Jerome Armstrong

Jerome Armstrong (born February 26, 1964, in Los Angeles, California) is an American political strategist aligned with the Democratic Party. In 2001, he founded MyDD, a blog which covers politics with an openly Democratic partisan perspective, making him one of the first political bloggers. Armstrong coined the term "netroots", [cite news | title = Blog pioneer maps political strategy for 2008 | publisher = MSNBC | author = Tom Curry | date = 2006-03-02 | url = http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11624919/] is sometimes called "The Blogfather"cite web | title = The Blogfather | url = http://www.salon.com/news/feature/2006/05/31/armstrong/index_np.html | publisher = Salon.com | date = 31 May 2006 | accessdate = 2006-07-03 ] for having mentored many other famous bloggers such as Markos Moulitsas in their early years.cite web | title = The Blogfather | url = http://www.alternet.org/story/22233/ | publisher= AlterNet | date = 15 June 2005 | accessdate = 2006-07-03 ] He is credited as one of the architects of Howard Dean's '04 grassroots Presidential campaign, [cite web | title = Howard Dean's Net architect blasts ‘emergent’ punditocracy | publisher = The Register | author = Andrew Orlowski | date = 2004-01-30 | url = http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/01/30/howard_deans_net_architect_blasts/ ] and one of the leading web strategists in the world. [cite web | title = Paddick Signs Up Top US 'Blogfather' | publisher = Mayor Watch | date = 2008-03-28 | url = http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/Paddick-Signs-Up-Top-US-Blogfather-article_id-1465.html ]

Background

Jerome Armstrong was an environmental activist in the late 1980s, working with Greenpeace and Earth First!. He later served with the Peace Corps, spent a year and a half at a Buddhist monastery, served in Americorps, with the "I Have A Dream" program, and did field organizing in Portland, OR in the early 1990s. [cite web | title = Key People-Former Gov. Mark Warner (D-VA) | publisher = GWU | date = 14 October 2006 | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/chrnprec08/warnerorgp.html ] Armstrong has graduate degrees in Conflict Resolution and Applied Linguistics. [cite web | title = Netroots | publisher = New York Times | author = William Safire | date = 19 November 2006 | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/19/magazine/19wwln_safire.html ]

MyDD

Armstrong has said his interest in working through politics began only after the Florida election controversy following the 2000 U.S. Presidential Election. He began MyDD around as a predictive site that covered issues ranging from, politics to financial markets, and astrology. In May 2001, Armstrong relaunched MyDD with a focus on American politics. [ cite web | title = Web Archive of MyDD from May 2001 | url = http://web.archive.org/web/20020619200649/www.mydd.com/politics/myDDindex.html | accessdate = 2006-07-03 ]

In Campaigns and Elections, an early netroots profile in Oct-Nov 2005 as part of the article "Blogging Down the Money Trail", MyDD is credited by the magazine with being "the first major liberal blog." [cite web | title = Blogging down the money trail | publisher = Campaigns and Elections | author = David Weigel | month = November | year = 2005 | url = http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m2519/is_9_26/ai_n15727909/pg_1 ] In January 2006, the name was changed to "My Direct Democracy" as part of a site redesign, with a new tagline, "Direct Democracy for People-Powered Politics."

Political Consultancy

Jerome Armstrong does internet and campaign strategy consulting for various advocacy organizations and campaigns.

In January 2003, Markos Moulitsas joined Jerome Armstrong in a political consulting partnership called "Armstrong Zuniga", before being formally dissolved in December 2004. Howard Dean hired them for a time as technical consultants in 2003. Armstrong introduced the campaign to Meetup.com and directing on online advertising and blogger outreach. [ cite news | title = Key People-Former Gov. Mark Warner (D-VA) | publisher = GWU | url = http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2008/chrnprec08/warnerorgp.html | date = 14 October 2006 ]

In 2005, Armstrong worked for New Jersey gubernatorial candidate Jon Corzine and U.S. Senate candidate Sherrod Brown's 2006 Senate campaign in Ohio. [ cite news | title = New on the Web: Politics as Usual | publisher = New York Times | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/03/opinion/03glover.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin | date = 3 December 2006 ] He also signed on with Mark Warner's Forward Together PAC to develop their internet strategy, before Warner decided to not run for President in 2008. [ cite news | title = Warner Won't Seek Allen's Senate Seat | publisher = Washington Post | url = http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/08/29/AR2005082901175_pf.html | date = 29 August 2005 ]

Various other writers have claimed that campaigns have paid Armstrong for positive blog mentions on MyDD, [cite news | title = Dean Campaign Made Payments To Two Bloggers | author = William K. Bulkeley | coauthors = James Bandler | date = 13 January 2005 | publisher = Wall Street Journal ] or through favorable mentions made by his former business partner Markos Moulitsas on Daily Kos. [ cite web | title = Kos - Armstrong Blogola Scandal | url = http://www.outsidethebeltway.com/archives/2006/06/kos_-_armstrong_blogola_scandal/ | author = James Joyner | date = 20 June 2006 | accessdate = 2006-07-26 ] Armstrong responded by pointing out that MyDD was shut down for the duration of his employment with Dean's campaign, [ cite web | title = Zephyr Teachout: Donkey Splat | url = http://www.mydd.com/story/2005/1/13/231623/665 | author = Jerome Armstrong | date = 13 January 2005 | accessdate = 2006-07-26 ] and denied the other claims as "complete fabrications". [cite web | title = Insiders Have Blog Obsession Syndrome | date = 25 June 2006 | author = Matt Stoller | url = http://www.mydd.com/story/2006/6/25/11429/8897 | accessdate = 2006-07-04 ] The National Journal's "Hotline" investigated and concluded there was nothing "that proves or even strongly suggests that either Markos Moulitsas Zuniga or Jerome Armstrong have entered into a 'buy one, get one free' relationship." [ cite web | title = Nothing To See Here | url = http://blogometer.nationaljournal.com/archives/2006/06/622_nothing_to.html | publisher = National Journal's Hotline | date = 22 June 2006 | accessdate = 2006-07-03 ]

In 2007, Armstrong was awarded the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Award for Political Organizing by 21st Century Democrats, [ cite web | title = Honoring our Paul and Sheila Wellstone Awardfor Political Organizing Recipient: Jerome Armstrong | url = http://www.21stcenturydems.org/jerome_armstrong | publisher = 21st Century Democrats | date = 1 May 2007 | accessdate = 2007-05-01 ] "for his visionary leadership in working to create the online netroots community". In 2008, London Mayoral Candidate Brian Paddick, a UK Liberal Democrat, brought aboard Armstrong [ cite web | title = Paddick Signs Up Top US 'Blogfather' | url = http://www.mayorwatch.co.uk/Paddick-Signs-Up-Top-US-Blogfather-article_id-1465.html | publisher = Mayor Watch | date = 28 March 2008 | accessdate = 2008-03-29 ] "to help boost his campaign's online presence".

Stock Trading

Before his political career, Armstrong worked as an online day trader. [ cite web | title = An Army of Bloggers | url = http://goliath.ecnext.com/coms2/gi_0199-5723167/An-army-of-bloggers-how.html | publisher = Goliath | author = David Weigel | date = 1 July 2006 | accessdate = 2008-03-29 ] Based on 1999 postings made on stock trading websites, in April 2003, the United States Securities and Exchange Commission filed a civil action suit against Armstrong alleging stock promotion without disclosing of compensation. In September 2003, Armstrong submitted a response to the Court in which he denied the allegations, then agreed to a settlement with the SEC in December 2003 that neither admitted or denied the allegations of the complaint, and later paid a nearly $30,000 fine. [ cite web | title = Jerome Armstrong's Alleged Stock Touting and What it Means | url = http://www.boomantribune.com/story/2006/6/23/1731/34593 | accessdate = 2006-07-03 ] [ cite web | title = SEC v. | url = http://www.sec.gov/litigation/litreleases/2007/lr20228.htm | accessdate = 2007-08-10 ] The New York Times, in a post-settlement interview wrote, "Mr. Armstrong was very candid about his day-trading days, calling himself an "uneducated investor" and a "small fish" who got caught up in a much bigger trading scam." [ cite web | title = A Netroots Founder Amid a Stock Scandal | url = http://thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com/2007/08/10/a-netroots-founder-amid-a-stock-scandal/ | accessdate = 2007-08-10 ]

Books

Armstrong and Markos Moulitsas of Daily Kos co-authored the book "" (March 2006). The book takes a critical look at the state of the Democratic Party, detailing the rise of a new movement that is reforming and taking over the Democratic Party. An Australian edition was released in July, 2006. [ cite web | title = Crashing the Gate going to Australia | url = http://www.plutoaustralia.com/p1/default.asp?pageId=360 | publisher = PlutoAustralia.com | date = 1 July 2006 | accessdate = 2006-07-11 ]

References

External links

* [http://www.MyDD.com MyDD]
* [http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/11624919/ Blog pioneer maps political strategy for 2008] - MSNBC.com, March 2, 2006
* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-boyce/meet-the-blogger-jerome-_b_22387.html Meet the Blogger: Jerome Armstrong] Huffington Post, June 7, 2006
* [http://www.thedemocraticstrategist.org/premiere/armstrong.php "Replacing the Battleground Mentality with the Mapchanger Attitude in the Democratic Party"] - article by Jerome Armstrong in The Democratic Strategist, July 2006
* [http://www.csmonitor.com/2006/1109/p09s01-coop.html "A victory for people-powered politics"] - article by Jerome Armstrong in The Christian Science Monitor, November 2006
* [http://www.motherjones.com/interview/2007/07/jerome_armstrong.html "Interview with Jerome Armstrong: MyDD Founder, Former Dean Advisor"] - Interview in Mother Jones, June 2007