August 6, 2007 3:11 PM

Can You Help Get A Progressive Voice In Your Local Newspaper?

A few months ago, I told you that I was asked by Creators Syndicate to write a nationally syndicated, weekly newspaper column in the wake of the tragic death of our great hero Molly Ivins. Today, the column is being launched, and I need your help.

Over the course of the next month, Creators will be letting newspaper editors all over the country know that I will start writing new columns for national publication in early September. The more these editors hear from you - their local readers - that you would like to see the column printed in your local papers, the better the chance there is that they will run the column.

So, if you support my writing and think we need a strong, progressive populist voice to counter the glut of right-wing syndicated columnists on the editorial pages of local newspapers, then please email or call your local editorial page editors and let them know you'd like them to run my weekly Creators Syndicate column.

Make sure to be in touch with the editorial page or op-ed page editor of your local paper(s). And when they ask you for details about my column or about who I am, just point them to Creators' website that has five samples of my previous work posted, as well as a biography of me. My Creators' website can be found here and an Editor & Publisher story about the column can be found here.

Remember, Creators Syndicate columns go to all kinds of publications - big and small newspaper, daily and weekly newspapers, you name it. So the more publications you can reach out to, the better.

Also remember that if you do get in touch with your editors, be respectful and polite. This is a big opportunity for the progressive movement to amplify our agenda, and I find that in the newspaper arena, we can be most successful if we avoid browbeating. The fact is, progressives are grossly underrepresented on newspaper editorial pages - and with progressives making advances on all sorts of issues, there is a growing audience for progressive voices, so we have a convincing case to make on the merits.

Thank you in advance for your help with this. I realize this request is, at some level, self-serving in that I have a personal interest in wanting the column to get out as widely as possible. But, then, the reason I want it to get out widely is not for personal glory, but for the same reason I decided to become a writer in the first place - because I believe we need more progressive voices out there focusing not on elites or on palace dramas, but on the truly important issues like the Iraq War and the kitchen-table economic challenges ordinary Americans face every day. Additionally, unlike almost every other syndicated columnist in America, I live not on the coasts but in the heartland (in Colorado to be exact), and have lived all over the country (Montana, Chicago, San Diego, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C.). I think we need more coverage of the shifting sociocultural trends in the vast middle of the country - a part of the country often underrepresented in today's political debate.

Before she died, Molly was nice enough to write a column calling me "a new generation populist who instinctively understands that the only real questions are 'Who's getting screwed?' and "Who's doing the screwing?'" It was a real honor, and that is what this column is going to be all about.

As someone who tries ask those questions and write about the power Establishment, I can't sit back and rely on that same power Establishment for support - I rely on readers like you to help with endeavors like this. It is no understatement to say that my work could not be done without you and your support. Thank you again for all you do - and for your help.