I've been at YearlyKos, a liberal political blogger convention, here in Chicago for the past few days and had a chance to perform (opening for Howard Dean) and attend a number of panels and sessions including a breakout session with Sen. Barack Obama. I asked him a question about his unfortunate support of coal (more on that in another post) and afterward was interviewed by Fox News Chicago (who I dissed hard) and a New York Times reporter.

The NYT reporter asked me about many things, including what I thought of the dispute between John Edwards/Barack Obama vs. Hillary Clinton the roll of lobbyist money in campaigns. He chose to use a quote related to my thoughts on why the candidates bothered to show up, and did I consider the YearlyKos a necessary campaign stop for any would-be president.

Here's the quote

"What you have here is a bunch of micro-media outlets that connect to thousands upon thousands of people — influential people," said Baratunde Thurston, who writes a political blog in Boston. "The candidates would be foolish to miss out on an opportunity like this."

And here's a link to the full article: Democratic Candidates Spar at 'Netroots' Forum