Who is who

Today I want to dedicate this post to the bloggers who write for Daily Kos. One of the main reasons why I chose this blog was the fact that it is not run by a single person. When Markos Moulitsas Zúniga (> picture on the left hand side) founded Daily Kos in May 26, 2002 many authors joined him. I think, the fact that these authors embody very different professional backgrounds (e.g. actor, playwright, attorney, doctor, housewife, ...) and come from different areas in the US (e.g. California, Ohia, Washington, New Mexico, ...) enriches the blog. It makes the blog more authentic, reliable and well-balanced. I really like the possibility to choose among a great variety of standpoints.
But although there are so many differences, most of Daily Kos' bloggers have one standpoint in common that keeps them together - they favor Obama. Every day Daily Kos publishes the "State of the nation poll" which illustrates Obama's popularity. Today the poll says that 54 % of the participators favor Obama. Let's wait and see how it will be tommorrow...

At first

When my academic first told me that I would have to create my own blog in the course of the semester I was a little bit upset. I am definitely not a computer expert and I was afraid of sitting in front of my notebook understanding nothing. But with the help of the easy instructions on blogger.com even I could finally create my first own blog. So thanks to blogger.com!

But now, let me tell you who I am and what this blog is about.
My name is Anna-Maria Kramer and I am studying journalism at the TU Dortmund in my third semester. I chose AMK as pseudonym because it was my nickname in my basketball team at school. Cool, he?;-)
I created this blog in the context of the course "The 2008 Elections: US Political Culture and the New Media". The topic was "Blogging about a blogger" and I chose "Daily Kos" - one of the most famous political blogs in the US. I really liked the idea of dealing with a blog that has a certain influence in the blogosphere. Daily Kos proudly states: "Among luminaries posting diaries on the site are President Jimmy Carter, Senator Barack Obama, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi, and dozens of other senators, congressmen, and governors." In addition, it has 2.5 million unique visitors per month and 215,000 registered users. The blog has eight paid staffers and about 30 constant writers. It has its own TV program and publishes its own daily "State of the nation poll" which illustrates Obama's actual popularity among the Americans.
As you can see there are a lot of things to discover during my "Daily-Kos-week" and I would like you to join me. See you tommorrow!


P.S.:Before you go on reading my posts it is important to keep in mind that Daily Kos is a biased blog. Most of the authors favor Obama.