moving on up; How a punk singer turned political activist for the Democratic Party.

Byline: Jonathan Van Meter

Once upon a time, there was a young girl named Laura Dawn Galpin, born in Pleasantville, Iowa (population 1,000), who wanted to be a singer. She landed a professional gig at seventeen, performing seven shows a day at Iowa's Adventureland Park. A classic overachiever, Laura was also the editor of her school newspaper, which meant that when Jesse Jackson rolled through town during the Iowa caucuses in 1988, she got to meet the man who was the second-ever black presidential candidate. When her moment finally arrived, she extended a hand and, because she was so "overwhelmed by his Jesse Jackson-ness," stared at the ground. The reverend gently pulled her chin up and said, "Look me in the eye, girl." It was the biggest thing that had ever happened to her.

At the age of 22, Galpin moved to New York City and joined an all-girl punk band called Fluffer, which became a cult favorite in New York but never "hit it big." In the late nineties, they called it quits. Undeterred, Laura Dawn (as she was now known) landed a solo deal and, in the winter of 2000, started traveling back and forth between New York and Los Angeles to record her first album, Believer. It was scheduled for release in October 2001, and despite the post-September 11 timing, Dawn toured the country "shell-shocked." The album sank like a stone.

One night, at a bar on New York's lower east side, Dawn was sitting at a table with a group that included electronic-music swami Moby. When he overheard Dawn correct someone who had used the word nihilism wrong he said, "Come over here and sit next to me," and the two became fast friends, chess buddies, and musical collaborators. Today it is fair to say that Laura Dawn is Moby's muse; they've performed together at numerous events, and she sings on his next album.

Last summer at Moby's teahouse, Teany, Dawn and Moby were lamenting the Iraq war and the fact that so many people they knew seemed either politically apathetic, misinformed, or both. Dawn had never forgotten a McDonald's commercial she saw as a child. Its jingle, "Little sister, you know I'm gonna miss you," always made her cry. Why, she thought, can't political ads be more engaging, more emotional? So she and Moby came up with a competition where anyone could submit anti-Bush ads. They took their idea to MoveOn PAC, the revolutionary internet movement (a sort of precursor to the Howard Dean on-line community) that now has nearly two and a half million members. The resulting contest became known as "Bush in 30 Seconds."

It succeeded beyond everyone's wildest expectations: Almost 1,500 people submitted ads, millions voted, the Republican National Committee went on the attack-which only drove more people to MoveOn's web site-and the contest turned into a major ...