• Our Mission
• Blue Century in the Press
• The Blue Century Team
  

Our Mission

Blue Century was founded by veteran campaign staff and volunteers. We believe the future of American politics lies in grassroots and netroots activism.

Radio talkers, large campaigns and national groups with deep pockets have dominated the media landscape too long.

On the conservative side, the echo chamber daily misinforms the public, regurgitates talking points and shouts down opponents. The result? A poisoned political environment and a steady erosion of the America we grew up in. All it took was persistence and time. Money they already had.

On the liberal side, the Center for American Progress, Comedy Central and progressive blogs push back, but mostly by debunking the other guys. While they may succeed in activating their base, too few are actively working to expand it. 

Candidates focus on getting themselves elected; parties, on electing their slates. In 2007, Sen. John Kerry's PAC held a contest, asking activists to submit 30-second ads telling voters why they should not reelect their "Roadblock Republican" senators. No mention of telling voters of why they should vote for progressive candidates.

Blue Century's upbeat and creative radio spots take a different approach -- focusing on core beliefs and good citizenship. Long after listeners have tuned out the attack ads, Blue Century's messages will have staying power. We're looking beyond the next election. By keeping our efforts modest and costs low, we hope to run ads year round that promote our message.

We can erode corporate media dominance, win over independents and swing voters, inspire veteran and new volunteers, and boost voter turnout, strengthening our democracy.

It's time to play offense. We will lead by example and empower others to do the same. We cannot match the big boys dollar for dollar or minute for minute. But rather than remain mute, rather than complain about what resources we don't have, we choose to fight back with the means at our disposal.

If you're not Goliath, fine. Be David.

Blue Century in the Press

The Blue Century Team

Blue Century is volunteer-driven and funded entirely by individuals.

Tom Sullivan, Founder, entered politics in 2003, writing a series of op-ed columns for the Asheville Citizen-Times.  In 2004, he was a full-time volunteer for the progressive candidate in North Carolina’s 11th District congressional race.  The Citizen-Times' selected him as a community columnist in 2005.  During the 2006 mid-term elections, he was the North Carolina Democratic Party's GOTV Coordinator for NC-11.  Tom blogs at Campaign for America's Future, Huffington Post and Scrutiny Hooligans and holds degrees in philosophy from Furman University and in mechanical engineering from Clemson University. His posts have also appeared at Truthout.org, TomPaine.org, and Democratic Underground.

Jake Quinn, Co-Founder and Treasurer, is an Asheville community activist whose earliest political interest came as a third-grade supporter of JFK, and who is excited to see this year’s campaign spark a similar enthusiasm.  He assists friends in local political races and is a board member of Mountain Voices Alliance.  Jake canvassed for the North Carolina Democratic Party’s coordinated campaign in 2006.  Jake holds a B.S. in Business Administration from the University of California, Berkeley (Go Bears!).

Dick Sinclair, Co-Founder, became involved with politics as a supporter of John Kerry and John Edwards in 2004 and participated actively in the local campaign for their election bid.  Since then, he has been an active supporter of his precinct and serves as its Chief Judge.  He participated in the North Carolina Western Region's "Burma Shave" style campaign used to promote interest and awareness of issues affecting the 11th Congressional District in 2006.  Dick is a graduate of the University of Michigan with a B.S. in Electrical and Computer Engineering.