At Netroots Nation, thousands of progressive activists meet to discuss important topics from the environment to the economy and strategize about how to organize and affect change.

Each year, some of the brightest minds and most influential leaders in our country come to Netroots Nation — past speakers have included President Barack Obama (during his Senate tenure); Vice President Al Gore; Secretary of State Hillary Clinton (during her Senate tenure); Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Majority Leader Harry Reid.

President Bill Clinton will be the keynote speaker to kick off the event that will be held this week, August 13-16^th.  Netroots Nation amplifies progressive voices by providing an online and in-person campus for exchanging ideas and learning how to be more effective in using technology to influence the public debate. Through our annual convention and a series of regional salons held throughout the year, we strengthen our community, inspire action and serve as an incubator for ideas that challenge the status quo and ultimately affect change in the public sphere.

The Women’s Campaign Forum will be attending this year’s Netroots Nation conference, and in the spirit of progressive activism, will be launching a national grassroots effort to ask 2,500 women to run for office through our She Should Run™ program. We’re doing this by asking Netroots attendees and progressive bloggers to “Blogicize” about She Should Run™. We want to draw on the power of the blogosphere and new media community to encourage women to run for office across the country.

She Should Run™ is a unique program that provides an online tool for people to ask a woman to run for office. Studies show that only 10% of women have ever thought about running for office, compared with 20% of men. Women often run when asked, but are asked less than men. After a woman is asked to run, WCF takes care of her—giving her the personalized support, resources, and information she needs to make an informed decision. We know that the progressive community strongly supports women achieving equality in public office – and women are often the ones who support progressive values such as reproductive choices, the environment, and health care. But the key to getting more progressive women to run for office is to ask them.