Just when you thought all was quiet on the Left to Right front.

We’re happy to share that The Left to Right Movement is working with John Mertens for U.S. Senate 2010. John is running as an independent representing Connecticut. Giulia Gouge of SheSoSocial and Amy Desmarais and Andre Yap of Ripple100 are in the L2R team working with John and his volunteer corps.

We met John during Social Web Week CT, and immediately converged on the opportunity based on shared vision and values to move his campaign left to right (no pun intended).

Far beyond a campaign for votes and donations, our Left to Right movement for Mertens 2010 focuses on the following:

• Build awareness for a third party candidate who is starting from scratch, without any machinery and very limited funding.
• Engage disaffected citizens who have grown cynical of politics as usual in a very different political process, one that invites people from all walks to participate, listens to what they have to say, engages them in dialogue, and identifies and facilitates constructive ways for sustained involvement in democracy.
• As with Social Web Week CT, mix results-oriented community organizing and grassroots groundswell with a generous dose of online social media and technologies to create a “social web, where mighty things can be dared and achieved in days that would have taken years.” (Excerpted from The New Haven Project: 100 Common Visions in 100 Days) Indeed, here we have barely 100 days to election day when we jumped in.

As our first milestone, and very much reflective of the social web dynamics of the campaign, we are happy to announce the opening of Mertens 2010 campaign office. Please visit and stay a while, speak up as often and any time you like: www.mertens2010.com.

Stay tuned for ongoing updates on our Left to Right Movement for Mertens 2010.