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Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (born September 11, 1971), often known by his username and former military moniker "Kos", is the founder and main author of Daily Kos, a left-wing weblog focusing on progressive, liberal, and Democratic Party politics. Moulitsas currently resides in Berkeley, California, with his wife and son.

Moulitsas was born in Chicago, Illinois to a Salvadoran mother and Greek father, and grew up in El Salvador. (Following Latin American custom, his last name is actually "Moulitsas", not "Zúniga".) His family moved back to the United States in 1980 due to the Salvadoran civil war. He served in the U.S. Army from 1989 through 1992; while stationed in Germany, and after missing "by a hair" deployment to the Gulf War, he changed his political affiliation from Republican to Democrat. He has described the military as "perhaps the ideal society -- we worked hard but the Army took care of us in return."*

After leaving the army, he attended Northern Illinois University and wrote for (and eventually managed) the Northern Star college newspaper. He later received his Juris Doctor degree from Boston University School of Law.

Moulitsas founded Daily Kos in May 2002, and the site quickly rose to prominence. In its first year, Daily Kos received over one million unique visitors. During the United Kingdom general election in 2005, Moulitsas was hired by the British daily newspaper The Guardian to write elections analysis for their weblog. His book with Jerome Armstrong (of MyDD) titled Crashing the Gate: Grassroots, Netroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics was released in March 2006.

In addition to political pursuits, Moulitsas, along with Tyler Bleszinski (of Athletics Nation), is a cofounder of SB Nation, a network of sports blogs. The network now covers all thirty teams of the MLB and has a few blogs covering the NBA, NFL, College Sports and Pro Cycling.

Controversy and growth

The Daily Kos blog lost many of its political advertisers after Moulitsas published a controversial blog post in April 2004 about the non-US military Blackwater USA employees, whom he described as mercenaries, who were killed and mutilated in Fallujah, saying, "Let the people see what war is like. This isn't an Xbox game. There are real repercussions to Bush's folly. That said, I feel nothing over the death of merceneries. They aren't in Iraq because of orders, or because they are there trying to help the people make Iraq a better place. They are there to wage war for profit. Screw them." John Kerry's website removed a link to Daily Kos. The next day, Moulitsas said he was wrong to make those comments [http://www.dailykos.com/story/2004/4/2/175739/8203" target="_blank" >*, and over time, Democratic candidates returned to Daily Kos. Jimmy Carter, John Kerry, Barbara Boxer, Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi and many other Democratic Senators, Congresspeople, Governors and candidates now post there regularly, and the site now has nearly 100,000 registered members.

As well, the inaugural YearlyKos conference for Daily Kos bloggers was held from June 8 to June 11, 2006, in Las Vegas, Nevada, and was widely seen as successful. Guests included Nevada U.S. Senator and Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, former Virginia Governor and potential 2008 U.S. presidential candidate Mark Warner, Howard Dean, and other well-known figures.

Effectiveness

A common criticism of Moulitsas is that his endorsed candidates rarely win their races. Kos answers this by pointing out that he does not endorse sure-things and instead picks long shots where the progressive candidate has very little chance. Even so, he has endorsed several victorious candidates including Howard Dean for chair of the DNC, Jon Tester in the Democratic U.S. Senatorial primary in Montana in 2006, and James H. Webb in the Democratic U.S. Senatorial primary in Virginia in 2006. High-profile losses include Paul Hackett in Ohio's 2nd Congressional District in 2005 and Francine Busby in California's 50th Congressional District in a special election in 2006. However, both districts are widely described as heavily Republican.

Trivia

  • Moulitsas is one of two real-life people portrayed by actors on The West Wing.
  • Moulitsas appears in a television commercial for Ned Lamont's Senate campaign, peering through Lamont's window and storming his house as an enthusiastic supporter.

Gallery

This has some higher resolution images. Image:Moulitsas1.jpg Image:Moulitsas2.jpg

External links

1971 births | Living people | American bloggers | Chicagoans | United States Army soldiers | Political consultants | People from Illinois | Greek-Americans

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This article is licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License. It uses material from the "Markos Moulitsas Zúniga".

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