Nice surprise this morning. As I’m skimming through my daily LA Times email, there is this headline: “Democrats McCloskey (29th C.D.) and Coleman (28th C.D.) aren’t waiting ’till Nov.” I’ve never heard of these guys, but that is not surprising as we have over 50 Congressional Districts in California, all completely gerrymandered so there are very few meaningful races. These must be some of the hopeless long shots.

The accompanying link looks like just another LA Times link: email.latimes.com/cgi-bin1/DM/y/e23r0IQus50G2B0HYJt0EN Curious, I click on it. You can too.

And here’s some of what I see:

I don’t know how these guys got in the LA Times email (guess this is a poorly marked ad), but I do know what I am seeing. As resistance builds against the lawlessness of the Bush regime, little acts of protest are turning up everywhere. These guys aren’t going to be in Congress — McCloskey is taking on incumbent Adam Schiff in a Glendale-Pasadena-Alhambra district that has in recent years become solidly Democratic. Coleman is being a pesky fly in Democratic power Howard Berman’s district. But it is sure nice to see these guys making a splash to push their Congresscritters to do the right thing.

See also Freeway Blogger for lots of good ideas for grass roots resistance.

(Westly gets a big boost in the major Democratic battle field. – promoted by SFBrianCL)

Today the SF Chronicle  endorsed Steve Westly in the Democratic primary race for CA Governor:

What distinguishes Westly is his specificity and courage in taking on important, but politically thorny, issues that others in Sacramento would rather avoid. For example, he embraces a plan by Los Angeles District Attorney Steve Cooley to reform the “three strikes” sentencing law so that the third strike is a violent felony. He advocates setting aside a portion of the state’s surge in revenue to cover promised health-care benefits to retirees, a multibillion-dollar time bomb for the state if it is left unaddressed. He recognizes that the state’s failed foster-care system is resulting in a “stunning” number of its emancipating youth becoming homeless or incarcerated. He supports reforms to take the drawing of legislative districts out of the hands of legislators. He has even taken on “Turbo Tax” maker Intuit in pushing for a streamlined income-tax process that would not require filling out a separate state return.

Of the two candidates Westly, in my opinion, is the better candidate.  Of course if Angelides wins the primary I will support him in the general, however I do think that Westly has the best chance to take out Ahnold.

Westly is a good, strong Democrat, he has supported Democratic values and issues all his life, and he is also someone who works hard to do what is best for our state.

While Angelides has the endorsement of the CA Dem Party (as a delegate I can tell you that the party endorsement is skewed, and our party would be better served if we stayed away from endorsements in primaries), Westly has the ear and attention of many voters.

In just a few short weeks the primary will be over and we will all be supporting our Democratic candidate, and it is my hope that Steve Westly will be that candidate, and the SF Chron agrees with me : )