((I’m told that Act Blue is back up and running, so you can donate now.  And we’re almost to our goal! $180 left! Who will put us over the top?) – promoted by Robert in Monterey)

Thanks to everyone who has supported our five candidates in the Calitics Match thus far.  We’re past halfway to our goal, and Debbie Cook has well surpassed our $500 match (way to go!).  

Today is crunch time.  It’s the final day before the end of the third quarter, which is the reporting deadline for federal candidates.  This is the best opportunity to make your donations the most meaningful; the quarterly fundraising announcements are key to gauge support, and money put into field and messaging now will pay bigger dividends in the future than a quick cash infusion at the last minute.  Please support these candidates and Calitics will match you dollar for dollar.

The Yacht Party Republicans still think you’re stupid.  They believe they can hide behind the gated communities they’ve created through gerrymandering, and that Sarah Palin’s presence at the top of the ticket will lift their hopes.  No, really:

A statewide poll this week underscored the effect Palin has had on the Republican base. According to the Public Policy Institute of California, GOP satisfaction with their presidential choice has doubled since Palin joined the ticket. Unfortunately for McCain, that has not translated into gains against Democrat Barack Obama in California, which has gone to the Democratic presidential candidate in the last four presidential elections.

Still, state Republicans were rejoicing at the possibilities. Thomas G. Del Beccaro, the state party vice chairman, said new volunteers were streaming in faster than at any time since the 2003 recall election. Republicans, he said, were hopeful that a resulting increase in voters would help the party in legislative and congressional races where they might not have been as competitive otherwise.

This is bravado.  The wingnut base wasn’t going to stay away from a Presidential election.  It’s the growing decline-to-state base, along with increased Democratic registration statewide, that has the potential to sink the Yacht Party just as Sarah Palin’s favorable ratings have sank as voters face the terrifying prospect of her in a position of power.  This is the real shift in the electorate:

Since the two parties largely settled on presidential nominees in April, voter rolls have increased by roughly 19,500 – or 2 percent – in Placer, El Dorado, Sacramento and Yolo counties, according to new figures from the California secretary of state’s office. Democrats accounted for 10,500 of those new voters. Just 2,400 were Republicans. Most of the others declined to state an allegiance.

The regional numbers mirror a statewide trend. California’s Democratic voter rolls have increased by 181,118 since April while the number of Republicans grew by 6,823. Republicans saw a net loss of registered voters in 25 counties, including a loss of more than 15,000 in conservative Orange County. Similar trends are playing out nationally, in several battleground states.

You can see the data for yourself.  Particularly in this financial crisis, Californians are ready for a new direction away from failed conservative policies.

All that stands between our five candidates and victory in November is making sure they have the resources to compete.  We can help provide that today.  Please visit the Calitics Match Act Blue page and give what you can.  We’ll double your donation to make it that much more meaningful.

(Cross-posted at Living in the O.)

These past few days have driven me crazy with anticipation. The organization I work for introduced our first California bill this year and managed to pass it through the Assembly and Senate, but now we’re waiting to hear if Governor Schwarzenegger will sign or veto it. He only has until midnight tonight so I keep reloading his web page, checking the news – I even called up my friend who works in Perata’s office to see if he had any inside information (he didn’t).

So I had to do something last night to get my mind off of this. I went down to the United Democratic Campaign headquarters in Oakland, which is also housing Rebecca Kaplan’s campaign and the California Democratic Party.

I hadn’t done any phoning for Rebecca since June so it took a few calls to get back into my groove, but once I did, I was so happy I had gone down there. If you’ve never phoned for a candidate or issue before, it might seem strange, but electoral phoning is extremely therapeutic. You have to focus, pay attention, take cues from voters, so there’s no energy left to think about anything else. It really is a great form of meditation.

It seems like every day, there’s a list of new opponents to Prop. 8, which would eliminate the right of same-sex couples to marry.  One day it’s Google.  The next day it’s Steven Spielberg.  Then Mary Cheney.  And The New York Times editorial board.  And Levi-Strauss.  And Brad Pitt.  And Republicans Against 8, who managed to come up with the most singularly odd revisionist ad announcing their opposition (“Democrats are the only hope for freedom!”).  And, appropriate to mention on Rosh Hashanah morning, the Board of Rabbis of Southern California.

The board – a collection of leaders from the Reconstructionist, Reform, Conservative and Orthodox movements – this week declared its opposition to the measure, which would amend the California Constitution to define marriage as only between a man and a woman. Leaders of the board said they wanted protect the civil rights of gay and lesbian couples.

“For many rabbis, it speaks on a personal level in terms of people they deal with whose lives have been impacted over the issue,” said Rabbi Stewart Vogel of Temple Aliyah in Woodland Hills and the board’s president.

The board has more than 290 members. Roughly 120 took part in Wednesday’s vote, the largest number of rabbis to weigh in on such an issue in recent memory. Vogel said Friday that 93% of those who cast votes supported the resolution.

Good Yom Tov!

Calitics is a part of this coalition through our Counter-Fast For Equality.  We’re giving thousands of supporters the opportunity to sign on to stop the elimination of marriage equality, and donate through the Fast4Equality ActBlue page.  We also have a Twitter feed set up.  If you send a tweet with the #fast4equality hashtag, it’ll appear on our site.  So sign up today!

While folks are focused on the most minute details of the presidential race, don’t forget that there are a bunch of great candidates toiling away to turn longtime red districts blue.  Candidates who are running under the national radar, candidates with modest finance but real energy and real support who are running on common sense progressive platforms in conservative rural areas.  Candidates who, in a year like this, have the opportunity to make a real difference in the complexion of Congress and our chances of passing important legislation in the term to come.

Let me tell you a little more about one such candidate.  Jeff Morris.  

I’ve written about Jeff before  here.  That diary will tell you more about the district, its current Bush-rubber-stamp-Republican and about Jeff.

I want to focus on one example of his leadership today, one that is particularly close to my heart.  I’m a registered nurse and activist for real universal healthcare.  Living in a rural area, I’m acutely aware of the struggles of many of America’s small rural hospitals.  In many small towns, mountain and farming communities, the resources of big city hospitals are far away.  The local people depend on the local small hospital – often a public county or district hospital – as an important link in the healthcare chain.  The emergency services those hospitals provide are especially vital.  When the farming accident, the logging accident, the car wreck on a mountain road happens, it’s the small rural hospital that saves your life.  But in the business logic of a healthcare system designed to maximize profit, those hospitals have no place.  They don’t have the volume, they don’t have the attractive building, they don’t have the profit center services.  They just save lives.  So, all over America, those small hospitals are struggling and often closing, leaving local folks with long and perilous ambulance rides to the nearest emergency care.

I know, and most of you know, that the real answer to the problem is a healthcare system with a different logic.  A healthcare system that puts people before profit.  A healthcare system that puts services where they are needed, not just where they are profitable.  But the people of those rural communities can’t wait for that, they need their hospital kept alive today.

Let me quote the text of a special award for innovation given by the California Association of Counties to Trinity County, where Jeff serves as a  county supervisor:

Trinity Hospital, a county-owned facility, transitioned into a district hospital through an innovative partnership formed by the county government and local electric utility. Trinity Hospital, like many rural county-owned hospitals, was facing a fiscal crisis. In response, the County approached the local utility district for assistance. The utility district advanced the County funds to keep the hospital afloat and a joint powers authority was developed between the two agencies to run the facility. Furthermore, a successful election was held that created a healthcare district and tax measure to fund the hospital. A citizens committee called “Trinity Cares” played an integral role in the formation of the healthcare district and passages of the tax measure. Trinity County now has a hospital as part of an independent healthcare district that will continue to save an average of one life per week through its emergency room, as well as providing much-needed daily care to its citizens. In a county that has never passed a countywide tax measure, it is remarkable that this measure was passed with 70 percent of the vote. This has also created a more positive relationship between Trinity County and the local utility district. Working together, the community was able to keep its hospital open and make a difference by saving lives.

Jeff played a key leading role in forming the partnerships and passing the bond measure – in a very tax adverse area – and today both the hospital and the county are on much firmer footing financially.

So please help us replace our ’empty suit’ Republican with a progressive candidate who understands the real needs or our rural area, who knows how to do the hard work to make things happen and will work toward healthcare that works for all of us – from the big cities to the small towns across America.

To learn more about Jeff and donate to support his campaign, visit

Jeff Morris for Congress  You’ll feel good about it and I’ll be so grateful to have a representative I can feel proud of.

Last week I wrote about the religious right’s takeover of the Yes on 8 campaign, and their efforts to rile up their base to eliminate marriage for same-sex couples.  In particular, I highlighted this statement:

Hundreds of pastors have called on their congregations to fast and pray for passage of a ballot measure in November that would put an end to gay marriage in California.

The collective act of piety, starting Wednesday and culminating three days before the election in a revival for as many as 100,000 people at the San Diego Chargers’ stadium, comes as church leaders across California put people, money and powerful words behind Proposition 8 […]

the gathering, called the call, will conclude a 40-day fasting period for california that begins sept. 24. christians are being asked to fast in some way, either the entire 40 days or perhaps by using team relays to cover the entire 40 days.

This “fast relay” thing just sounded more like eliminating between-meal snacking.  And just the notion of fasting to pass a ballot initiative is kee-razy to the extreme.  Well, if they can do it, so can we.

Calitics has decided to set up a Counter-Fast For Equality.  Participants can fast for 1 minute, 10 minutes, half an hour, whatever you can spare.  At the Counter-Fast For Equality website, you can sign up for the amount of time you’ll be fasting (hey Jews, don’t pick Yom Kippur, you’re fasting anyway!).  And much like a charity race, you can get sponsored for your time and trouble for fasting at the rate of a dollar a minute.  At the Fast4Equality ActBlue page, you can donate as little as $1 (or one minute’s worth of fasting) to the No on 8 campaign.

Just to get you in the swing of things, we put together this video detailing the ins and outs of a short-term fast.  Actually, our volunteer faster had a little trouble with it:

So get to it, America!  Join us at The Counter-Fast For Equality and sign up today!