Polis speaks at Netroots Nation

February 28, 3:53 PMDenver Young Democrats ExaminerRyan D. Briceland

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I'm writing from the Netroots Nation speaker series at the DoubleTree Hotel in Westminster. The event is divided into separate discussion panels featuring progressive politicians, prominent activists, media personnel, and bloggers. There's about 100 people in the audience, mostly representing the progressive blogosphere. 

I arrived just in time for the keynote address by first-term U.S. congressman Jared Polis. He opened his brief speech by recognizing the death of the Rocky Mountain News, giving credit to the audience for its demise.

"We killed the Rocky Mountain News... Long live new media," said Polis.

Polis is a rising star on the Colorado and national political scene. He owes a lot of his success in politics to his ability to network via the Internet. The grassroots community helped him come from behind and win a tightly contested Democratic primary against established political officials.

His web-based savvy didn't come as a surprise to insiders. Polis built a multi-million dollar fortune, estimated by Forbes magazine to  be worth $160 million, by building and selling Internet companies.

His speech addressed his attempts to bypass traditional media and bring his message straight to the people. He said he's snuck a mini-computer into congressional meetings where the chairman has banned computer use. It seems like he is determined to be an anti-establishment figure in Washington D.C. On his upcoming trip to Iraq and Afghanistan he pledged to do his best to stray from the beaten path that members of congress are traditionally led down on official state visits. How he's going to do this I have no idea, but good luck.

Polis is a very polarizing political figure. Being a gay, Jewish, multi-millionaire with power might scare some people entrenched in the status quo. It will be very interesting to see how ambitious of a career agenda Polis has, where he goes in the future, and just how influential he, and his progressive followers, will become in Colorado and the U.S.