It was just a matter of time that Robin Kelly would appear on a national talk news show. On Thursday evening Robin Kelly was the interview guest on "The Rachel Maddow Show" (see the video for the complete interview).
Kelly discussed her recent victory in the 2nd Illinois Congressional district race for the Democratic nomination. In Illinois, that effectively means that Kelly will be the next Congresswoman from that district, given the Democratic nature of the district, and, of course, the new-found popularity of Robin Kelly.
Rachel Maddow said in her blog, that this is the first race in recent memory in which support from the National Rifle Association proved to be a real problem for certain candidates. By some measures, the issue drove the election, and catapulted Democrat Robin Kelly to victory and a seat in the House of Representatives. No easy task.
In her victory speech, Robin Kelly singled out the NRA as she told a crowd of supporters in her victory speech at a Holiday Inn in her own hometown of Matteson that “You sent a message that was heard around our state and across the nation. A message that tells the NRA that their days of holding our country hostage are coming to an end. And their days of scaring Congress into submission on gun control are coming to a close.”
Robin Kelly gave credit in her acceptance speech to the endorsement from Markos Moulitsas of the Daily Kos. The endorsement came in early February in favor of Robin Kelly for Congress and gave the campaign an immeasurable boost, not only in money, but in volunteers. It also solidified her standing in the community as the "true" progressive in the race. Markos Moulitsas is "the leading" progressive voice in America and the Daily Kos is "the leading" progressive platform in America.
Markos Moulitsas endorsed Robin Kelly because he wanted to help deal a blow to the NRA's continued power in Congress. Because of Markos influence with the Daily Kos, $139,719 was raised from 6,507 donors. Hundreds of Daily Kos volunteers from all over the country showed up at Robin Kelly election headquarters in Richton Park.
In the end, the campaign had counted their 20,000 pluses and those volunteers turned out the vote which in the end nominated Robin Kelly for Congress.
Send John Presta an email and your story ideas or suggestions at johnpresta@att.net.
John is the author of an award-winning book, the 2010 Winner of the USA National Best Book award for African-American studies, published by The Elevator Group Mr. and Mrs. Grassroots: How Barack Obama, Two Bookstore Owners, and 300 Volunteers did it. Also available an eBook on Amazon. John is also a member of the Society of Midland Authors and is a book reviewer of political books for the New York Journal of Books. John has volunteered for many political campaigns.
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