Daily Kos - YearlyKos Convention

YearlyKos Convention

In June 2006, members of Daily Kos organized the first ever political blogger convention, called YearlyKos, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was attended by approximately 1000 bloggers and featured appearances by prominent Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, California Senator Barbara Boxer, General Wesley Clark, Governors Mark Warner, Bill Richardson, Tom Vilsack and DNC Chair Howard Dean. The event was widely covered in the traditional media including Capitol Hill Blue, The Boston Globe and MSNBC. C-Span also carried portions of the convention.

The event was generally considered a success. YearlyKos 2007 took place in Chicago in August 2007, at which time it was announced that future conventions would be known as Netroots Nation. In 2008, the conference was held in Austin, Texas, with a surprise visit from Al Gore. The 2009 conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from August 13–16. Pittsburgh was chosen in part due to its environmental merits, as the city is a leader in green building, with more square footage than any other city in the country. In addition, the city has a rich labor union history, which also was a factor in its selection.