Last week, Ed Schultz celebrated his first anniversary as a nationally syndicated talk radio personality. The blustery ex-football player had spent the last 16 years hosting his own award-winning show on a station in Fargo, North Dakota, red state central. After hooking up with Democracy Radio a year ago, Schultz is now the most widely syndicated progressive talker on commercial radio, heard on over 70 stations nationwide, in addition to both major satellite radio networks, XM and Sirius. He'll debut in the Washington, D.C. market on Monday. Schultz is more widely available than Air America, the network that features a celebrity line-up including Al Franken, which is syndicated on 40 stations, along with XM and Sirius. Was Rush just a teensy bit threatened by Big Eddie's announcement that in his first year he landed on more radio stations than Rush did in his first year? That the behemoth of daytime chatter (syndicated on 600 stations) even felt compelled to respond might signal a sense of unease that Big Eddie might be turning some Dittoheads.

Schultz is tough and opinionated. But he speaks to bread and butter issues – homelessness, veterans' benefits, the family farm, health insurance, for example – by highlighting how these crises affect everyday Americans. Sure, he lambasts the Bush Administration, conservative talkers, and the conservative media machine, and certainly has his share of rants. But his show is filled with righteous outrage, not the venomous diatribes that are the hallmark of his dominant conservative counterparts. He's showing that progressives live in red America, and care about economic justice for ordinary Americans.

That's why Tom Athans, CEO of Democracy Radio, the non-profit that syndicates Ed Schultz and L.A.-based Stephanie Miller, and has plans to round out a full daytime lineup of progressive talkers this year, says that Schultz "epitomizes the populist talk show host," one who will "appeal to the hard-working guy who drives a pickup truck in one of those red states."

But Schultz is doing more than that. He's debunking the myth generated by the conservative media machine that liberals are pussy-footed New Englanders out of touch with "real" America. He played football in college and was drafted by the Oakland Raiders. One of the on-line polls on his website this week asked about what sort of consequences listeners thought Viking receiver Randy Moss should suffer for pretending to moon Packer fans. He's showing that progressives are not the testosterone-deficient, clueless eggheads conservatives have portrayed them to be. And he's also showing progressives that a big beefy guy who genuinely likes to hunt in the great plains can share their views on issues like Social Security and election reform.

Last week on his show, on the day that Barbara Boxer challenged the validity of Ohio's electors, a caller asked Schultz to admit he was a liberal. Schultz bellowed in response, "Big Eddie is a liberal!" and went on to add that if believing that every vote should count, or that every American should have health care meant he was a liberal, then he's a liberal and proud of it. The caller identified himself as a liberal, then, in a moment of Rush-induced self-loathing, complained that most liberals "drive Volvos, drink white wine, and listen to NPR." In an effort to debunk the myth, Schultz admitted that he and his wife are sometimes "wine snobs" but that they also like to have "a cool one." He then recounted how he had just given one of his kids a shotgun for Christmas.

The next day, Schultz told me that the mission of the conservative right to stereotype liberals like that caller did "does get my back up." He then plied me with his on-air slogan that his show is "where America comes to talk." And maybe it should also be where America comes to undo some stereotypes that conservatives have perpetrated and progressives themselves have bought into. Or, on a smaller scale, it should be the place to hear some talk that for too long hasn't had an outlet on commercial radio. As Tom Athans told me, and as we all know, we have a long way to go until we see true balance in commercial talk radio. But Ed Schultz's commercial viability in his short time in national syndication demonstrates that there's hope for some change.