In 2002, when a former soldier in the US army named Markos Moulitsas Zúniga launched Daily Kos, the political blogosphere was dominated by the right. However, Moulitsas's stance was defiantly partisan. "I am a progressive," he wrote in his first post on 26 May 2002. "I make no apologies." He soon came to the attention of the then governor of Vermont, Howard Dean, to whose surprisingly strong campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination he was co-opted as a consultant in 2003.

While Dean's bid foundered, Daily Kos grew, throwing its weight (and its web traffic) behind several left-wing Democrats running

in congressional and gubernatorial races. Today Moulitsas employs a staff of 15 and Daily Kos attracts between three and five million visitors each week. The site continues to support any Democrat who, as Moulitsas puts it, isn't "afraid of what [the Fox News anchor] Bill O'Reilly's going to say".

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