A couple of months ago, in the heat of the superdelegate struggle, Steve Ybarra made a bold and public request. Basically, he requested a $20 million commitment to voter registration efforts targeted at Latinos. The media ridiculed him as some sort of vote seller. As I wrote back then, the request was in actuality a request for party building. And that's a perfectly good request from a member of the DNC to the presidential candidates. Nonetheless, even Comedy Central got in on the make fun of the superdelegate who wants to accomplish something act.
Fine. But, in the end, Ybarra got the last laugh when the DNC and the Obama campaign announced a, you guessed it, $20 million effort for Hispanic voter mobilization. From the Washington Post:
Barack Obama and the Democratic National Committee are expected to unveil a $20 million investment in Hispanic voter mobilization Tuesday that targets most major battleground states.
DNC Chairman Howard Dean said the sum is unprecedented for a presidential campaign and represents a show of Democratic confidence that Latino voters could prove pivotal in states including New Mexico and Michigan.
***
Targets will include Florida; Western states such as Colorado, Nevada and New Mexico; and Ohio, Pennsylvania and Michigan, industrial battlegrounds with sizable Hispanic populations. The money will be spent on niche advertising and other outreach, along with mobilization efforts aimed at identifying, registering and turning out new Democratic voters.
It's not everything that Ybarra had requested, because I'm guessing that big chunk of that money will end up as ads on Univision. You have to start somewhere, though. Latino registration, if done properly in California, could be a boon for Democrats in our state as well. The voting patterns in California were about ten years ahead of the rest of the country, due to the reactionary Prop 187 and other anti-immigrant stances of the GOP wingnut base and the politicians that pander to them.
If Democrats solidify the votes of Millenials alongside other growing voting blocs like Hispanic voters, we have the opportunity to build a progressive governing coalition for a generation or more. Projects like these are just the beginning of an investment project for the development of this coalition.
(I'm at the Obama/DNC registration event right now, this was a great event this afternoon with Dr. Dean. Get out the vote!!! - promoted by David Dayen)
The Barack Obama/DNC "Register for Change" bus just pulled up in front of the Netroots Nation convention in Austin, Texas, so that DNC Chairman Howard Dean could lead a rally and then register voters outside the Austin Convention Center. Dean's visit took place during a noon-time break in panel discussions being led by the Obama campaign and the DNC, laying out their plan for winning in 2008.
Those of you who have read emails and posts from the California Democratic Party have already heard many of the specifics for their plan. The primary tool that Democrats will be using to win this election in November is the Neighborhood Leader program.
It's an exercise that nobody likely cared very much about four years ago. And I would imagine that people aren't likely to care about it four years from now, because it seems that the Democratic primary process will have undergone some modification by then. But right now, who California's at-large DNC members--i.e., superdelegates--are, has captured the popular imagination.
An election like this doesn't happen every day. In fact, only about 300 people get to vote for these voters (who do DNC business besides, but that's not nearly as sexy) every four years. This year, I happened to be one of them, as I was proxying for Los Angeles City Council President Eric Garcetti.
Brian gave you the election results earlier. But what's the voting process like? We all believe in election integrity, after all.
(welcome Mayor Hickenlooper. - promoted by David Dayen)
By Denver Mayor John Hickenlooper
Now that one of the most remarkable primaries in our nation's history has concluded, attention is turning to the Democratic National Convention in Denver. In less than three months, the Mile High City and the Rocky Mountain West will host this historic event for the first time since 1908.
The Convention also coincides with Denver's 150th birthday - a century-and-a-half of progress and innovation since its birth at the height of the Colorado gold rush. A hub of opportunity for people seeking new frontiers, people come to Colorado seeking much more than gold these days. The spirit of visionary zeal and limitless possibility is as strong as ever in the New West. So it's fitting that as the Democratic Party marches toward its own new frontier, it will do so through Denver.
A message to all of you in California: you don't have to be in Denver - or on the Convention floor - to get in on the action though. The Denver 2008 Convention Host Committee has organized two interactive ways for people anywhere in America to get involved. We're convening a national conversation about democracy and community and invite everyone to participate.
We've appreciated the chance to speak with you on the phone or communicate
by email during the course of this short campaign for the DNC.
We are committed to the concept that DNC members should engage in ongoing
dialogue that includes regular conference-call reports and discussions
with E-Board members.
We wish to thank the many E-Board members who have encouraged our
candidacies. And we appreciate the endorsement of our slate by Rep. Lynn
Woolsey, who continues to inspire us as co-chair of the Congressional
Progressive Caucus and a visionary opponent of the Iraq war.
We thank the next senator from SD-9, Assemblywoman Loni Hancock, the
mother of Clean Money, for her kind words: "It would be very helpful to
add more progressive voices to the DNC, and I am pleased to endorse these
hard-working progressives for the position."
And we're also gratified to receive the endorsement of Jamie Beutler,
Chair of the Rural Caucus CDP, who said: "I am pleased to endorse this
slate of six. They are grassroots activists who do what they say they will
do. They are the kind of people who make our country strong."
As candidates for the DNC, we make solemn promises to you as constituents
and E-Board Members, and also to members of the entire DSCC and ultimately
all California Democrats.
* We will be tireless progressive voices in defense of our Democratic core
principles on the DNC committees on which we serve.
* We will conscientiously attend DNC and Regional Caucus meetings, and we
will make the most of the networking opportunities with the DNC, bringing
"best practices" from around the country for consideration by the CDP.
* We will support Chairman Dean's 50-State Strategy and endeavor to apply
that model to California's 58-County Strategy, and, ultimately, to
implement a "3,077-County Strategy" nationwide.
* We will report back to E-Board Members and the DSCC about the work of
the DNC and seek input about concerns and priorities. This process should
include conference calls open to all E-Board Members, a page on the CDP
website devoted to DNC business, and a conversational session to be
scheduled at each E-Board and state convention.
In this time of peril and opportunity for our country and the world,
seriousness of purpose and dedication to grassroots principles of
democracy are essential. In that spirit, we ask for your vote.
Sincerely,
Karen Bernal
Mal Burnstein
Mayme Hubert
Barbara Lee, Member of Congress
Ralph Miller
Norman Solomon
AHIP, America's Health Insurance Plans, decided downtown San Francisco would be a good place for the health insurance company lobbyists and executives to hold their convention. Not surprisingly, thousands of people will take to the streets at noon on June 19th at the Moscone center to protest getting ripped off by the health insurance companies and rally for SB 840 in California and HR 676 nationally.
One of the key people being protested is none other than former DNC Chair Terry McAuliffe who is a keynote speaker for the industry. Which adds some context to his quotes in yesterday's New York Times on the Clintons' enemies list and rewarding of friends:
"The Clintons get hundreds of requests for favors every week," said Terry McAuliffe, the chairman of Mrs. Clinton's presidential campaign. "Clearly, the people you're going to do stuff for in the future are the people who have been there for you."
Finally, we've recovered from McAuliffe's disaster as DNC Chair when he ran it like the DLC and was proven incapable of moving beyond transactional politics to a post-McCain/Feingold fundraising party that isn't a subsidiary of special interests. And yes, we've also moved beyond his success in perfectly executing a Clinton campaign strategy that took her from undisputed presidential front-runner to junior senator. But there is he is, using his name and connections to help out those who have helped them while Americans suffer.
In my opinion, one of the most important outcomes of Clinton's loss was that they won't get back control of the DNC -- which is great news for Democrats. But T-Mac is a reminder that we all need due diligence in the process of choosing the next California Democratic Party Chair so that we can reform the CDP to also move into the 21st century.
Currently, there are 1,904 pledged attendees at the rally according to the neat online organizing tool. Check to see which groups have currently pledged how many, get your group involved, and join in this important event.
You wouldn't know this unless you follow these things closely, but this coming Sunday, June 15, is very significant in the future of Democratic politics. On that day at the California Democratic Party executive board meeting in Burlingame, 19 men and women from throughout the state will be voted in as DNC members. Those elected will take their positions after the Democratic National Convention in August, and will serve through the DNC in 2012. Here's the list (it's a PDF) of names who will appear on the ballot - 9 men, 9 women and the 19th-highest vote-getter regardless of gender will win the election.
Now, why is this important? These 19 DNC members will be part of the organization that will need to decide how to reform our completely broken primary process that almost turned a historic nomination season into utter chaos. There is no other issue - not the war, not poverty, not the economy, not health care, nothing - where DNC members will make any kind of a difference compared to primary reform. I know a lot of party members read this site, so let this be a jumping off point for discussion. No California e-board member should vote to elect any of these candidates without knowing their plans for primary reform. And on the flip, here are a few ideas.
Today is a new day in America. I am confident that we will all come together and unite behind our nominee Barack Obama - and tonight pledge my DNC superdelegate vote and my volunteer commitment to help win back the White House for the American people and elect President Barack Obama.
Visit my post about President Barack Obama on HuffingtonPost at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/... and feel welcome to leave a comment.
TONIGHT I'll be discussing this historic moment on Air America at 930PM CA time; 1230AM Eastern on "This is America with John Elliott". We will take your calls and emails so please feel welcome to tune in via computer at
http://airamerica.com/thisisam... and call 866-303-2270.
As always, thanks for your support and for all you do.
No, actually, we just signed on to a letter to Howard Dean taking a critical look at the state blogger credential selections for the Democratic National Convention. As Matt Stoller notes, some of the selections were unusual, whether in Michigan or New Jersey or New York, and we're just looking for some answers about the process. I don't envy the DNC's job here; you're talking about hundreds of blogs in 50 states and only enough room for one each (maybe that was the problem). But it seems like some more care could have been taken. Marc Ambinder reports on it and prints some of the letter. Here's the whole thing (on the flip):
Today is the day to choose the delegates for this year's DNC Convention in Denver. Since the Clinton team refuses to acknowledge the math, it could be the first convention floor fight in a generation so choose well. Here's what you need to know:
Get there early, registration is from 2PM - 3PM followed by the caucuses. So get there early (I'm aiming for 1:45).
And let us know how things worked. I'm predicting record turnout with logistical problems because of record interest. Speaking of which, bring your friends!
P.S. You MUST be in line by 3PM to vote. Did I mention to get there early?
There has been an extraordinary outpouring of grassroots support for Senator Obama among Democrats and Independents in all 53 California Congressional districts.
In recognition of this tremendous enthusiasm, our campaign has asked the California Democratic Party to allow all persons who have filed to be a district delegate candidate for Senator Obama at the Democratic National Convention to participate in the caucuses this Sunday, April 13, 2008.
We are confident that delegates elected from this pool will reflect the Senator's commitment to a diverse and unified delegation at the National Convention.
An overwhelming number of supporters have signed up to run for delegate, so there will likely be lines and tight space at the caucus locations. We ask for everyone's patience and cooperation.
Most of all, please enjoy this opportunity to meet other Obama supporters and elect delegate candidates to the Convention in Denver.
If you have any questions, please contact Daryl Sprague at dsprague@barackobama.com.
Thanks for your interest and active participation in Barack's campaign to change politics and change America.
David
David Plouffe
Campaign Manager
Obama for America
In the end, the weird randomness of the pruning and anger from sections of the grassroots necessitated this. I didn't have as big a problem with it as everyone else, but I'm glad it reached a good resolution... until Sunday, that is :)
Well, I guess it's down to me to take the contrarian view of this whole list purgebusiness.
The short answer is that activists aren't owed seats in Denver just because they're activists. It's perfectly legitimate for the Obama campaign to reward supporters who walked precincts, made phone calls, dropped lit, stayed up late at the campaign office, and generally did anything and everything logistically to help the candidate win California (confidentially, I was told by someone high-up on the campaign last night that they did indeed tie on Election Day; it was the absentees that swung the race to Clinton). Just being a good activist is not enough. You're actually not going to the convention to represent the party, you'd be going as an Obama or Clinton delegate, representing the candidate. Honestly, considering that there were about 1,000 precinct captains in California, if you weren't one, you shouldn't be an Obama delegate. Bottom line.
What I and many of us object to is the haphazard, seemingly random standard applied here, where delegates with little or no ground experience remained on the ballot, while those with a lot didn't (like the guy in CA-36 who was a paid Richardson staffer who remains on the Obama list). Because you're talking about 1,700 delegates, there are lots of arguments you can make for why the campaign chose one candidate or another, but they're all unprovable and contradicted by the group in the next district over. The people still in the race range from bundlers to people who never gave a dime, those who worked their hearts out to those who didn't lift a finger, progressive antiwar activists to those who aren't as vocal. When you're talking about 1,700 for 108 slots, there's not going to be any one reason, and anyone who says otherwise is being extremely myopic. In addition, there are the well-established CDP demographic rules and needs, so compiling a list that will fit those needs is probably a great puzzle. And also, practically everyone on the Obama campaign is in Pennsylvania or North Carolina and Indiana by now, so the vetting process had to be undertaken by a very small number of people.
Well, I guess it's down to me to take the contrarian view of this whole list purgebusiness.
The short answer is that activists aren't owed seats in Denver just because they're activists. It's perfectly legitimate for the Obama campaign to reward supporters who walked precincts, made phone calls, dropped lit, stayed up late at the campaign office, and generally did anything and everything logistically to help the candidate win California (confidentially, I was told by someone high-up on the campaign last night that they did indeed tie on Election Day; it was the absentees that swung the race to Clinton). Just being a good activist is not enough. You're actually not going to the convention to represent the party, you'd be going as an Obama or Clinton delegate, representing the candidate. Honestly, considering that there were about 1,000 precinct captains in California, if you weren't one, you shouldn't be an Obama delegate. Bottom line.
What I and many of us object to is the haphazard, seemingly random standard applied here, where delegates with little or no ground experience remained on the ballot, while those with a lot didn't (like the guy in CA-36 who was a paid Richardson staffer who remains on the Obama list). Because you're talking about 1,700 delegates, there are lots of arguments you can make for why the campaign chose one candidate or another, but they're all unprovable and contradicted by the group in the next district over. The people still in the race range from bundlers to people who never gave a dime, those who worked their hearts out to those who didn't lift a finger, progressive antiwar activists to those who aren't as vocal. When you're talking about 1,700 for 108 slots, there's not going to be any one reason, and anyone who says otherwise is being extremely myopic. In addition, there are the well-established CDP demographic rules and needs, so compiling a list that will fit those needs is probably a great puzzle. And also, practically everyone on the Obama campaign is in Pennsylvania or North Carolina and Indiana by now, so the vetting process had to be undertaken by a very small number of people.
(And get there early. Props to our CDP - promoted by Bob Brigham)
This Sunday, April 13, you get to pick the delegates who will be sent from California to the Democratic National Convention in Denver next August. Whether you support Sen. Hillary Clinton or Sen. Barack Obama, you'll have a chance to determine who goes to Denver and who watches on TV.
The caucuses to elect the delegates will take place on April 13th everywhere in the state at 3:00 p.m., with sign-in and voting starting at 2:00 p.m. You must be in line by 3 p.m. to receive a ballot.
Every aspect of the 2008 Democratic presidential race has generated lots of enthusiasm and excitement, so we expect that these caucuses will be very well attended. This raises the likelihood of long lines as people sign in to get their ballots.
In order to cut down on the waiting time, the California Democratic Party has developed the widget below to allow attendees to pre-register online.
The deadline for pre-registration is Thursday, April 10th at 12:00 Noon.
Just fill in the blanks and follow the prompts. You can cut down on the long lines and help out the campaign volunteers who are staging these events by taking this simple step ahead of time.
SIGN UP ONLINE TO ATTEND A DNC DELGATE SELECTION CAUCUS.
Here and across my series of 872 blogs, I've been pretty vocal about the superdelegate situation, about how it's a media creation designed to set Democrats against themselves and damage the party's credibility as we move into the fall. I'm not the only one, either. Today comes a thinly sourced story about how the Clinton campaign is vowing to go after pledged delegates who represent the distribution in the various state primaries and caucuses, a charge that the campaign summarily denied. The truth is that the Democratic Party's somewhat convoluted system practically demands that some pledged delegates will be up for grabs, but this Politico/Drudge effort doesn't pass any kind of smell test. Essentially, my feeling is that the Democratic Party put together a system they never thought they would have to use. For decades now both parties have created a calendar designed to nominate a candidate as early as humanly possible. They never considered the implications of having two equally strong candidates and a campaign that would grind on (although let's get some perspective on that; it's only February 19 here, and the scenarios being games out may be inoperative in a matter of weeks). Now that the system is being trotted out, pretty much for the first time ever (arguably, 1984 brought these rules into play), it's showing a little rust. OK, a lot of rust. They're trying to patch it up and have a bunch of elder statesmen manage this situation. I think this is a freak-out that is far too premature.
(Let's welcome the first of what I hope will be many reports from the CDP's new online organizers! - promoted by David Dayen)
Tonight approximately 75 Stockton area Democrats joined together to watch George W. Bush's last State of the Union Speech... ever. Sponsored by the Stockton branch of Drinking Liberally, our group met at the local Valley Brew, where we had a banquet room all to ourselves. We booed; we hissed; we snickered; we rolled our eyes; occasionally, one or two of us even yelled back at the big screen TV. And we played Bush Bingo. Sadly, we have all become so inured to Bush's clichéd approach to governance that almost everyone was a winner -- and usually in three, four or five different rows.
so that the national leadership hear our voices. A group of Democratic Party clubs in Northern California have decided to communicate with one another via a list-serve hopefully that will link together all of the Democratic Clubs in Northern California or even possibly the whole state. The motivation for this is from a strong sense that the clubs have traditionally been used to support the national party and receives instructions from the state and national party but that mechanisms for communicating back up were lacking. Especially in recent months we have seen some of our more active members leave because of frustration with the actions of Democratic representatives in Congress. Recently our club has started to take on national positions and communicating them to the state and national level. Surprisingly, we have received some feedback indicating that our voices are being heard. Therefore, we decided to set up a communication network with other clubs to let them know what we are doing and to invite them to also take such actions and let us know what they suggest. Hopefully, collective action from multiple clubs could get our voices heard, especially over all of the opaque lobbying activities that seem to determine the outcome of so much congressional action. We see this as an extension of the grass-roots and net-roots efforts to influence national party position on major issues.
Just a quick note: I will be attending this weekend's California Democratic Party Executive Board meeting at the Radisson Hotel in Sacramento and posting occasional updates on the proceedings on Calitics. The main issue that everyone seems to be talking about is the process for picking delegates to the 2008 Democratic National Convention in the state, whether those delegate caucuses will be held before the California primary (as is typically the case) or afterwards. Frankly, I think it's an inside baseball kind of deal, and while both sides have passionate arguments in favor of or against it, I'm a bit unmoved by them (Pre-primary advocates want a more diverse slate of delegates going to the convention to impact the platform, I believe, to which I say, how many people actually read and ingest and make decisions based on the party platform, and is that number in triple digits or not?). But I'll be up there to let you know about them.
The two things I want to see, and will report back about, are the Progressive Caucus on Friday night at 8pm, and a debate on Saturday morning at 8:30am about net neutrality, between Brad Parker of Progressive Democrats of America, and Jim Gordon, the chair of the Labor Caucus (and a member of Communications Workers of America, who are resistant to the principle of net neutrality, to put it mildly). That should be very fun. I'll post the agenda of the meeting on the flip, in case anyone is in Sacramento and would like to attend (apparently observer passes will be available on-site for a nominal fee, I think $15).
DNC member Christine has ensured that Brian will have a T-1 connection tomorrow, which is very forward thinking and will ensure that everyone should hit refresh often for the latest on all the great energy out west. This is not a one sentence diary.
Over the weekend, I'll be at the DNC's Western Regional Caucus. If you happen to be in SF, you can attend the Welcome Reception. (Posted in the Calitics event calendar) It won't be quite the all-star event as it was in 2005 with the potential DNC Chairs. But, on the other hand, I have very high hopes of emerging without any major conflicts, phsyical or otherwise. Not all of the Calitics FPs can say the same of these things in the past.
So, if you have any issues that you would like to be brought up in such an event, shoot me an email. I hope to post several times tomorrow and Saturday, assuming my Internets is all wired (less) up.
