Valleywag
"Run, Lawrence, run!" That's the blog comment that Stanford law professor Lawrence Lessig received after a brief mention of Congressman Tom Lantos's retirement. Could he? A Daily Kos blogger thinks it's plausible, and a majority of readers polled say they'd vote for him. Lessig is intensely popular in Silicon Valley's geek-thinker circles. But he's a virtual unknown among most voters in the South Bay district Lantos represents. Still, Lessig stands a chance of boosting his profile by tackling the issue of corruption — not the tired political charge, but the larger systemic issues that underlie the rot in our political system. He will deliver a speech on the subject this Thursday. If he has intentions to make the law, not just study it, then that occasion is as good as any to announce a run.
Could Silicon Valley send a nerd to Capitol Hill?
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4:00 PM on Mon Jan 28 2008
By Owen Thomas
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Lessig's a nerd? I'll believe that when I see him optimize Ted Dziuba's code, or beat Chris Suellentrop at Star Wars trivia. You buried a much better headline: Will he finally attempt to craft laws rather than complain about them?
Come on. Tom Lantos doesn't represent the South Bay; he represents the 12th district, which goes no further south than San Carlos. The Congressional districts in the South Bay are the 14th (Anna Eshoo), 15th (Mike Honda), and 16th (Zoe Lofgren). None of them are retiring.
@Paul Boutin: He's got nerd cred. He played one of the aliens in the original Star Trek pilot.
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