Daily Kos

Daily Kos had previously partnered with Research 2000 to produce nonpartisan polling for presidential, congressional and gubernatorial races across the country. In June 2010, Daily Kos terminated the relationship after finding that the data showed statistical anomalies consistent with deliberate falsification[15] and announced its intention to sue the polling firm.[16]

On November 30, 2010, an agreement to a settlement began as lawyers for the Plaintiff filed a status report indicating that both parties were “in agreement as to the contours of a proper settlement but are still in the process of determining whether the execution of the proposed terms is feasible."[17] In May 2011, The Huffington Post reported that Research 2000 pollster Del Ali agreed to settle the lawsuit and make payments to Daily Kos.[18]

Beginning in 2003, as his blog expanded to a community, Kos appointed four or five "guest bloggers" (also called "front page diarists," "contributing editors," "front-pagers," or simply "FPers") who were selected from the community and tasked with regular contributions on the front page (without needing to have their articles recommended or promoted).

• 2003: Billmon; Steve Soto; Steve Gilliard; RonK, Seattle
• 2004: Meteor Blades; DHinMI; Melanie; Trapper John; theoria; DemFromCT
• 2005: DavidNYC; kid oakland; Hunter; Armando; a gilas girl; Plutonium Page[19]
• 2006: georgia10; SusanG; mcjoan; DarkSyde; Superribbie (announced as a front-pager, but backed out the next day, citing time constraints)[20]
• 2007: BarbinMD; Kagro X; Devilstower; MissLaura
• 2008: brownsox; Scout Finch; smintheus; Jed L.
• 2009: Steve Singiser
• 2011: Scott Wooledge, Mark Fiore, Denise Oliver-Velez
• 2012: Shanikka, Mother Mags, John Perr
• 2013: V.L. Baker, Ian Reifowitz, Egberto Willies
• 2014: Susan Grigsby, Frank Vyan Walton, Steven Payne, Shaun King, Kelly Eleveld
• 2015: Josie Duffy, Thandisizwe Chimurenga, Vann R. Newkirk II[lower-alpha 1]

Additionally, while on the promotional tour for Crashing the Gate, Kos turned over much of the day-to-day management to the 2006 guest bloggers. Emeritus guest bloggers have frequently retained some privileges depending on circumstances, but are not expected to post as often.

A front-page diarist known as "Armando" (Armando Lloréns-Sar)[21][22] took a prominent role during Moulitsas' book hiatus in 2005 and was well known for his foreign policy and legal analysis. He also had his own political blogging website, called "Swords Crossed" that encouraged dialog between liberals and conservatives, and was a guest political commentator in a wide variety of media outlets, including The Majority Report and Talking Points Memo Cafe. After his identity and details of his legal career were made widely known, he announced his departure from Daily Kos in June 2006, citing loss of anonymity.[23] For two months, Armando would resurface periodically, his comments in this time were accompanied by a signature line stating that he would be returning to blogging in December 2006. Armando did indeed return, albeit under a user ID, "Big Tent Democrat," in September 2006. Armando "Big Tent Democrat" then left the Daily Kos site again in March 2007, citing "differences with the Management."[24] As of February 2011, Armando had resumed making contributions to Daily Kos.[25]

Another contributor, who posts pseudonymously as "DarkSyde", writes on the front page of Daily Kos and a blog called Unscrewing the Inscrutable. He is best known as a science writer with specific attention paid to biology, astronomy, and political issues such as creationism or climate change. In particular, DarkSyde's Hurricane Katrina diaries were widely read during the storm and in the immediate aftermath. They are included in a collection of science articles in the e-book Kosmos: You Are Here, co-written with science fiction novelist Mark Sumner and illustrated by paleowildlife artist Carl Buell. All the contributors to Kosmos donated the proceeds to fund the YearlyKos convention.

"Bill in Portland Maine" (Bill Harnsberger)[26] is a front page regular, best known for his recurring Cheers & Jeers feature,[27] in which he bestows plaudits and brickbats on various newsmakers. Cheers & Jeers, which first appeared on Daily Kos in 2003,[28] has evolved into a mini-community within the larger Daily Kos community, in which members post announcements about weddings, engagements, births, deaths, pet news, and other personal items, as well as sharing their own particular plaudits and brickbats. He lives with his partner Michael (known as "Common Sense Mainer"), a cat named Vegas, and his beloved chocolate lab, Molly. In the fall of 2007, Harnsberger lost his job, and the Daily Kos community collected $50,000 in pledges to allow him to continue to write Cheers & Jeers in a full-time paid position.

On June 2, 2007, Steve Gilliard, one of the blog's original contributors, died at the age of 42.[29]

In December 2015, Faith Gardner, the Social Media Director, started a rotating Featured Writer program, to promote articles by top diarists responsible for the most-trafficked stories on social media. The initial four were SemDem, Dartagnan, xxdr zombiexx, and Pakalolo.[30]

In June 2006, members of Daily Kos organized the first ever Daily Kos political blogger convention, called YearlyKos, in Las Vegas, Nevada. The event was attended by approximately 1000[31] bloggers, and featured appearances by prominent Democrats such as Senate Minority Leader Harry Reid, California Senator Barbara Boxer, General Wesley Clark, Governors Mark Warner, Bill Richardson, Tom Vilsack and DNC Chair Howard Dean. The event was widely covered in the traditional media, including Capitol Hill Blue,[32] The Boston Globe[33] and MSNBC.[34] C-SPAN also carried portions of the convention.[35]

The event was generally[36] considered a success. YearlyKos 2007 took place in Chicago in August 2007, at which time it was announced that future conventions would be known as Netroots Nation.[37] In 2008, the conference was held in Austin, Texas, with a surprise visit from Al Gore. The 2009 conference was held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania from August 13 to 16. The 2017 conference was the first time the convention was held in the Deep South, in Atlanta, Georgia. Conferences are always held in venues that support a union.

In addition to being a blogging, news, and digital media platform, Daily Kos is a political organization. For instance, The New York Times reported that James Thompson, the April 2017 Democratic candidate for the vacant Kansas Fourth Congressional District (House) seat in Kansas, "was helped by nearly $150,000 from Daily Kos, [...] and some more modest contributions from a group aligned with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont".[38] OpenSecrets.org reported that "the liberal Daily Kos endorsed Thompson and sent out a fundraising plea, which has so far garnered $178,000 in donations, according to its fundraising page."[39]

Daily Kos has endorsed notable Democratic candidates in state and national races, including Hillary Clinton in the run-up for the 2016 U.S. presidential election,[40] and candidate Jon Ossoff, who ran for Georgia's 6th Congressional District in a special election in June 2017. Ossoff received over $1 million raised on Daily Kos.[41]

• MyDD

• Daily Kos
• dKosopedia – Daily Kos Wiki
• Congress Matters
• Mother Talkers
• YearlyKos – the annual convention of the DailyKos community
• Who is Georgia10?– profile from the Chicago Reader
• The Left, Online and Outraged, profile from the Washington Post
• Keynote Address delivered by Howard Dean at Yearly Kos on June 10, 2006
• Farrell, Henry; Melissa Schwartzberg (2008-12-30). "Norms, Minorities, and Collective Choice Online". Ethics & International Affairs. Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs. 22 (4). Archived from the original on 2009-01-20. Retrieved 2009-02-03.