FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

JULY 16, 2007—YearlyKos Convention organizers announced today the twelve individuals serving on the Advisory Board for the YearlyKos Presidential Leadership Forum to be held August 4 in Chicago.

Advisory Board members are: Sen. Gary Hart; Vice President Walter Mondale; Sen. George McGovern; strategist Donna Brazile; John Aravosis, AmericaBlog; Eric Davis, Democracy for Illinois; Adam Green, MoveOn.org; Taylor Marsh, TaylorMarsh.com; Ari Melber, The Nation; James Rucker, ColorofChange.org; Andrea Batista Schlesinger, Drum Major Institute; and Christy Hardin Smith, Firedoglake.com.

Organizers say the event—the first ever collaborative presidential forum with both a respected blogger and a leading member of the traditional media as moderators—will encourage substantive discussions that transcend the competitive nature of most joint appearances on the campaign trail. Candidates will also spend time in intimate, unscripted citizen dialogues with attendees.

"Our goal is to provide a citizen-driven forum by truly democratizing the discussion and providing a meaningful role for regular citizens and grassroots movements to engage, vet and judge our country's potential leaders, both face-to-face and online," said YearlyKos Convention Executive Director Gina Cooper. "We are honored to be hosting this historic forum and grateful to our Advisory Board and moderators for lending their expertise to help make it possible."

Confirmed candidates include Sen. Hillary Clinton, Sen. John Edwards, Sen. Barack Obama, Gov. Bill Richardson, and Sen. Christopher Dodd.

Matt Bai, writer for The New York Times Magazine and author of a forthcoming book on Democratic politics, and Joan McCarter, contributing editor at Daily Kos, will moderate. Author and blogger Dr. Jeffrey Feldman will facilitate questions from convention attendees and those submitted in advance from tens of thousands of blog readers.

Citizen questions will be vetted by the YearlyKos Presidential Leadership Forum Advisory Board.

"We live in an Internet age with an abundance of information, and while we can visit a website to read about a candidate's policies or hear the latest speech, there is still no substitute for real live answers to real life questions," said Cooper. "The candidates are showing their commitment as leaders and patriots by lifting the conversation beyond electoral politics."

YearlyKos Convention 2007 will take place August 2–5, 2007 at the McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago, Illinois. In addition to the forum, the conference will include panels and caucuses led by national and international experts; prominent nationally recognized political, issue and policy-oriented speakers; a progressive film screening series; and the most concentrated gathering of high-profile progressive bloggers to date.

The forum and convention are open to media coverage. For more information about the YearlyKos Convention or for credentials, visit www.yearlykosconvention.org/press.

ABOUT THE YEARLYKOS CONVENTION
The YearlyKos Convention is an annual convention gathering people from all walks of life who belong to the Netroots community, the US-based (but globally focused and inclusive) non-partisan grassroots community that uses the internet and blogs as primary tools for expressing viewpoints; building consensus; acting to change the status quo; mobilizing huge numbers of people and informing each other and the world about current events, grassroots actions, networks, meetings, policy and more.