As I ran out the door, I started to wonder if my spiky hair and earings would bother a congressman. But then I remembered that I can't remove the little silver rings without pliers and that my hair is really more "floppy" than "spiky" these days. There was nothing to be done, so I just headed for the airport. It seemed like a fitting start to IPac's first D.C. roadshow.

IPac already has a good fundraising track record, but we're definitely not D.C.-insiders. Only one of our board members actually lives in Washington, and most of our supporters are scattered all over the country. Yet even though we come from a community that's way outside the Beltway, we thought it would be smart to ask our friends in D.C. for feedback on IPac's start and where we should be going.

David Alpert, Matt Stoller, and I arranged a series of meetings with Representative Rick Boucher, Gigi Sohn (founder and executive director of Public Knowledge), and Trey Barnes and Andy Cochran (legislative consultants whose clients include Google). We also had a lovely happy hour with friends of IPac like Trammell Hudson, Stunt Programmer, and Sarah Lai Stirland, a reporter with the National Journal's Tech Daily.

Everyone was generous with their time, and we heard some really encouraging advice. A few important congressmen kept coming up as potential allies who just haven't been approached by people who want to reform our copyright and patent systems. Rep. Boucher indicated that much of Congress simply hasn't been educated by - or received money from - people who want balanced information policy. Most congressmen don't think of these things as contentious, so they don't think about them.

This seemed strange to me, but I spend too much time on Slashdot. In my world, everyone has an opinion on patent reform and copyright balance. The catch is that we're still working on an efficient mechanism for turning the free culture movement's energy into the economic and social capital that makes sense to politicians.

There are already groups that take this community's message to Congress in the form of lobbying and activism, but there's still a huge gap in two important areas: money and votes. That's why IPac is so necessary right now, and why we'll be working hard as we approach the next federal election.

I was only in D.C. for 36 hours, but I learned a lot about IPac's role in the fight for free culture. There's hard work ahead, but our friends in and out of D.C. are going to help us do it.

-Ren Bucholz
IPac Volunteer