Today's interviewee is Susan Smith, one of the most dynamic activists in the states I've ever met. Ms. Smith is a Florida resident and Florida-focused. She presently chair of the Progressive Caucus, a group within the state Democratic Party.
Her situation is unique. While Florida Democrats don't have a ton of state-wide leverage, they're united around progressive values to a degree unheard of in DC.
So the problems Ms. Smith faces are different — she has a united party at her side, and a determined state-wide enemy firmly centered in the Republican side of the aisle.
Listen as she helps us understand what's happening in Florida. (Tease: She doesn't think Rick Scott will be re-elected. She thinks Obama will.) Her fifth question, like Alex Lawson's, is about effeciveness. Nice answer.
Five questions, Susan Smith with Gaius Publius, recorded at Netroots Nation 2012. Enjoy:
"I think [progressives] should be very aggressive." Music — to these ears anyway.
The full list of "Five Questions" interviews includes the following. Links to names will take you to previously-published interviews.
- Alan Grayson, former (and perhaps future) U.S. Congressman
- Marcy Wheeler, of emptywheel.net
- Cliff Schecter, who comments regularly with Sam Seder at Majority.fm among many other places
- Tom Tomorrow, cartoonist with DailyKos and This Modern World
- Alex Lawson of StrengthenSocialSecurity.org
- Josh Orton, with Russ Feingold's Progressives United
- Frances Causey, producer–director of Heist, the documentary
- Chris Pearson, a Progressive Party Vermont state legislator
- Susan Smith, Progressive Caucus chair of the Florida Democratic Party
- Sarah Burris, labor activist and progressive youth organizer
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To follow or send links: @Gaius_Publius
