walks of life, and from different ethnic/racial groups. Regarding Webb's "under performance" with African Americans, I believe that largely stems from negative mailings by the Miller campaign, and a financial inability by the Webb campaign to respond effectively. My own view is that Jim Webb will be a great friend to African Americans – and all Virginians, for that matter - when he is in the US Senate.

 

Q. What does the future hold for Lowell Feld? For RK? Are you attempting to be the "DailyKos" of Virginia or do you plan to "go national" on your own?

 

LF. What does the future hold for me? I have no idea. All I know is what I'm going to keep fighting against - "conservativism" in all its guises – and what I'm going to keep fighting FOR - Progressive values and turning Virginia "blue." For now, I think that's enough of a goal, in addition to helping elect Jim Webb and as many Democratic Congressional candidates as possible this year. And paying attention to my wife, cleaning the house once in a while, going out for a beer with friends occasionally, etc.

 

-- June 26, 2006

  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

About Blogology. Conaway Haskins periodically profiles players in Virginia's vibrant blogosphere.

 

About Conaway Haskins. Conaway Haskins is a nonprofit executive & freelance writer in Chesterfield County. Read his profile here.

 

Contact him at:

conaway[at]gmail.com