On Friday, Wolf Blitzer posted on the CNN blog a post entitled “Does McCain have a chance in California this fall?” that was a rehash of what we’ve seen thoroughly dismissed elsewhere. In May 22’s PPIC poll, Obama lead McCain by 17. In the Field poll(PDF), Obama also leads McCain by 17.

But LA Mayor Villaraigosa just endorsed Obama, and Wolf just had to ask him about California not maintaining its blue-ness.

I recently spoke with Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa, who acknowledged that the Democrats will have their work cut out for them to make sure California remains solidly blue in November.

But the mayor, a strong supporter of Hillary Clinton’s presidential ambitions, vowed to do whatever he could to help Barack Obama. And he predicted that the Latino voters will represent a major boost for the Democratic candidate. They did support Clinton in overwhelming numbers in the primaries, the mayor said. But that was because they knew and loved her and former President Bill Clinton, and didn’t really know Obama. That, he says, has now changed.

The handwringing will continue, and that could be a good thing.  Wolf mentions all the “outreach” the California Republicans are doing with Latinos. Ah yes, outreach like that from Brian Bilbray or Dana Rohrabacher will really convince a whole lot of voters.

I hereby challenge McCain to go all out in California. Yeah, make a statement here. Maybe if you spend $20 million, you’ll cut into that margin a few points. So, go for it.

As the Perez and Pettis campaigns began to kiss and make up, Dale Wissman, CSEA, posted a blog that brought the detente to an abrupt, and quite possibley, permenant, halt.  Wissman disrespected Julie Bornstein, Democratic Candidate for the 45th Congressional District, Greg Pettis, Cathedral City Councilmember and former-Candidate for the 80th AD, Pettis’ supporters and bloggers, the Democratic Clubs that supported Pettis, the unions that supported Pettis, The Desert Sun which endorsed Pettis over Perez, and the Desert Sun editorial staff and reporters.

Wissman could not have alienated potential support in the West Valley any more than he just did in his mydesert.com blog.

Wissman has apparently not been heeding the role modeling enacted by the Sen. Barack Obama campaign with Sen. Hillary Clinton and her supporters.  Then again, the Obama and Clinton campaigns involve veteran staffers who do know how to ‘kiss and make up.’

The response of George Zander, President of the Desert Stonewall Democratic Club and Wissman’s original blog are all posted below.

Wissman’s blog posting that may cost Perez and Democrats the 80th AD:

First of all, Manuel Perez would like me to thank all of you for your participation in his AD80 Primary win last night. Manuel Perez recognizes the central roll that CSEA [California School Employees Association] made in this victory, and he said to a crowd of about 150 last night that CSEA “was there from the beginning, never wavered, and made all the difference when it counted.” Perez, the grassroots underdog. won by an overwhelming margin last night over Greg Pettis, the Cathedral City Councilman. Pettis, narrowly avoided a third place finish against Rick Gonzales, who ran a strong campaign in Imperial County.

Major thanks and kudos to the RCFO [Rancho Cucamonga Field Office] members and staff who came out and sweated through four weekends of precinct walking for Perez, including the 30-40 CSEA faithful on the ground in Coachella each day for the big push leading up to the Primary Election yesterday. We were the most organized, most dedicated, and most numerous union members on the ground by far engaged with the Perez campaign. This is an undeniable fact commented on by everyone in the Perez camp, not the least of which was the candidate, Manuel Perez.

Major thanks and kudos to the SDFO [San Diego Field Office] members and staff who came out to work the Perez Campaign in Imperial County. Perez’s success in Imperial County was due in large part to Ruth Duarte-Vasquez, who worked the Imperial side of the AD80 equation with a small, but very dedicated group of member release timers. Ruth’s deep knowledge of the community, and personal relationships with CSEA members and the community was part and parcel to our success in Imperial County. We had just a few short weeks to weld together a Riverside/Imperial coalition of the CSEA faithful, and although it wasn’t easy, we found a way to break down the barriers that have kept us from success for so long in the AD80. I can confidently say CSEA was most likely responsible for as many as one-quarter to one-third of the 2,200 Perez votes in Imperial County and maybe even more. Without a doubt, CSEA’s efforts in Imperial County put our guy over the top. Once again, MAJOR KUDOS to Ruth Duarte-VasQuez for her work on this campaign in Imperial County.

Major thanks and kudos to Government Relations, which in working through Opportunity Pac, helped sort out a difficult primary when the Speaker’s Office didn’t have the will or the way to do so. I’m understating it when I say we dodged a bullet down here. Had Greg Pettis won last night, we would have already lost the General Election to Gary Jeandron, the Republican in the race. In addition, all of the ground organization and momentum in the Perez Campaign that other candidates have been feeding off and plugging into (such as our DSUSD [Desert Sands Unified School District] school Board candidate, John Mendoza, and Julie Bornstein, the CD45 candidate) would have simply evaporated.

For those of you who weren’t on the ground yesterday, or who left after a hard day of GOTV activities, I want to share with you some of the events of last night. The voter turnout was abysmal, but those voting were overwhelmingly Perez votes. Still, at about 7 p.m. last night, it was gut check time. Were there enough actual Perez voters to overcome the Palm Springs voters, who traditionally vote at a much, much higher turnout rate? And what about the absentee ballots? We knew they’d to go to Greg Pettis, but when Riverside and Imperial posted their first numbers would Perez be down by 1,000 votes or 3,000? That was the mood of the campaign at 7 p.m.

When the Victory Celebration Party began in earnest at 8:30 p.m., we had little information from Imperial, and only the VBM information posted on the Riverside Co. website. We were down over a 1,000 votes and losing 45% to 30%. Keith Matheny, the outstanding reporter from the Desert Sun was in the room in Coachella reporting the events. Matheny, you may recall, was the reporter who did the “Bonnie’s Bed” story in 2006, and most recently the Mosquito District exposé. His co-worker, Marcel Honore, was camped out at the Pettis’ camp’s party, and Marcel and Kieth were communicating every 5-10 minutes by cell phone.

At 8:30 p.m. things started to get strange. Perez’s camp was subdued, but the energy was hopeful and it was building. At about 8:40 p.m, with no real data yet from either county, Greg Pettis puts out a press release and states to the Desert Sun that he is “looking forward to Lincoln-Douglas style debates with Gary Jeandron.” AT 8:40 p.m. with BASICALLY NO RETURNS OTHER THAN VBMs. PETTIS ALL BUT DECLARES VICTORY!!! What arrogance! What stupidity. Since the Dems have lost the 80th three times in a row due to Imperial County voters, making any statement about winning to the press before Imperial County votes have been counted (much less Indio and Coachella) shows an abject lack of judgment, as well as a fundamental misunderstanding about the structure of the 80th Assembly District.

As the returns started coming in from Imperial County, we began to close the gap. The Pettis camp put out another press release changing their tune saying that voter turnout was going to be the “X-factor.” By 10:30 p.m., we were running 3-1 over Pettis in Imperial County and actually winning the county narrowly over Gonzalez. A surge due to advertising blitzes by Gutierrez never materialized for the Dentist, and it became a two man race in Imperial County. Most significantly, Pettis had only some hundreds of votes in Imperial at that time. Manuel Perez was speaking to the crowd of supporters when the next Imperial County update hit. Perez had picked up nearly 600 more votes, while Pettis got about 80! For the first time, Perez took the lead, a lead he did not relinquish. A roar erupted from the area where the computers were, and everyone in that room started to feel that Perez was going to win. There is no way to explain the energy in that room. People had just poured themselves into that campaign, and for most of the time, they didn’t believe they were going to win. So. when the win started to materialize. it was pandemonium.

At about 10:45 p.m., the Pettis camp stated that they were confident of a Pettis win, and their numbers “based on the 2006 model” showed Pettis winning the primary by “186 votes.” Marcel Honore, the Desert reporter, is a bit of a wag. He asked, the Pettis spokesman, if he was sure Pettis would win by “186 votes” and not 182, or maybe 189. In any case, the Pettis camp left a few minutes, later. It was crickets in Palm Springs. Meanwhile, in Coachella at the Perez Victory Party, the Mariachi Band (really!) was kicking up a storm. It turned into a landslide victory for Perez.

For months, Pettis’ camp has attacked CSEA as a “rogue” union. The Riverside/San Bernardino CLC initially did not even bother to interview the other AD80 candidates before making a decision to back Greg Pettis. CSEA delegates to the Democratic Convention were attacked as “racist, homophobic bigots” multiple times in the Desert Sun for standing up to Pettis and vacating his Democratic Party endorsement at the Convention in San Jose. The Desert Sun did everything possible to slight Manuel: they left his picture out in one column, omitted his name in another, got his job and employer wrong in another, slammed him in another, printed other candidates press negative press releases verbatim, and built up Pettis as the straw man the whole way, ultimately endorsing Pettis in the very real hopes that the Republican would mow him down in the primary.

My wife and I were slammed in the Desert Sun and on the on-line blogs for daring to write an editoral that suggested that “democrats ignore Imperial County at their own peril,” while questioning Pettis’ insider clambake of the Democratic Party endorsement through Democratic Club votes. And then there was the initial difficulties of CSEA unifying Riverside/RCFO [Rancho Cucamonga Field Office] and Imperial/SDFO, [San Diego Field Office] which almost didn’t happen. It was touch and go there for a little while, especially for a Labor Relations Representative from the Coachella Valley who appreciates and respects, more than anyone will ever know, the capacity of the members and staff in Imperial County, which is perhaps the single most difficult place in California to represent CSEA members.

All of that was going against us.

We won anyhow.

We’ll win in November.

Post-script:

There was something absolutely magical happening in Coachella yesterday, and I just “got it” on an emotional level. RCFO staff may recall Manuel Perez, while doing the big “rah-rah” yesterday, got a bit emotional introducing his mother. Perez’s mother worked in the fields as a laborer for 27 years. She is a first generation immigrant from Mexico, and her son was on the precipice of becoming the Democratic candidate for the General Election. She was in tears, as were many others. It was certainly a loving moment between a mother and her son, but it was something much, much more. It was something so uniquely American, and yet something so rare, that it overwhelmed some of the Perez volunteers, not to mention the CSEA staff and members in attendance. It was the shared success of an immigrant family in America. It was hope. It was the validation that a poor kid from Coachella, who went to underfunded, hard-scrabble schools, who struggled to learn English, who had little resources, and only hope that America could provide him opportunity for his dreams: the opportunity to go to college, even to go to Harvard if he worked hard enough; and to run for an Assembly seat, and actually win – all of this came to the forefront for a few moments. It was generations of work and sacrifice, and decades of hope distilled into one moment.

The whole fact that the Perez family’s story is possible in America, and yet still not very probable, is why we must do everything possible to help him win in November.

Dale Wissman Dale Wissman is a Labor Relations Representative with the California School Employees Association. He represents classified school employees in Coachella Valley and surrounding area. He is also an appointed delegate to the DSCC from the 80th Assembly District, and is my cousin. This article was originally written as a thank you to CSEA members and others who volunteered on the Manuel Perez Assembly campaign and is reprinted with the author’s permission.

Zander’s response:

Nice. Just when I was about to offer my services to help MP win the west valley, which we could have done togeter- this.  My reaction is let the pompous arrogant Wissman – die in November.

Manny doesn’t deserve this rant. Manny is better than this. He is gracious in winning and so is Amalia. My not very sainted mother told me not to be a bad winner..this is beyond the pale.  Wissman’s mom failed him in that lesson.

Just when we were going to start the Kum bay a oh well …I have better things to do….sorry Manny.  What a jerk is Mr Wissman, and we could have won in November by joining together.  Not now.

Obama, Bornstein, and the hate initiative are priorities.  Thank you sooo much.

George Zander

(Good stuff! – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

This past Thursday evening, nearly 100 Democratic activists got together to kick off the Yolo County Democratic Central Committee’s 2008 Campaign – Yolo United! With the primary season over, we are now uniting to make sure that all of our energy is focused on getting Democrats elected to every seat that represents Yolo County.

We were fortunate to have three of Yolo County’s delegates to the Democratic Convention with us, all of them ready to join together to make sure that we elect Democrats to every local, state, and Federal position on the ballot.

Don Gibson (Clinton delegate), Martha Beetley (Obama delegate), and Ryan Loney (Obama delegate) will be representing us in Denver in August.

Join me below the fold to learn more about the Yolo United Campaign.

Note: I am a volunteer with the Yolo United Campaign.

The Yolo County Democratic Central Committee is putting together a powerful organization for its 2008 Yolo United Campaign. Take a look at the wonderful crowd of Democratic activists who showed up to our kick-off event because they want to help make a difference in this election!

And now a few introductions.

Our campaign is being led by Campaign Chair Claire Black Slotton.

I met Claire shortly after the 2004 election when so many of us were trying to figure out what the heck had happened. Beginning then, Claire was determined to make sure that 2008 will be different. She started an activist book club where we read and discussed works by George Lakoff, CTG, Jeffrey Feldman, the Constitution and Federalist Papers, and even Frank Lunz, to name a few. Claire also worked tirelessly to network with Democrats in Yolo County, ran for and was elected as a delegate to attend the California Democratic Party Convention, and developed a vision for the Yolo United Campaign – and beyond. Claire is in it for the long haul.

So my advice to McCain and his cronies this year – when you see Claire heading your way, be afraid, be very, very afraid. For every inroad you’re planning to make for John McCain in conservative Orange and Placer Counties, we’ll be working on voter registration and GOTV efforts here in Yolo County that will knock you out of the water.  The same goes for Lois Wolk’s Republican opponent in California’s 5th Senate District – Yolo will counter your efforts in San Joaquin County (which overlaps with Jerry McNerney’s district) to make sure that Lois is elected to the CA Senate.

Steve Ybarra is a superdelegate who came to talk to us about the importance of Latino Voters in this election.

Steve came armed with a couple of tools that we’ll all need to face down the Republican machine that, even now, is gearing up to slime Barack Obama and all Democrats as we head into the general election. Those tools? A spine and a helmet. We need to be strong and ready to defend ourselves and our candidates from the onslaught we know is coming. Another tool is our deep understanding that Democratic Party principles – on health care, transparency in government, energy independence, and real security – represent the true values of the American people.

Steve also talked about Nevada’s role as a swing state this year – Latino voters who make up a large percentage of that state’s population are especially important. In 2004, a group from Yolo County raised funds to send volunteers to support Nevada’s Democrats by walking precincts and doing voter registration. Every county where we did this went blue that year. This year, we’ll again be sending volunteers to GOTV in Nevada.

In addition to being a delegate to the Convention, Ryan Loney is also the Northern California Field Director of Students for Barack Obama.

Ryan has already spent many months and countless hours working on Barack Obama’s Campaign. He’s travelled in support of the BO Campaign working on organizing and registering thousands of college students, as well as working on general voter registration efforts. He’ll stay busy until the election, continuing his efforts to mobilize young voters, who are registering as Democrats in unprecedented numbers and will be another key voting group in November.

Judy Tischer is our Neighborhood Leader Chair.

Judy is one of the friendliest, most helpful people you can imagine. She’s going to make sure that precinct captains are trained and ready to knock on doors throughout the County.

Alan Brownstein, a Constitutional Law scholar from the UC Davis School of Law, reminded us of how important this election is for the Supreme Court. The next President will name at least two justices to the Supreme Court. If democracy is to survive in this country, those justices must be named by President Barack Obama. John McCain has promised justices in the mold of Scalia and Alito.

Barbara Archer is our Communications Chair. She’ll work to frame our message throughout the campaign using all of our local media outlets.

Kevin Wolf is our Data Chair. He’ll be training volunteers to use the web-based software for tracking their progress.

Kandice Richardson-Fowler will be revamping a fundraising event formerly called “The Bean Feed.” This event will be another opportunity for all of us to contribute to our Campaign’s success!

Carl Schmid is our Davis Headquarters Chair (and a Charlie Brown supporter!).

Leslie Marcus is our Woodland Headquarters Chair.

To close out the evening, each of our Chairs met with groups of volunteers who were interested in supporting the various functions in the campaign. We had a wonderful evening – everyone left feeling energized and excited.

If you live in Yolo County, come join us in a Campaign with the goal of creating a grassroots tidal wave in Yolo County. We’ve got the organization in place to make sure that we use your energy well! We also understand the value of having fun while we are working hard. Right now, we need someone who can help us get our website up and running.

In 2008, we have fantastic opportunities to turn this country around by participating in local campaigns!