(Welcome Marta Jorgenson to Calitics. - promoted by David Dayen)
Hi, my name is Marta Jorgensen and I'm running...
Today, I am championing my candidacy for Congress to all of you here at Calitics, because it is time the citizens of California's 24th Congressional District had someone to fight for them, not for lobbyists and special interests. My opponent, Elton Gallegly - R, has a long history of ignoring the views and concerns of the people in our district, and I've decided that enough is enough.
(Xposted from www.mydesert.com, the online edition of Palm Springs' The Desert Sun)
Well, well, well. Proud progressive Democrats and their Independent and Republican supporters in Riverside County, and especially in the Coachella Valley, repudiated The Desert Sun endorsement of Sen. Barack Obama in the California primary by giving Sen. Hillary Clinton approximately 67% of the vote. State-wide, Clinton appears to have won 54% of the vote while Obama has won about 39%. Shows how relevant The Desert Sun is to the Riverside County Democratic Party, to the California Democratic Party, and to our supporters amongst the Independents and Decline to States now.
The Democrats of Palm Springs, Cathedral City, Desert Hot Springs, Indio, Coachella, La Quinta, and other Desert Cities gathered tonight in a Unity Rally at Dale's Lost Highway to celebrate our common democratic and Democratic principles. Fiscal responsibility, universal healthcare, education, withdrawal from the Iraq morass and occupation, economic recovery, human rights, equal rights, and more.
The Democratic Unity Rally was sponsored by Richard Oberhaus, campaign manager of the Greg Pettis for 80th Assembly District, Greg Rodriguez, activist for the Clinton for President campaign, and Rob Simmons, Palm Springs Airport Commission and activist for the Barack Obama for President campaign. A conservative estimate of the attendance at the soiree would run about 200 given the steady to-and-fro of the enthusiastic crowd.
Spurred by John Edwards's withdrawal from the race on Wednesday, MoveOn surveyed a sample of its members to gauge endorsement interest, according to a source with knowledge of the group's operations. Then MoveOn set a deadline of 11 am Thursday for members to back a virtual endorsement vote. If a majority support the idea, virtual balloting will run overnight, open only to the group's 3.2 million activists, and an endorsement could be announced by Friday.
Your ballot will be hitting your inbox shortly. Looking at the movement in the Daily Kos poll, I can see Obama meeting the revised, 2/3 threshold.
(XPosted 1/30/2008 10:10 AM PST on MyDesert.com as BluePalmSpringsBoyz)
The media has reported that former-Sen. John Edwards plans to withdraw as a Democratic candidate for the nomination for President. It is a sad day as for many supporters, Edwards epitomized someone who early in the process opposed the disastrous policies of the so-called Pres. George Bush in Iraq and Iran, who was overwhelmingly supportive of LGBT issues, who spoke on behalf of the poor and working people of this country, and who set a mature tone for the Democratic campaign in general.
Democrat John Edwards is exiting the presidential race Wednesday, ending a scrappy underdog bid in which he steered his rivals toward progressive ideals while grappling with family hardship that roused voters' sympathies, The Associated Press has learned.
The two-time White House candidate notified a close circle of senior advisers that he planned to make the announcement at a 1 p.m. EST event in New Orleans that had been billed as a speech on poverty, according to two aides. The decision came after Edwards lost the four states to hold nominating contests so far to rivals who stole the spotlight from the beginning - Hillary Rodham Clinton and Barack Obama.
The former North Carolina senator will not immediately endorse either candidate in what is now a two-person race for the Democratic nomination, said one adviser, who spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the announcement. Both candidates would welcome Edwards' backing and the support of the 56 delegates he had collected.
Obviously the big question is how his votes will get redistributed. For us in California it's especially interesting, because if Obama can peel off enough of the Edwards supporters, we're going to have one dramatic night next week.
An added wrinkle is the votes already cast. Edwards' supporters have been among the most dedicated and loyal in this campaign, and many of his California supporters have already mailed in their ballots. As Brian pointed out yesterday, the VBM return rates are "low" overall so there may be a significant chunk of Edwards backers who haven't voted and could decide the outcome here.
So what will they do? Or, if you're an Edwards supporter, what do you plan to do?
"LGBT Americans are entitled to equal respect and dignity under our laws. Discrimination is morally wrong. All Americans should have the same freedoms and the same responsibilities."
-- John Edwards
John Edwards has been a consistent supporter of the LGBT community, unlike most of the other candidates. And, as we know, Elizabeth Edwards is an even bigger supporter.
Edwards supports the same rights, benefits, and responsibilities for LGBT couples and supports the repeal of the Defense of Marriage Act which was enacted under Pres. Bill Clinton. Elizabeth Edwards goes even further, supporting Marriage Equality.
Edwards also opposes workplace discrimination against the LGBT community and, while still in the Senate, co-sponsored the Employment Non-Discrimination Act.
Edwards supports the rights and privileges of the LGBT community to serve in the Armed Forces and opposes the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" policies of the Pres. Bill Clinton Administration.
Edwards also believes that same-sex couples should enjoy the same adoption and family privileges as opposite-sex couples.
Edwards supports additional Hate Crimes legislation and while in the Senate, co-sponsored legislation providing law enforcement with tools to investigate and prosecute hate crimes based on perceived and actual sexual orientation and/or gender identity.
Finally, Edwards supports full funding for research and treatment of HIV/AIDS. Edwards was the first Presidential candidate to propose a comprehensive program regarding HIV/AIDS.
The National and local news media usually only focus on who 'wins' the caucus or primary race. They provide little information on election night regarding the important race, that for delegates.
This is interesting stuff from CNN.com for the Republican totals and CNN.com for the Democratic totals (kudos to grodriguez for providing the link in his blog).
The magic number of delegates for the Democratic nominee is 2,025. Thus far, 443 Democratic delegates have been chosen, including those from today's South Carolina Democratic primary as well as the so-called Super Delegates (e.g., governors, U.S. Senators, U.S. Representatives). This means that only 10.94% of the Democratic delegates are committed to date.
This year's California primary was intended to be unusual for several reasons, not just the move to February 5. It was a common assumption that more voters would choose to vote by mail, and that those voters would be sending in their ballots early, forcing the presidential campaigns to shift their tactics accordingly.
But how is it actually working out? The answer depends on where you are. In Santa Clara County, where more voters (56%) are registered as vote-by-mail than any other high-population county, it seems to be business as usual. From the Mercury News:
Historically, about 25 percent of absentee ballots are dropped at polling places or the registrar's office on Election Day. And so far, there doesn't appear to be a lag in votes already cast in Santa Clara County or statewide, officials say. Weir said some counties are even seeing a bigger early vote count than normal, while Santa Clara County officials say the flow is about normal at roughly 4,000 a day.
While down here in Monterey County, most folks seem to be waiting. From the Monterey Herald:
Despite requesting a record number of absentee ballots for California's Feb. 5 presidential primary, most Monterey County voters are hanging onto them, apparently still undecided whom they will choose as their party's nominee.
As of Friday, county Registrar of Voters Linda Tulett said fewer than 11,000 absentee ballots had been returned out of 81,000 issued, with a little more than two weeks to go until the state's primary.
What these articles suggest is that the assumption that vote-by-mail people would send in their votes early as they committed to a candidate just isn't happening. Instead a larger number of voters seem to be waiting to see what happens in the earlier states, their votes driven by media perceptions of who is "viable" and who is not. Although California's votes may help determine the outcome, California voters are still depending on the earlier contests, and we may still act merely as a coronation.
The hope that the earlier primary date would get candidates to pay more attention to Californians and Californian issues doesn't seem to be paying off either. Leon Panetta, former Clinton Chief of Staff and director of the Panetta Institute at Cal State Monterey Bay, expects campaigns to conduct less expensive but high targeted campaigns:
Leon Panetta said he believes the candidates in both parties have already spent so much money trying to build momentum in the early states that they're starting to watch their budgets and focusing their campaign efforts on the areas of maximum return, both in terms of votes and money....
"I think they're beginning to watch their dollars and cents," Panetta said. "This is probably going to be the most targeted campaigning that we'll see until the general presidential election (in November)." [From the Monterey Herald article]
While the candidates will be spending more time in California over the next two weeks, they're also going to have to spread their attention to other important states like Ohio, Illinois, New York, and other places. Meaning that we can expect the CA primary to be won through a combination of GOTV and media buzz.
On a union rooftop in downtown LA, I stood and waited for John Edwards. I took day off from work to drive from Irvine to LA. The traffic was bearable and I managed some parking as well. I ran into other local Edwards supporters from Orange County who were volunteering through the Progressive Democrats of America. It was nice to see some friendly faces and I was eager to hear John Speak, as was the rest of the crowd. They broke into changing "John Edwards" and their enthusiasm gave me the chills.
It seemed like people were paying attention, that they knew we had to give him a chance to speak and I really hope more than the people on the rooftop will have a chance to hear what he said, it's for all of us.
Go here, to Brad Blog for the entire speech, it is well worth the listen and it was amazing.
We all know that the world in warming. In fact, it is warming much faster that originally predicted. We can watch reports coming from the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change in Bali.
Last Spring, America saw the potential power of the Latino community as a political force. Millions of people, in cities across the country, poured into the streets, marching in solidarity for equality and justice for immigrants. In November of 2006, Latino voters proved again that they could help deliver victories, as their turnout increased by 33% in Congressional races, and was much more heavily Democratic than in years past, according to a recent report by NDN's Hispanic Strategy Center. The GOP's constant drumbeat of anti-immigrant rhetoric has opened up an incredible opportunity for Democrats and progressives to solidify Latino voters as a reliable - and fast-growing - part of our coalition.
But in California, where the largest majority of Latinos in the country live, that potential has barely been tapped. In our state, there are still more than 5 million Latino voters who are eligible but not registered to vote, or who are registered but don't regularly come out to the polls. When you consider that only about 3.2 million people voted in the 2004 Democratic primary in California, you can see the potential that the sheer numbers of this population could have on the outcome of our state's upcoming primary election on Feb. 5, 2008.
And yet few campaigns on the Democratic side have invested any resources into Spanish-language or Latino-focused media in this state, and the 2008 Presidential Primary is no exception. Vote Hope, a new statewide political network, has stepped in to fill that void. Working with the Los Angeles-based Amigos de Obama, another independent group trying to increase Latino participation, we have produced a series of 4-minute, Web-based films called Tu Voz, Tu Voto, which are inspired by the wildly popular Latin American telenovela genre, and promote Barack Obama as the candidate for hope, unity and change in America.
So come on over and find us on El Camino Real. And if you have any friends who need to registered to vote, bring them over as well! What better way to make a difference and be a force for positive change on lazy June Sunday than to eat chili and get people ready for the election? : )
Yesterday, something amazing happened. Barack Obama came to speak at the convention, and I was able to see him up close. And as he actually spoke downstairs, I had a chance to see him speak from the base of the stage... And I saw the magic of Obama right there, as all of us were mesmerized and blown away.
I'd love to share more about my experience with Team Obama in San Diego yesterday, so why not follow me after the flip for more (including more photos)?
Sen. Barack Obama raised at least $25 million dollars during the first quarter for his presidential campaign, a total surprisingly close to the $26 million collected by his chief rival for the Democratic nomination, Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton.
Obama actually may have raised more for the primary campaign than the former first lady, but that cannot be definitively known because the Clinton campaign has refused to say how much of its total is designated for the primary election versus the general election.
"This overwhelming response, in only a few short weeks, shows the hunger for a different kind of politics in this country and a belief at the grassroots level that Barack Obama can bring out the best in America to solve our problems," said Penny Pritzker, Obama's finance chair.
Oh, my! Watch out, everyone! This field is WIDE OPEN, and boy is it givine me hope! Follow me after the flip for more on this great development:
