Daily Kos

Blog focused on left-wing American politics

Daily Kos

Type of site

| Political blog
Available in| English
Owner| Kos Media, LLC
Created by| Markos Moulitsas
URL| www.dailykos.com
Commercial| Yes
Launched| May 26, 2002; 23 years ago (2002-05-26)
Current status| Active
This article is part of a series on

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Websites

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Other

* The Problem with Jon Stewart

See also

* 4B movement
* Liberal bias in academia
* Liberal bias in the media
* Liberal theorists
* Liberalism in the United States

* Liberalism portal
* United States portal

* v
* t
* e

Daily Kos (/koʊz/ KOHZ) is a group blog and internet forum focused on the U.S. Democratic Party and liberal American politics.[1][2] The site publishes blog posts,[3] polls,[4] election and campaign fundraising data,[2][5] and is considered an example of "netroots" activism.[6][7]

Daily Kos was founded in 2002 by Markos Moulitsas and takes the name Kos from the last syllable of his first name, his nickname while in the military.[2][3]

## History

[edit]

Daily Kos was founded in May 2002 by Markos Moulitsas in Berkeley, California.[1][3]

The Daily Kos is funded by advertising,[8][7] fundraising, and donations.[citation needed]

As of September 2014, Daily Kos has had an average weekday traffic of hundreds of thousands.[9]

The website ran on the Scoop content management system until 2011 when it moved to its own custom content management system referred to as "DK 4.0".[citation needed] In 2016 and 2017, the Trump presidency brought out huge support for the blog, with more than half a million in direct donations being received from their email campaigns.[10]

In 2018, the Daily Kos launched Civiqs, a division of the blog that provides political polling data from volunteer participants.[11][12][13]

In 2019 Prism, an independent, non-profit publication focused on covering injustice from the perspective of underrepresented groups, became an affiliate publication of the Daily Kos.[14][15]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic, Daily Kos owner Kos Media LLC received $1.4 million in federally backed small business loans from Newtek Small Business Finance as part of the Paycheck Protection Program.[16][17]

## Polling

[edit]

Daily Kos had previously partnered with Research 2000 to produce 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[18] and announced its intention to sue the polling firm.[19]

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".[20] In May 2011, The Huffington Post reported that Research 2000 pollster Del Ali agreed to settle the lawsuit and make payments to Daily Kos.[21]

The Daily Kos Elections tracked redistricting in the United States,[22] forecasted Electoral College results,[23] and provided polling data for elections.[24][25]

## YearlyKos convention

[edit]

Main article: Netroots Nation

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[26] 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,[27] The Boston Globe[28] and MSNBC.[29] C-SPAN also carried portions of the convention.[30]

## Political activity

[edit]

Daily Kos has been described variously as progressive,[31] left-leaning[32][33][34] and far-left.[35]

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 House seat from Kansas's 4th district, "was helped by nearly $150,000 from Daily Kos, ... and some more modest contributions from a group aligned with Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont".[36] OpenSecrets 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."[37]

Daily Kos has endorsed notable Democratic candidates in state and national races, including Hillary Clinton in the run-up to the 2016 U.S. presidential election,[38] and candidate Jon Ossoff, who ran for Georgia's 6th congressional district in its 2017 special election. Ossoff received more than $1 million raised on Daily Kos.[39]

In 2004, the site launched the dKosopedia. It was a wiki, using the MediaWiki software, and described as "a political encyclopedia ... written from a left/progressive/liberal/Democratic point of view while also attempting to fairly acknowledge the other side's take".[40] It grew to more than 14,000 articles but has since been discontinued.[41]

The site has also participated in mass digital campaigns to elected officials over ActionNetwork.org with prominent organizational partners including Saphron Initiative, Futures PAC, Democracy for America's Advocacy Fund, and More Perfect Union.[42][43]

## Reception

[edit]

In 2008, Time magazine readers named Daily Kos the second-best blog.[44] In 2009, Time listed Daily Kos in its "Most Overrated Blogs" section due to the loss of its mission, fighting the "oppressive and war-crazed" Republican administration, during Democrat Barack Obama's presidency.[45]

In 2015, cartoonist Dan Perkins was a finalist for the Pulitzer Prize in Editorial Cartooning as Tom Tomorrow of Daily Kos.[46]

In an October 2018 Simmons Research survey of 38 news organizations, the Daily Kos was ranked the fifth least trusted news organization by Americans in a tie with Breitbart News, with the Palmer Report, Occupy Democrats, InfoWars and The Daily Caller being lower-ranked.[47] The misinformation tracker NewsGuard has categorized Daily Kos as an unreliable source.[33]

In 2023, Daily Kos received a PEN Oakland/Adelle Foley Award.[citation needed]

## See also

[edit]

* MyDD

## References

[edit]

1. ^ a b Bai, Matt (May 28, 2006). "Can Bloggers Get Real?". The New York Times Magazine. Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved December 19, 2022.
2. ^ a b c Smith, Ben (March 13, 2018). "The Founder Of Daily Kos Just Launched A Massive New Polling Project". BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on November 12, 2020. Retrieved November 25, 2020.
3. ^ a b c Smolkin, Rachel (June 2004). "The Expanding Blogosphere". American Journalism Review. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
4. ^ Cummings, William (August 4, 2020). "Sen. Lindsey Graham holds one-point lead in tight SC race for reelection, poll finds". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 14, 2024. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
5. ^ Akin, Stephanie (October 15, 2018). "Money no object: Donations pour in for Dem hopefuls". Orlando Sentinel. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
6. ^ Dickenson, Tim (September 7, 2017). "Rise of the Grassroots". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved December 20, 2022.
7. ^ a b Vogel, Kenneth P. (September 5, 2007). "Kos is media, federal ruling determines". Politico. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved December 22, 2022.
8. ^ Lee, Jennifer 8. (July 26, 2004). "THE EYES OF THE NATION: THE INTERNET; Year of the Blog? Web Diarists Are Now Official Members of Convention Press Corps". The New York Times. Archived from the original on August 4, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2022.`{{cite news}}`: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
9. ^ "Dailykos.com Traffic and Demographic Statistics by Quantcast". Quantcast. Archived from the original on January 26, 2014. Retrieved December 29, 2013.
10. ^ Grim, Ryan (April 13, 2017). "Daily Kos Is Back". HuffPost. Archived from the original on September 6, 2017. Retrieved September 4, 2017.
11. ^ Cauterucci, Christina (January 21, 2022). "Arizona Democrats Have Turned On Kyrsten Sinema - Just 8 percent of her party's voters view the senator favorably. What could she be thinking?". Slate. Archived from the original on June 6, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
12. ^ Selby, W. Gardner (July 22, 2018). "Texas GOP claims recent poll shows Cruz leading O'Rourke by only 2 point". San Antonio Express-News. Archived from the original on January 30, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
13. ^ Carpenter, Tim (September 25, 2018). "Online poll of Kansas governor's race puts Laura Kelly slightly ahead of Kris Kobach". Topeka Capital-Journal. Archived from the original on June 4, 2023. Retrieved December 27, 2022.
14. ^ Merid, Feven (March 22, 2021). "Seeing through a new Prism". Columbia Journalism Review. Archived from the original on June 9, 2023. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
15. ^ Tameez, Hanaa' (October 20, 2020). "Prism, a news site led by women of color, centers the voices of marginalized people in its reporting". Neiman Journalism Lab. Archived from the original on May 30, 2023. Retrieved December 30, 2022.
16. ^ Syed, Moiz; Willis, Derek (July 7, 2020). "Kos Media, LLC - Coronavirus Bailouts - ProPublica". ProPublica. Archived from the original on July 11, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
17. ^ James Bikales (July 6, 2020). "Here are the major media companies that received coronavirus relief loans". The Hill. Archived from the original on July 10, 2020. Retrieved July 10, 2020.
18. ^ Moulitsas, Markos. "Research 2000: Problems in plain sight". Daily Kos. Archived from the original on March 29, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
19. ^ Sargent, Greg (June 29, 2010). "It's war! Lawyer for DailyKos details lawsuit against Research 2000". The Washington Post. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
20. ^ "Kos Media LLC et al v. Research 2000 et al". Justia. Archived from the original on March 28, 2019. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
21. ^ Blumenthal, Mark (May 27, 2011). "Daily Kos vs. Research 2000 Lawsuit Settled". HuffPost. Archived from the original on May 7, 2021. Retrieved March 29, 2019.
22. ^ Campbell, Colin (March 6, 2012). "Redistricting: What Happens Next?". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on March 26, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
23. ^ Tamman, Maurice; Faulconbridge, Guy (November 10, 2016). "How the polls missed Trump's victory". Reuters. Retrieved January 17, 2023.
24. ^ Silver, Nate (December 27, 2012). "So Few Swing Districts, So Little Compromise". The New York Times. Archived from the original on May 23, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
25. ^ Campbell, Colin (March 7, 2012). "Baby business - Data Crunch: How Democratic and Republican Are the Court's Congressional Districts?". The New York Observer. Archived from the original on February 4, 2023. Retrieved January 16, 2023.
26. ^ Bernstein, David S. (June 21, 2006). "How to neuter the Republicans". The Phoenix. Archived from the original on October 27, 2006. Retrieved July 19, 2006.
27. ^ Thompson, Doug (July 16, 2006). "On second thought..." Archived from the original on August 29, 2006. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
28. ^ Grynbaum, Michael M. (July 6, 2006). "Bloggers battle old-school media for political clout". The Boston Globe. Archived from the original on July 18, 2006. Retrieved July 19, 2006.
29. ^ Curry, Tom (June 16, 2006). "Warner looks left, looks right, looks toward '08". NBC News. Archived from the original on January 8, 2016. Retrieved July 19, 2006.
30. ^ "C-SPAN". Archived from the original on June 19, 2006. Retrieved July 19, 2006.
31. ^ Talbot, Margaret (March 4, 2025). "Elon Musk Also Has a Problem with Wikipedia". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Archived from the original on March 27, 2025. Retrieved April 27, 2025. "It urges skepticism about some other sources because they allow clients to pay for coverage, run press releases or other user-generated content with little oversight, or operate essentially as partisan forums for activists of various political stripes. Those make up a motley assortment, including Amazon user reviews, the publication BroadwayWorld, and the progressive site Daily Kos."
32. ^ Solomon, Deborah (March 19, 2006). "Kos Célèbre". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022. Retrieved April 13, 2022. "As the founder of the left-leaning Daily Kos, the largest political blog in the country, did you find it hard to write 'Crashing the Gate,' an actual book, as opposed to your usual raw and episodic three-sentence musings?"
33. ^ a b "Mail Online demands browser warning U-turn". BBC News. January 23, 2019. Retrieved April 27, 2025. "Visitors to the right-wing US conspiracy site InfoWars, the left-wing US political blog Daily Kos and the Russian government news agency Sputnik also see the same words of advice."
34. ^ Benkler, Yochai (October 6, 2020). "A Political Economy of the Origins of Asymmetric Propaganda in American Media". In Bennett, W. Lance; Livingston, Steven (eds.). The Disinformation Age Politics, Technology, and Disruptive Communication in the United States. Cambridge University Press. pp. 43–66\. doi:10.1017/9781108914628. ISBN 9781108914628. Archived from the original on April 14, 2022. Retrieved April 14, 2022. "newer left-activist sites like the Daily Kos ... while sites on the left, like the Daily Kos, emphasized ..."
35. ^ "Google rewards reputable reporting, not left-wing politics". The Economist. June 8, 2019. Archived from the original on June 28, 2022. Retrieved June 26, 2022. "Because most far-right outlets had bad trust scores, they got few search results. But so did Daily Kos, a far-left site."
36. ^ Eligon, John; Martin, Jonathan (April 11, 2017). "Ron Estes, a Republican, Survives Tight House Race to Win Kansas Seat". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 12, 2017. Retrieved April 12, 2017.
37. ^ Balcerzak, Ashley (April 10, 2017). "Flurry of Spending in Kansas 4th". OpenSecrets. Archived from the original on April 13, 2017.
38. ^ Nir, D. Daily Kos Archived November 8, 2016, at the Wayback Machine July 28, 2016.
39. ^ Bluestein, Greg (April 5, 2017). "Nearly 200K Donors Help Jon Ossoff Net Record Fundraising Haul". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Archived from the original on January 14, 2018. Retrieved January 13, 2018.
40. ^ "Main Page from dKosopedia". Daily Kos. Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
41. ^ "dkosopedia.com". Archived from the original on February 11, 2021. Retrieved May 11, 2021.
42. ^ "Sign the petition: Say NO to diverting public school money to private schools!". ActionNetwork. June 24, 2024. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
43. ^ "Sign on: support universal pre-K!". ActionNetwork. June 24, 2024. Archived from the original on June 25, 2024. Retrieved June 24, 2024.
44. ^ "Time.com's First Annual Blog Index". Time. April 6, 2008. Archived from the original on August 4, 2010. Retrieved August 14, 2010.
45. ^ * "#5 Daily Kos: State of the Nation — 5 Most Overrated Blogs 2009". Time. February 13, 2009. Archived from the original on April 19, 2010. Retrieved April 30, 2010.
* "Full List — 25 Best Blogs & 5 Most Overrated Blogs 2009". Time. February 13, 2009. Archived from the original on February 22, 2010. Retrieved June 25, 2023.
46. ^ Grim, Ryan (April 10, 2015). "Daily Kos Is Back". Archived from the original on June 7, 2023. Retrieved September 10, 2023.
47. ^ Benton, Joshua (October 5, 2018). "Here's how much Americans trust 38 major news organizations (hint: not all that much!)". Nieman Lab. Archived from the original on December 8, 2020. Retrieved July 1, 2021.

## External links

[edit]

* Daily Kos – official website
* Congress Matters
* Mother Talkers Archived November 25, 2018, at the Wayback Machine
* 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[usurped] delivered by Howard Dean at Yearly Kos on June 10, 2006
* Farrell, Henry; Melissa Schwartzberg (December 30, 2008). "Norms, Minorities, and Collective Choice Online". Ethics & International Affairs. 22 (4). Carnegie Council for Ethics in International Affairs: 357–367\. doi:10.1111/j.1747-7093.2008.00171.x. S2CID 55601586. Archived from the original on January 20, 2009. Retrieved February 3, 2009.

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