Draft Larry Lessig for Congress!

Fred writes:

The movement to draft Lawrence Lessig has now picked up considerable steam and a blog has been launched to keep track. After the death of representative Lantos Lessig's district has an open seat in Congress and a special election will be held in early April.
Lessig is rumored to be considering the position and has registered the domain change-congress.com. California's 12th Congressional district is quite possibly the best place for the cyber-intellectual to run for office as it is the epicenter of US tech world and his views on technology, copyright, and corruption are likely to resonate with constituents.
But Lessig needs to know there will be members of his community that will support him if he decides to run, so now is the time to donate (funds will go to CC if Lessig doesn't end up running), buy some t-shirts and watch the videos. We're looking to get 1,000 people committed to volunteer or donate through ActBlue by the end of the week, so please sign up if you're interested in helping out.

I write books. My latest is a YA science fiction novel called Homeland (it's the sequel to Little Brother). More books: Rapture of the Nerds (a novel, with Charlie Stross); With a Little Help (short stories); and The Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow (novella and nonfic). I speak all over the place and I tweet and tumble, too.

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zachlipton

Lessig is a great scholar, advocate, and man, but I really can’t support him for the CA-12 seat. Jackie Speier, the Democrat currently running for that seat, is an extraordinary politician who’s time in Congress is well due. It would be a shame for Lessig to take that away from her. In any case, I can’t help but feel he’s more valuable as a scholar and advocate focusing on single important issues, rather than as a member of Congress where his attention would be divided amongst many matters under debate.
Melissa at ActBlue

Hi I’m Melissa Ryan, the Netroots Coordinator at ActBlue. Larry Lessig is now a candidate. The contributions from his draft fund will be transferred to his campaign account. You can now contribute to Lessig’s campaign or create your own fundraising page here.

If anyone has any further questions my email is Melissa@actblue.com
pacbeller

I have to agree with zacklipton. Jackie Speier is an exceptional all-around candidate, and I think she has always struck me as a highly intelligent and sincere woman who would likely be friendly to what Lawrence Lessig had to say. I say that not just from wishful thinking, but because she led the fight in the California State Senate against banks selling their customer’s private information to third parties, and to keep medical records private. She has a track record of working to protect citizen privacy. I hope I am recalling this correctly, but I seem to recall that her efforts in this area were fought, if not partially thwarted, by the Republicans and Bushies in Washington. If I lived in that district, I would vote for her in a heartbeat.
AceJohnny

I dunno. He wants to fight corruption, but I’m afraid he’d get mired in the politicking marsh that is congress…
Sean Eric FAgan

I’m hesitant to use the web sites, due to politicians and political organizations choosing to spam me despite frequent and blatant requests to not do so… is there a physical location I can mail a check or letter to?
Mllerustad

While I would prefer a Justice Lessig or Attorney General Lessig, if a Congress seat is the opportunity of the moment I’m more than in favor of it.

If Lessig can walk the anti-corruption walk that he talks about (or will be talking about in the coming years), it’s all the better for shaming less-scrupulous politicians.
Zac Garrett

“Paid for by ActBlue (www.actblue.com) and not authorized by any candidate or candidate’s committee. Contributions to ActBlue are not tax deductible.”

Sorry, I dont trust that site. I will donate money to him if he does become an official candidate with a trustworthy web site.
Sean Eric FAgan

ActBlue is, to the best of my knowledge, trustworthy. Their purpose in life is to support politicians and candidates who support certain platforms; they collect money and funnel it on.

You can, of course, make your own judgment, but I do trust them to send the money where they say they will.

(Most of my knowledge of ActBlue comes from DailyKos. They’re obviously biased ;).)