Eric Odom

Eric Odom is a 29 year-old conservative activist, blogger and partner in the online media firm Strategic Activism LLC. Odom organized a counter-protest to a pro-health insurance reform rally in Chicago on August 4, 2009. He he describes himself in the recent past as a "stealth style eActivist" and a "Chicago-based, libertarian Web strategist."

Odom describes himself as a point man and organizer for the Chicago Tax Day Tea Party.

Odom got his organizing start when he formed a movement called "DontGo" to oppose government regulation of the energy industry. As of August 2009, the DontGo movement has been taken over by the American Liberty Alliance, of which Eric Odom is the Executive Director. Most of the links on the DontGo movement web site now forward to the Web site of the American Liberty Alliance. Odom has the Twitter tag #dontgo.

Activism opposing health care reform
In an article in the Chicago Tribune, Odom said he fears efforts to reform health care will "strip away his provider choices" and add to the federal deficit. Odom said "We basically feel the legislation being pushed through [is] very dangerous ... We are really pushing for everybody to take a deep breath and really look at what we're getting into and not just jump into something ... that's going to cost us for years to come."

Sourcewatch resources

 * Front groups
 * Astroturf
 * Grassroots
 * Public relations

External resources

 * Eric Odom's DontGo Movement blog page: http://www.dontgomovement.com/blog/2009/05/10/the-dontgo-movement-is-moving-on/