(Some notes on organizing from our LG. Also see his diary from today. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Today I'll be joining Vice President Joe Biden in San Diego to promote job growth in California. At a time when California's unemployment rate is at 11.2 percent, the highest rate on record, it's certainly premature to declare that happy days are here again. But in this time of economic uncertainty, it's nice to know that our leadership in Washington is in tune with the needs of everyday Californians.
President Barack Obama's stimulus package wisely addresses both short term needs and long term goals in a way that prepares our country for an internationally competitive, green by necessity economy. The stimulus package passed in February includes $144 billion for state and local fiscal relief, $53 billion for priority education spending, $111 billion for infrastructure and science projects, $43 billion for energy needs, $81 billion in funds to help protect the vulnerable, and $288 billion in targeted tax cuts. The package also calls for doubling our renewable energy production in three years.
In California alone, it will create or save 396,000 jobs. Job-creating projects include $1.5 million for alternative energy efficiency grants for business and workforce housing in Livermore, $500,000 for affordable housing in Palm Desert, $200 million for flood levy improvements in Natomas, and $250,000 for storm water capture in Pasadena.
Nancy Pelosi officially goes through the motions of nominating Joe Biden, followed by a video montage focusing on Biden's working class roots in Scranton as a stuttering young man, through his dedicated family life, and finally turning on his experience and accomplishments as a legislator.
Bo Biden, Joe's son and Attorney General of Delaware, introduces his father (I didn't catch much of it, as I was distracted shaking hands with Scott Kleeb...)
Joe Biden has just been selected as the Vice Presidential nominee. There's a little "BI-DEN, BI-DEN" chant in the room, which I pretty much never thought I'd see.
After a short video we'll have the speech.
In the video: "When you see the abuse of power, you've got to speak." This is going to be a solid speech.
...Beau Biden, the Attorney General of Delaware, who is being shipped out to Iraq in a month, is introducing him. He's talking about that horrible accident that killed his mother and sister. Joe Biden sat by his bedside and said "Delaware can get another Senator, but my boys can't get another father." Eventually he was encouraged to serve, and he commuted to work every day while he was a US Senator. This is a good introduction into Biden the man.
...Biden opens by praising President Clinton, "a man who brought this country so far I pray we can do it again." He praises Hillary as well.
"Let me make this pledge to you... no longer will you hear the most dreaded eight words in the English language... "the Vice President's office is on the phone." Unfortunately he mangled the setup slightly. He's working into this one.
Biden introduces his mother... Her motto was "failure at some point of your life is inevitable, but giving up is unforgivable." He sets up the red meat by saying that when bullies would fight him, he'd send him back out and saying "bloody their nose." My mother's creed is the American creed, everyone is equal, no one is better than you.
...Biden moving on to how the American dream is slipping away. He's building a narrative of how Republicans have broken this country. It's very accessible to the middle class. "That's the America George Bush has left us. And that's the America we'll have if Geor- John McCain is made President. Freudian slip!"
Biden: Barack "is the great American story." The measure of a man is what he chooses to do... and he tells the story of Obama moving to the South Side of Chicago to help steelworkers instead of taking a big corporate job.
...Biden has had a few flubs, but this is an emotional speech. He's making the case for Obama, and he's giving testimony of the quality of his character. "We don't have to accept a situation we cannot bear, we have the power to change it."
...the obligatory "John McCain is my friend" part, but now we are into the red meat. He's tying McCain to Bush and repeating the "more of the same" refrain.
...I hadn't heard the "McCain has voted 19 times against the minimum wage" bit of research before. He then followed up with the "we need a wise leader."
...I have to say that this is not that great a speech. The passion was there in the beginning, but he's now reading lines that it doesn't seem like he would read. And this Obama part is a bit too wonky. The "that's the change we need" is a bit grating. I understand that he's trying to define change, but it's not the best way to do it, IMO. Maybe this will improve.
...He's on stronger ground on foreign policy here. His foreign policy knowledge is broad and wide, and he's very blunt about it. "John McCain was wrong, and Barack Obama was right" on foreign policy.
...He's bringing into the headlines the recent collapse of the Bush foreign policy and how McCain wants to go down the same path. With Obama "we'll be able to lead again." This is pretty decent stuff.
With the convention days away everyone asks "You're a delegate. Who's your choice for VP?" Easy answer, "It's not my choice." But were it my choice I'd pick Senator Joe Biden. He is well known and well respected all across the nation. He has gravitas. He is an expert on international relations which is always important in every administration. He has been a national candidate and has the experience of campaigning in multiple states. And always a key consideration is: Could this person be a good president if necessary? The answer again is a strong yes. There you have my answer to a choice that is not mine to make.
Garamendi is a Clinton delegate and the state of California's top ranked Democrat.
Wabooom. Kabbbam. Iowa cauces...couple of thoughts:
John Edwards' number rounds up to 30, Hillary Clinton's rounds down to 29 (by 3/100ths of a point - ouch). There is a reason why $29.99 appears far less than $30.00
With same day registration, Chris Dodd and Joe Biden calling no joy, and fierce Baracketting, New Hampshire looks like another upset win for Barack Obama on Tuesday
This means Nevada will become Hillary's first potential win. This puts California boots in play with the ease of traveling to Vegas/Henderson or Reno
Expect this to put a f-ton of small dollar money heading to Anyone But Clinton -- I think Obama could best $12 million by New Hampshire
Clinton isn't in the top 3 on the huge facebook poll by the League of Young Voters, Moveon, et al.
"When taken in concert with the statements and actions of the Administration over the past year regarding Iran, the National Intelligence Estimate reveals a pattern of willful deceit directed at the U.S. Congress, the American people, and the rest of the world on the critical matters of war and peace."
Watched some of the Democratic Candidate debate on CNN tonight filmed at the UNLV campus in Nevada.
Impressions:
(1) Wolfe Blitzer remains an idiot
(2) Nevada Democratic voters ask much more interesting questions than the news media
(3) Hillary Clinton, John Edwards, Bill Richardson, Joe Biden, Dennis Kucinich aquitted themselves well.
(4) Barack Obama comes across as either less than well-informed or arrogant or a less than adequate listener
(5) Regardless, any of these candidates would make me proud to be a citizen of the U.S., and any of them are better candidates than any that the Repugnants have to offer
Water-boarding is term that describes strapping an individual to a board, with a towel pulled tightly across his face, and pouring water on him or her to cut off air and simulate drowning.
When asked directly last week whether he thought waterboarding is constitutional, Attorney General nominee Michael Mukasey was evasive. As noted by NPR, Mukasey "danced around the issue of whether waterboarding actually is torture and stopped short of saying that it is." "If it amounts to torture," Mukasey said carefully, "then it is not constitutional."
Waterboarding is torture, and anyone who is unwilling to identify it as such is not qualified to be the chief legal officer of the United States of America. If I were in the U.S. Senate, I would vote against Mukasey unless he denounces such specific forms of torture.
What about the Democrats in the U.S. Senate and other Democratic Presidential candidates? Will they oppose Mukasey unless he denounces the use of torture by our government?
At the Democratic debate in Davenport, Iowa, the most significant exchange to date in the debates occurred. Judy Woodruff asked the candidates how many U.S. troops would remain in Iraq one year after taking office if elected.
Biden said it depends on how Bush leaves Iraq. Edwards agreed with Biden, claiming "it's impossible to say." Clinton echoed Biden's view, vaguely offering "a reasonable and prudent plan" to get our troops out. Dodd objected to speaking about 2010 and said Congress should not wait that long to act.
Only Richardson provided a direct and unambiguous answer:
Zero troops! . . . Without getting our troops out you can not have a political settlement. . . . I would take all of our troops out. We need to end this war now.
August 19, 2007 - Drake University, Des Moines, Iowa (ABC) 8PM
August 27-28, 2007 - Cancer Forum, Cedar Rapids, IA (MSNBC & Live Streaming)
September 26, 2007 - Hanover, New Hampshire
October 30, 2007 - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
November 15, 2007 - Las Vegas, Nevada
December 10, 2007 - Los Angeles, California
January 6, 2008 - Johnson County, Iowa
January 15, 2008 - Las Vegas, Nevada
January 31, 2008 - California
Of the top four candidates for the Democratic nomination former Sen. John Edwards is the only candidate who does not have any paid staff or campaign offices in the nation's largest state. The campaigns of Sens. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama and Gov. Bill Richardson all have devoted resources on the ground in California including offices and paid staffers.
Delegate rich California, with a population of 38 million people, will deliver a mega amount of delegates on February 5, 2008. In the latest SUSA poll Sen. Hillary Clinton has a 21 point lead in California over Sen. Barack Obama with Edwards finishing third with 15%.
"The Edwards insurgent road map is clear: convert progressive positions into labor endorsements, win Iowa, ride a big momentum wave in terms of press coverage and online money and then slingshot out to the bigger states" like California, said Democratic consultant Chris Lehane, a veteran of the Clinton White House who worked for Al Gore in 2000 and for 2004 presidential candidates John Kerry and Wesley Clark.
Democratic consultant Bill Carrick, who's worked on presidential campaigns for Bill Clinton, Dick Gephardt and Ted Kennedy, said if Edwards stumbles in Iowa "he won't have a California campaign."
However, Carrick said even while concentrating on the earlier states Edwards must establish a campaign in California if he is to take advantage of early momentum.
"If you don't have any preparation in California ... it makes it all the harder to be competitive here if you do get here," he said.
Carrick recalled that in 1988 Gephardt, the former Missouri senator, won Iowa and finished second in the New Hampshire primary, but lacking money he didn't have the organization in other states to be competitive and fell out of the race.
--
Edwards and Kerry carried California by double-digits in 2004, but surveys this year show the former senator trailing Clinton and Obama.
With Edwards' fundraising lagging millions behind Obama and Clinton he must pick his spots, said Bruce Cain, director of the Institute of Governmental Studies at the University of California, Berkeley.
"You cannot campaign in California without spending tens of millions of dollars," Cain said. "He's got to think long and hard before he diverts money to California."
Well, tonight is your chance! Go see the MoveOn Iraq War town hall debate tonight, and learn more about what all the candidates think about the war. I can guarantee you right now that there's one in your neck of the woods, so you don't have to go too far to see all the Democratic Presidential Candidates... But I can't guarantee how long space will last, as these parties are filling up fast!
So what are you waiting for? If you're in Orange County, go to one of our local debate parties tonight. If you're somewhere else, go ahead and find a party near you. You'll get to meet other progressive Democrats in your area, and you might just find the right candidate for you tonight. : )
Four years ago at the 2003 DNC Winter Meeting in Sacramento, the CDP lead the way by credentialing two bloggers (Jerome Armstrong and Kos). Since then, the CDP has continued the tradition of access for new progressive media. A dozen of us were credentialed for the 2005 Western Regional Caucus and there were bloggers at last year's CDP Convention.
For the 2007 California Democratic Party Convention, the CA blogosphere will be rolling 20 deep. While Barak Obama has yet to confirm, here is the working lineup:
U.S. Senator Hillary Clinton, former Senator John Edwards, Gov. Bill Richardson, and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will lead the parade of Democratic superstars at the California Democratic Party's convention in San Diego, April 27-29, the party announced today.
Unfortunately, the Iraq War will still be the major issue and California Democrats are vocal opponents of the war. Four years ago, Edwards received boos for stating he thought Saddam Hussein was a serious threat. On the other hand, the What I Want to Know speech catapulted Howard Dean.
After the flip are some of the things to watch for this year.
(The comments are funny. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Dear Presidential Candidates,
In the extended text you will find the complete open letter to the presidential candidates. I wrote the letter in hopes of deterring candidates from making the kinds of mistakes that South has made throughout his career and to avoid the Democratic infighting that South is so happy to instigate. I warn candidates that by hiring Garry South, you will be wearing the Scarlet Letter "T" as in Triangulator or DLC or whatever. I think we all get the point.
I appreciate your attention to the letter. Of course, feedback is appreciated. Finally, please recommend this letter at MyDD and DailyKos
