(Welcome to the Executive Director of the California Democratic Party, Shawnda Westly - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
I remember driving around the state with Chairman John Burton back in January of 2009, when he was "just" ex-Senate President pro Tem John Burton - an unknown quantity to most DSCC delegates.
I remember introducing his, um, entertaining and unpredictable style to activists from around the state. And I remember everything you told him needed to be done to prepare for 2010.
You asked John for tools and training. And John asked you to show up and fight for our statewide ticket on election day.
We faced difficult financial challenges. We overcame them, together. (in large part because of the non stop fundraising of our Chairman and the active DEM2010 program started by our great Controller - Hilary Crosby!)
Convention Builds Relationships - Equality is NON-Partisan
(LOUISVILLE, KY) Sept. 28, 2010 - Participants in the first Coffee Party Convention arrived home to 40 different states on Sunday and Monday, energized and determined to pursue electoral and legislative goals outlined during the three-day event.
The most emotional speech at the convention came from Lt. Dan Choi. In his first public remarks since last week's filibuster of a Defense Authorization Bill that included a conditional repeal of Don't Ask Don't Tell, Choi spoke of love, equality, and determination, bringing listeners to tears.
"Love is non-partisan," Choi said. "Love does not belong to any specific group. And the equality of love is also non-partisan. ... Equality is non-partisan because the priority of our rights and our liberties, as if freedom is some kind of finite resource, is most anti-American.
After the preparations had been made, the tally sheets from our phone calls completed, the carpools worked out, and the volunteers scheduled, I headed to Los Angeles with the hope that after the weekend was complete, there would be no question in the minds of the CDP delegates that Gavin Newsom has the grassroots support necessary to win the Lt. Governor's race against whatever the GOP throws at us in November.
In the weeks prior to the convention, our team of students from all across the state had been talking to delegates, volunteers, and fellow young voters about Mayor Newsom's candidacy and about his bold, new ideas that will be required to dig California out of our seemingly never ending state of economic misery.
The pitch was not hard to make. Young people are drawn to Newsom's campaign. We see public higher education becoming unaffordable to more and more Californians. We fear that in five or ten years our state won't be able to compete in an evolving global economy, and we worry that the living wage jobs that we will need in order to support our families will be harder and harder to find. While we are confident that our state will come to its senses when it comes to Gay Marriage and LGBT rights, we are concerned that the relentless beat of the status quo won't provide the framework necessary to drastically change the way we look at issues like immigration, the environment, and budget & tax reform. We have watched the forces of regressiveness drag our state (and our futures) under the surface, and we are ready and eager to support Gavin Newsom, who has proven time and time again in San Francisco that tangible change is not only possible, but it is also necessary.
Delegates, Floor Fight? You Bet!
Winograd vs. Harman: Choose Our Street over Wall Street
Delegates, I need your support to block the endorsement of Blue Dog Jane Harman on the floor of the California Democratic Party convention this weekend. Harman is a formidable opponent, particularly with her campaign consultant Harvey Englander, the man who engineered the passage of Howard Jarvis' Prop 13.
You will hear Harman's appointees argue that we should not usurp the local caucus's power to endorse. Delegates are aware that incumbents enjoy institutional support and as such, many are unwilling to expend political capital or perceived accessibility to incumbents even though those incumbents may vote against core Democratic values. Our Party's bylaws however, provide for exactly this type of challenge because when a candidate is endorsed, that endorsement reflects the will of the entire statewide Party, not just local delegates. Moreover, when a corporate Democrat, funded by military contractors and personally invested in those same contractors, takes us to war without exercising her oversight responsibility, all of us pay the price.
You may hear that we must respect what Party activists in the 36th congressional district want. Please know that I am proud to be endorsed by the majority of grassroots Democratic clubs in my district, including the San Pedro Democratic Club; Torrance Democratic Club; Progressive Democratic Club (Harbor); Gardena Valley Democratic Club; Progressive Democrats of America-36th District.
In all of the back and forth over what should or shouldn't be discussed in reforming California's system of government, many ideas have been put forward. One suggestion that has stuck with me -- why not set up a Constitution wiki?
The idea seems straightforward, although I think the execution would be rather complex. Create a wiki with the current state constitution -- and perhaps the constitutions of other states -- as reference points. Then, just dive in and start writing. With several (dozens? hundreds? thousands?) exploring ideas, we might come to a consensus. However, I would like to suggest that we consider a wiki that offers multiple options, based on the choices people make.
For example, do we stick with the traditional American system or go for a more parliamentary system? Making that choice means very different outcomes in writing the articles for the executive and legislative branches, and both should be explored. Should we keep a bicameral legislature, or switch to a unicam? Should we keep single-member, plurality districts, or move to proportional representation? Each of these questions would need exploring, with the goal of crafting a complete, coherent Constitution no matter which choices are made along the design path. In the end, instead of one option, we might have 20, but each version having been reviewed for internal consistency.
So, what do you people think? Would this be a project worth trying?
Just returned from the August 3rd Town Hall meeting on a State Constitutional Convention held at California Lutheran University in Thousand Oaks. There were about 200 people in attendance; a lot of retired upscale suburban folks with some elected officials, party activists, and Chamber of Commerce types mixed in.
The speaker's panel consisted of Timm Herdt, Sacramento correspondent for the Ventura County Star, Jim Wundeman of the Bay Area Council, poli-sci professor Dr. Herb Gooch of CLU, and Superior Court Judge James Cloninger.
I wanted to share a couple of thoughts with Calitics readers about my experience running for chair of the California Democratic Party.
First, I really did mean it in my speech on Saturday when I said most of the good ideas were on the floor of the convention. Of the 12 points I presented in that speech, a couple were mine. A few came from things I heard at central committee meetings or regional events I attended across the state during the campaign. In some cases, they were things political friends of mine suggested, or even stuff I read on blogs and listservs. One friend of mine at the convention called it crowdsourscing, another fellow said it was the essence of democracy, and a third observed that that's what representatives are supposed to do--listen to their constituents. Of course they're all right. But the point is, all you have to do is show up and listen. We have a lot of bright, experienced people in the Democratic Party in California. They have a lot to teach us.
The other thing people kept telling me is that I was so brave to do this. Anybody who knows me can tell you I'm not an inherently brave person. Foolhardy on occasion perhaps. But I was so nervous on Saturday that my son had to type the changes to my speech because my hands were shaking. What motivated me was the belief that what I was doing was important, and that's not much different than most of the people who do extraordinary things in our party every day.
Last year I volunteered at the convention and ended up with a proxy so I was able to experience my first convention from both sides. This year I was a full fledged delegate and felt much more a part of the process. I kind of missed the Leno/Migden circus from last year as nothing else equaled or replicated the entertainment factor. I was very impressed...as always... with Debra Bowen's pitch perfect speech given without as much as a 3 x 5 note card in front of her. And hearing Boxer is always motivating and reinvigorating.
For chair, I voted for Chris Finnie and I give her major kudos for staying in the race when the others ran away. I see this happening more often in our elections and I'm disappointed in the fact that our options for candidates are often decided for us long before we get to the ballot. I understand that running for any office involves a great deal of time, money and commitment, but I want to make my choice rather than having the party make the choice for me. I didn't hear a lot of enthusiasm for John Burton among the crowd. What I heard a lot of was, "I like Chris Finnie but Burton's going to win anyway so I will vote for him". It makes me wonder if we have become so desperate to be on the winning side of elections that we have learned to settle for what's inevitable over what's inline with our own priorities.
I was very encouraged at the increasing force our young voters are becoming. I love seeing the growth of the CYD and I'm happy to see the young Dems becoming a more influential force in the party. But I've heard and seen this before in every grassroots organization I've been involved with. I've also seen them get disgruntled and frustrated and eventually take their talents elsewhere. The idea that young voters and activists have been drawn to the party in such large numbers is a testament to our ability to reflect their priorities as well as the strength of our elected officials and candidates. But keeping them involved and engaged is also our responsibility and I hope the leadership understand that and don't abuse or ignore that part of the process. Building this new leadership may mean giving up some of our own power. But if we want to be sustainable as a party we must be willing to do that.
Overall I thought it was a good convention. I was kind of hoping Jane Harman would show up, but that goes back to my nostalgia for the Leno/Migden battle. I do so love a good show.
This weekend was my second California Democratic Party convention and my first as an elected delegate. It was an enjoyable weekend, catching up with old friends and making new ones. I also had the opportunity to spend some time with some of our elected leaders, such as Barbara Boxer, Gavin Newsom, Jerry Brown, and John Garamendi.
As I look back on the weekend, I am reminded of what I wrote after last year's convention, including some themes that were clearly in evidence this weekend. From last year:
The Leno-Migden fight certainly reached a dramatic climax today, and the result was stunning. After the vote was finalized Eden James argued that it was a representation of the power of the grassroots within the party, and I think that analysis is absolutely right....Migden's failed endorsement is also further evidence, along with the rescinded AD-40 endorsement and the split over Prop 93 earlier in the year, to a huge divide between the party grassroots and the Sacramento leadership in particular. Senate Democrats and their staffers had worked hard over the weekend to get a Migden endorsement and the delegates would not go along with it.
Switch out "Leno-Migden" and "Prop 93" for "Proposition 1A" and you'd have essentially the same story from this weekend in Sacramento. Progressives flexed their muscle yet again at this convention, showing that they are the force to be reckoned with in the party - even if progressives did not always speak with a single voice. The refusal to endorse Propositions 1A, 1D and 1E was a sign that progressive delegates are not going to be dictated to by Democratic leaders, and that they feel empowered to say "No" when it is warranted. That's a sign of a healthy and mature progressive movement. People power is here in the California Democratic Party - and although it has yet to find sustained expression, it's only a matter of time before that power revitalizes the party.
There's a lot else to write about, but for now I'm just going to offer some impressions, written down on the train back from Sacramento (and a note to all Democrats running for a statewide office in 2010: the first one of you to come up with a credible plan to connect Monterey to San Jose via frequent passenger rail service and will swear on the ghost of the Del Monte Express to implement it will get my endorsement).
Progressive candidates did very well in the race for CDP officer positions, in particular Hillary Crosby, who will hopefully and finally bring some financial accountability to this party. John Burton is himself a staunch progressive, as his victory speech made clear (he denounced the war in Afghanistan, for example). He will be a powerful voice for social democratic politics as party chair, and it's about time we had one.
Chris Finnie in particular deserves a shout-out. Even though many progressives, myself included, voted for John Burton, Finnie impressed a lot of delegates with her campaign and her speech. She showed she was running not for her own self-interests, but as the standard bearer for those who wanted true and long-overdue reform of the party. John Burton in turn showed he too saw the need for change by promising to adopt the 12 recommendations for reform that Chris advocated in her campaign. Her efforts showed the value of a contested race for chair, and by sticking with her campaign she showed more guts and probably will have had more of a lasting effect on the party than the other chair candidates who quit earlier on.
If the governor's race settles into a two-person contest between Gavin Newsom and Jerry Brown, Brown's going to have to do more than wax nostalgic for the old days. His "recession reception" struck the wrong tone, as he became a kind of museum piece - the blue Plymouth in the drive (Update: According to Calbuzz Brown didn't know that the Plymouth would be there), the old mansion, old songs. I don't know if that's what he was going for, but that's how it came across. Even if Newsom's "stroll down memory lane" line is unfair to what Brown has accomplished in the recent past and his capacity to provide some direction forward, Brown has got to start asserting some truly new ideas and a new vision for the next 30 years. We'll have more on our sitdown with Newsom soon - lots to chew over there.
There was some early jockeying for position ahead of the 2010 primary, although hardly anyone was paying attention to the downticket races. There are no clear frontrunners or progressive champions in the Insurance Commissioner, Attorney General, or Lieutenant Governor races. But one thing is clear - Debra Bowen is beloved by this party and its base in particular. She's been an excellent secretary of state, and she'll have a wide and deep base of support should she decide to run for US Senate in 2012.
It may just have been me, but it seemed that there really was a new kind of energy among party delegates - a determination to build a party that's able to produce progressive change. I don't know how many of the delegates were new, products of the Obama movement, but where I sat (Region 9) a large number of the delegates were folks new to the convention who had been mobilized by the Obama campaign. They aren't the kind of people to tolerate the usual insider games, and they are motivated by a sense that change isn't just necessary, but possible. It's very inspiring.
I feel I reached the limits of what Twitter can accomplish for political conversation this weekend. During Barbara Boxer's press event I made some occasional tweets of her comments, but it just disappears into the ether, buried in folks' feeds among links to some swine flu article or Susan Boyle's latest hairstyle. Below you can see David Dayen's excellent liveblog of the debate over the proposition endorsements, which would simply have been impossible given Twitter's 140 character limit. And there is a robust conversation going on in the comments, much easier to follow and participate in than on Twitter. That's not to say that Twitter doesn't have its uses, but it would be a mistake to try and use it to do what we've done well at places like Calitics.
Add your thoughts in the comments. Hope everyone had a great weekend. Now, time to catch up on sleep...
Senator Boxer held a press conference at the California Democratic Convention today. Originally it was going to be a "roundtable" with bloggers, but because of time problems it instead became a press conference at which bloggers were allowed to ask questions too. I don't fault Sen. Boxer for this but it led immediately to the old-style Important Person at a podium giving careful answers to self-serving questions instead of a back-and forth conversation where there is an equal discussion between the people and their representative-who-works-for-them. The format change forced her into that role, which is the standard in today's politics. In my humble opinion.
That said, if we had a senate with 100 Barbara Boxers, this would be a very different and much better country.
Boxer on torture (typing notes as she answered and these are a collection on the subject, while answering several questions):
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.
Just saw Melissa Etheridge give a great performance to a standing ovation. Then Harry Reid came on to talk about energy.
That's the political equivalent of a hairpin curve.
Earlier, some of California's finest women addressed the convention, as every Democratic woman in the US House hit the stage. Hilda Solis, Maxine Waters and Lois Capps gave remarks. Waters had a good line saying that McCain doesn't understand the housing crisis because none of his seven homes are in foreclosure.
I had some good chats with some electeds. I asked state Board of Equalization member Judy Chu about how the budget is affecting her office, and she replied that they're just trying to collect revenue wherever possible to paper over the crisis, but sales tax revenue is down because of the struggling economy. Kamala Harris and I chatted about blogging and how the traditional media is covering this election. She said that every single interview she's had has a question about disunity in it. What a false meme.
Netroots hero Patrick Murphy from my parent's district is up now, and he's doing great.
Speaker Pelosi has just hit the floor, and the Presidential nominating process has begun. Dolores Huerta is making the nominating speech for Hillary Clinton right now. People are pretty rapidly taking their seats.
It's important to note that a roll call vote is a completely perfunctory and normal process. Some may have been outraged by the fact of a roll call, but it's wholly unsurprising and will end with Barack Obama as the nominee, just as Bill Clinton became the nominee on the third night of the convention in 1992, and Clinton in '96, and Al Gore in 2000, and John Kerry in 2004. It's a nominating convention. This is how it works.
UPDATE: Hillary released her delegates, making them free to vote for whoever they want. As many feel the obligation to vote the way their constituents asked them to vote, Hillary will still get a lot of votes. Also, Hillary signed her ballot for Barack Obama this morning.
UPDATE: Obama is about to be nominated. The applause for Obama's nomination is defeaning. There will be no fight on this floor. A registered Republican from Tennessee, Michael Wilson, is offering the nomination. He's an Iraq war vet. "I support Barack Obama because America needs a President with the strength, wisdom and courage to talk with our enemies and consult with our allies."
UPDATE: Apparently everyone in the West wears a bolo tie.
UPDATE: Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, a strong Hillary supporter in the primaries and co-chair of her campaign, is seconding Obama's nomination. "No matter where we stood during the campaign, Democrats stand together today." Seriously, the disunity idiots need to stuff it.
UPDATE: The roll call is beginning, and it will continue until there is a nominee. Alabama is kicking it off, so it looks like they'll go alphabetically.
UPDATE: Alabama - 48-5 for Obama. Alaska - 15-3 for Obama. American Samoa - 9-0 Obama. Arizona - 40-27 Obama. Arkansas - 47-0 for Obama (in a call for unity; Clinton crushed Obama there).
UPDATE: So Barbara Boxer and Art Torres announced that California passed on its roll call vote. There's a very good reason for that. First of all, the floor is being managed so that a certain state puts Obama over the top. Second, if California voted now, less states would be part of the process, because when Obama reaches the threshold for nomination the roll call immediately ends. So don't go reading anything into this.
UPDATE: Actually, Chairman Torres just explained it to me a little differently. A lot of the superdelegates never checked in with their vote with him ahead of time. He's legally required to go to their delegated proxies for a vote, and a lot of them didn't know about the voting either, so he would have had to announce significantly less votes than the 441 California is granted. Anyway, that's what he told me.
UPDATE: I haven't been totally keeping up with the count, but the overwhelming majority of votes are going to Sen. Obama. It's kind of fun to be in the room for this, but calling it a "floor fight" would be kind of absurd. I'm going to try and talk to Sen. Boxer soon.
UPDATE: Right next to me, Bob Mulholland and some CDP staffers are frantically tabulating votes from Representatives and their proxies. So that appears to be the reason for the pass.
UPDATE: Gasbag emeritus David Gregory is chatting with Boxer and Torres right now. I'm sure that, after the explanation, Gregory will claim that the pass was because of disunity and Democrats who hate one another.
UPDATE: Word is that New York will ask for a voice vote and Obama will be put in by acclamation.
UPDATE: They should really have a running total somewhere in the hall. Mistake. I guess Obama was up to 744 by the time they got to Kentucky, but it's hard to keep track.
UPDATE: New Hampshire, Arkansas, and a couple others have gone entirely for Obama out of unity. New Jersey is up now and they just did the same thing. Let's see if that rumor about New York is true.
UPDATE: So New Mexico yielded to Illinois. And Illinois will yield to New York. And there will be a voice vote... and Hillary has come out to call for it. The whole crowd is on their feet.
UPDATE: It's over. Pelosi moved quickly to do the ayes and nays. It was a nice moment. Lest California delegates worry, all votes will be counted.
I just got settled in my seat here in the Pepsi Center. State Senator Leticia Van de Putte is calling the session to order. The room is more crowded than usual this early because there's going to be a roll call vote on the nomination around 3:45MT. The California delegation actually already did their vote back at the hotel, but any delegate who hasn't will be able to cast a ballot on the floor.
I want to thank the DNC for offering this type of access for state bloggers. I know that the national bloggers are stuck in some windowless room, a step backward from 2004. And that's not right. But the state blogger access is really a mirror of politicians going to the local press instead of the national press. They are getting great blogging press in the localities, and I think it's offering a far better perspective of the convention than the traditional media, which came up with their headlines two weeks ago and is now just filling in their words. Maybe it's because I'm here, but this is the most shameful job I've ever seen from the media in terms of a disconnect between their own paranoid fantasies and reality.
As for the local and state blog strategy, it's an extension of the Dean 50-state strategy. I hope they only increase the access in the future.
So I'm hanging out at the California delegation area while waiting to do an interview. Jimmy Carter is giving an interview to CNN. Terry McAuliffe just walked by. And there's some country band doing a soundcheck.
Having not been inside a Democratic convention facility before, it is undeniably impressive and it came through nicely on television last night. The buzz over the Michelle Obama speech seems to be generally good, with the pull quote "stop doubting, start dreaming" seeming to be the one all over the newspapers this morning.
Teddy Kennedy obviously gave a powerful, emotional speech. Many people I talked to didn't know he was coming out at all. I'm a little perturbed that Jim Leach's speech was passed over by the media so quickly. Here's a Republican who served in the US House for 30 years, now completely excoriating his party, particularly in the area of foreign policy, and it didn't raise an eyebrow. Even though it was in prime time I'm not sure anyone showed it. If the tables were turned, you can be sure it would be a major story.
Lots of Californians on stage tonight, but obviously all the focus will be on Sen. Clinton's speech. I saw James Carville by Radio Row and he said to the assembled media that they would "all be disappointed" tonight, because it would be a unifying speech. I'm sure the media will latch on to some word or facial tic and relentlessly hype it.
Anyway, Lucas will be taking you through this evening from the floor.
Well, yesterday was uneventful for me. Just getting in and getting my bearings around the city. The first thing I saw was a parade of four pickup trucks full of cops riding toward downtown.
Later, a friend of ours took us down by the Platte River to a spot near the enormous REI store, where fire spinners congregate every Sunday night. Afterwards, we stopped in on some vegetarian restaurant holding a poetry slam, and Dennis and Elizabeth Kucinich were in there having dinner. While most people in from out of town were eating their corporate-funded cocktail weenies, I stumbled upon some actual leftists for a change.
While George Bush won Colorado by 4 points in 2004, John Kerry took Denver by 40. This city grows more and more Democratic with each passing year, and raising turnout here - and keeping them in the Democratic fold - would be a key to victory in the state, I gather.
This morning, I'm sitting at the breakfast for the California delegation. Hillary Clinton apparently cancelled today (she'll be at the New York breakfast), but Speaker Pelosi will be on hand. The big buzz of the convention (for today) is that Ted Kennedy has arrived in Denver and will be speaking tonight. That should be pretty crazy.
UPDATE: While Lucas and I were sitting here bullshitting, Nancy Pelosi was apparently holding a press avail. We're good journalists. Todd Beeton was there and he's going to stop by and write it up. I guess it was a litany of wanker traditional media scribes asking "Is there unity? UNITY? UNITY!!!1!????"
UPDATE: Speaker Pelosi has just taken the stage at the breakfast. Lots of Congresscritters are here as well. I may lose power here in a second. Pelosi: "California will give Barack Obama and Joe Biden the biggest victory in the history of our country... the most votes ever for a Presidential candidate... are you ready to come together in unity and support Barack Obama and Joe Biden?... I bring this up because reporters ask me all day about this... but as we gather here... remember, it's not just about us and what our feelings are about the campaigns. It's about the hopes, aspirations and challenges of the American people. And they are looking to us to come out of this convention with unity, organized and focused to take this country in a new direction. We owe them that... this is about our country."
UPDATE: Pelosi: "If people want to talk about drilling offshore, don't come around California with that kind of talk. Let's talk about the connection between oil, which belongs to the people, and the record profits from the oil companies, and how they take it out of the ground with no royalties (in California)." Pelosi is talking about green jobs and renewables.
"If you're a senior, and you care about Medicare, Obama is right and John McCain is wrong. If you care about children's health care, where George Bush said we can't afford covering 10 million children for one year, which costs 40 days in Iraq, Obama is right and McCain is wrong... McCain supports George Bush's failed economic policies... and on the most important foreign policy issue of our time, Iraq, Barack Obama is right and John McCain is wrong."
(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.
Saturday night at Fiona Ma's karaoke hospitality suite, Dante dedicated The House of the Rising Sun to (still) Senator David Vitter. That was the first reference I heard all weekend to New Orleans, after a long day and a half of speeches that did give a lot of attention to national issues like Iraq and the crashing economy.
(A great recap of the CDP Convention. If you aren't following Sweet Melissa, you're missing out on some of the most insightful SF political commentary on the web. - promoted by Brian Leubitz)
Constant Readers,
In my final post about the California Democratic Convention, Ima write about the saga of Carole Migden and Mark Leno and the fight over who would and (perhaps, more importantly) who would not get the Democratic party endorsement for the District 3 State Senate seat.
Saturday
I've already written about Friday night, so let's start with Saturday. Over breakfast, I wrote a post about Migden's public display of lunacy on Friday night, then dealt with the proxy fiasco. After that, Beth and Brian D. (also proxies) arrived in San Jose and a group of us met up for lunch before we had to go vote. In anticipation of a boring afternoon, the booze flowed liberally as we debated the difference between a "nerd" and a "dork" - which is only something a bunch of nerdy dorks would do. Then we ambled on over to the convention center to engage in some Sauvignon Blanc-fueled heckling.
Here's how it works: before all of the CA delegates vote on whether to endorse a candidate, the candidate's Region has to hold an election to endorse the candidate. In this case it was Region 4 whose delegates needed to vote to endorse Migden or Leno. As the incumbent, Migden only needed 50% + 1 of the number of votes cast by delegates. As the challenger, Leno needed 70% +1 of the total number of votes cast by Region 4 delegates to get the endorsement.
Some reflections now that I'm back home on the shores of the Monterey Bay:
- The Leno-Migden fight certainly reached a dramatic climax today, and the result was stunning. After the vote was finalized Eden James argued that it was a representation of the power of the grassroots within the party, and I think that analysis is absolutely right. Migden had pulled out all the stops and leaned on every party official she could find to get this endorsement, but the rank and file delegates overwhelmingly refused to go along. I wish I could have stuck around to interview some of these delegates and get a sense of why they voted as they did. If anyone did ask those questions, or if we have any delegates here who wish to discuss the vote, please weigh in with a comment.
- Migden's failed endorsement is also further evidence, along with the rescinded AD-40 endorsement and the split over Prop 93 earlier in the year, to a huge divide between the party grassroots and the Sacramento leadership in particular. Senate Democrats and their staffers had worked hard over the weekend to get a Migden endorsement and the delegates would not go along with it. To their credit, Speaker Núñez and his office have been reaching out more to the netroots, and a lot of the delegates are eagerly awaiting Karen Bass' speakership, so this divide may not be difficult to bridge. The Senate seems to have more work to do on this, and Darrell Steinberg's ascension to the leadership might well bring some welcome change.
- Speaking of the new speaker, Karen Bass is a rising star within the party - and someone who already has a lot of support from the delegates. She got a rapturous welcome at the Progressive Caucus Friday night, and her name was on many lips all weekend long. Her endorsement of and speech for Mark Leno today right before the vote may well have played a decisive role in denying Migden the party endorsement, which would be an interesting sign of how much respect she is already being given by party members. It's a shame that her term will be so short, but it may be a transformative two years.
- I also sense growing disapproval of the party making an endorsement in contested primaries. Nobody I talked to could remember the last time even one endorsement was pulled from the consent calendar and overturned by delegates, not to mention two - and there were a few other instances where the district endorsement caucuses overturned the pre-endorsement vote (such as in AD-80). The Progressive Caucus was exploring a motion to reduce incumbents' advantages in the voting process, and a lot of delegates I talked to felt that the party shouldn't be endorsing at all. Look for this issue to take a higher profile in the coming months and years.
- Overall I am left wondering whether the party convention is a good use of time and resources. Delegates seemed bored with most of the speeches and few paid attention to the party business. If endorsements were done away with, there wouldn't have been much going on at all, aside from the caucus meetings, which were popular and well-attended. That suggests to me that the party should explore ways to use the convention to spur activism and training - to help catalyze political action.
- On a personal level it was great to hang out with the California blogosphere, whether I'd met you before, hadn't seen you in a few years (like Dante Atkins) or met you for the first time (like Lucas). I want to give a special shout-out to the unsung but important and valuable Caliticians, such as soyinkafan and Caligirl, who were very active and engaged at the convention and helped bring some of those stories to your attention here; and to friends of Calitics such as Frank Russo and Dave Johnson. Matt Lockshin, Penny Denenberg, and Crystal Strait were all excellent hosts who helped make this first-time attendee feel welcome and supported.
