Lawrence Lessig, congresscritter nominee
Summary: With a Bay Area Congressional seat set for special election in two months, Berkman Executive Director John Palfrey has launched a grassroots campaign to convince Professor Lawrence Lessig to run. A 2,000 member (and counting) Facebook group agrees.
TWiL regular John Palfrey announced a great idea last week while we were recording the forthcoming episode: a Facebook group drafting Professor Lessig for a recently vacated Congressional seat. Says John, "It’s high time we had our first true Free Culture candidate for public office." The Facebook group is about to hit 2,000 members, and there's an official Web site as well (get your badges here). Seems appropriate in an election season so unusually filled with promise for needed change.
For his part, Professor Lessig isn't ruling anything out, telling Ars Technica, "At this point, I'm not really able to say anything. I've been kind of stunned by the push of many, and am away with my family this weekend to think things through." More from Ars Technica, TechCrunch, and Slashdot.
[Update, 2/20/08 6:51 a.m.] TWiL #12 went up yesterday.
[Update, 2/20/08 6:55 a.m.] Via Jonathan Zittrain, a new site from Professor Lessig, lessig08.org: "I have decided I want to give as much energy as I can to the Change Congress movement. I will decide in the next week or so whether it makes sense to advance that movement by running for Congress."
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Talkback
Might hurt him
Sorry to say, it's easier to be a nonpartisan advocate as a private citizen than it is as an elected official.
Republican it is
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