Ben Carnacki

Name:	Ben Carnacki
Location:	Gerrardstown, WV
Where I blog:	West Virginia Blue Daily Kos The Mystery of the Haunted Vampire

My Experience in progressive politics:

I've volunteered for political campaigns in West Virginia and helped inform and organize efforts through the West Virginia Blue site.

My personal volunteering highlight:

There’s several involving West Virginia Blue I could mention, but a personal highlight was the success of the “Got a happy story?” series at Daily Kos I began in January 2005. It helped lift the spirits of many people in the dark days of Bush’s second coronation. It’s a feature that others have continued. Another personal highlight occurred in my pre-blogging days when a friend at a local sheriff’s office told me of a widow in her eighties of a World War I veteran whose Social Security benefits had been cut off due to a clerical error that had listed her as deceased. Her phone and electricity had been disconnected, she was down to about four cans of food in her pantry, and she had just days worth of firewood for her wood stove, her sole source of heat and it was October. Although Social Security had been informed of the error, and he had helped her apply for other assistance, she needed help immediately. I spoke to her and wrote about her plight and within hours bags of groceries and truckloads of firewood arrived at her home in the woods, anonymous donors paid her overdue electric and phone bills and pre-paid for several months in advance, and a U.S. senator helped speed up the restoration of her Social Security checks. What I wrote didn’t change the world, but it did change her world.

Steps I've taken to combine on-line and off-line action:

I've recruited volunteers online to campaign in Berkeley County and then joined them.

Why I want to attend Netroots Nation:

To network with other civic minded activists. To learn strategies to bring more progressive groups in West Virginia to the blogosphere to find common ground in a state that is often divided by regionalism.

What I want to get out of Netroots Nation:

New tactics to broaden the netroots at the local and state level in West Virginia.

What is a progressive activist:

A progressive activist just doesn't write about a better future, but also tries to find ways to make it happen.

How I think blogs fit into the progressive movement:

Blogs help amplify the message of the progressive movement and helps counter the negative messages of the right and the media.

Blogs can help unite people active in different causes to find common ground.

How I think Democracy For America fits into the progressive movement:

The training from Democracy for America helped some of our Berkeley County Democrats active in December 2004 when many local Democrats gave up. Now the county association is the biggest in the entire state.

In 10 words or less, create a bumper-sticker slogan against John McCain:

If you have enjoyed the past 8 years, vote McCain