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April 10, 2006

Just regular guys

I met Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (Daily Kos) and Jerome Armstrong (co-founder MYDD) this afternoon. They were in Portland along with Kari Chisolm (Blue Oregon) and others to put on an event for state legislative candidate Rob Brading. Over the weekend Markos and Jerome also did a book signing at Powells for their new book Crashing the Gate: Netroots, Grassroots, and the Rise of People-Powered Politics.

Before the scheduled event for Rob Brading there was an informal get-together downstairs in the McMenamin's Kennedy School Courtyard restaurant of about a dozen or so bloggers, including Kari, Markos and Jerome. Carla and I joined in the round... er... elbow-shaped table discussion which was nothing more momentus than just shooting the breeze. Nothing formal at all. Just a handful of bloggers talking politics, blogs and whatever else came up. Mostly one-on-one or in small groups, except for the initial introductions that is.

Being a life-long people watcher I found the whole experience interesting. Markos' blog gets something like a million hits per day. Jerome's is in the top tier at over 25k per day. So you might expect a certain primadonna aspect that often comes with notoriety of being big-time bloggers and acclaimed authors. But, nothing could be further from the truth.

Markos has a very warm and genuine smile. Almost infectious, really. Nothing even remotely fake or forced about it. And when he talks to you he looks you right in the eye and gives you his full attention.

Jerome was quieter. Although they both have endured a rigorous schedule and were likely both experiencing varying degrees of exhaustion at the time. I noticed that Jerome really listened, though. You could almost see the wheels turning in his head as he visibly considered what he was hearing. And, like Markos, he was very attentive and sincere.

All in all they're just regular guys like me.

I respect that.

Posted by Kevin at April 10, 2006 10:24 PM