Last week, I had a cup of coffee with Byron Davis and Chris Rabb. Although I had never met Chris in person, I knew who he was: a political activist, a 9th ward committee person, and someone fairly well known in the national blogosphere with his website, Afro-Netizen.

I was really there, however, to sit down with Byron, because has announced his intentions to enter a race many progressives will be interested in: going after Rosita Youngbloood. Rosita is State Rep for the 198th Distirct, which hits parts of Germantown, Mt Airy, Chestnut Hill, etc. It is a district I really care about, because it is the one I grew up in.

Rosita makes herself a big blinking target, because she has often voted more like a Republican than a Democrat. (Although, after Marc Stier ran against her, she has gotten better.) And, she voted against Democrats controlling the State House last year. That sort of sucked. (Of course, even though it was very late, she was the only established Dem to support a certain political minded Ackelsberg, so, I do admit some feelings of fondness.)

Anyway... First of all, I think Byron's candidacy portends good things for the City. He is not a particularly 'connected' person, in the sense of belonging to a political camp. Instead, he appears to be another 'progressive Democrat' who has looked at the political system running the City, and decided it was time to put himself out there as a candidate. Again and again I am asked what the 'reform movement' or whatever it is really means in this city, and my answer is generally that what I think is occurring are that more progressive minded folks are simply more willing to look at City Hall as something other than an impenetrable facade. That means a citizenry that demands more, and it also means a set candidates who we would not have seen until recently. I think Byron falls into that category.

According to Byron and Chris, he is building a campaign around knocking on doors, multiple times. So, a self-identified progressive, with an election strategy of knocking on doors, with an incumbent who sometimes votes like a Republican...

In terms of his specific views, and finding out where he stands on the issues, you can check out his website- we did not really get that deeply into that stuff and, and more talked about things like the 198th, HBO's the Wire, and his outlook on leadership. I was impressed.

Coming soon, we will do a Q and A with Byron on YPP, where everyone will have a chance to interact with him, get some specific answers, and see if he is worthy of your support and your help. This is a campaign we will be following closely.