Here’s a thread for the opening session at the CDP convention. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis is taking the stage right now, leaving me wondering what this would be like if she was speaking as a candidate for Governor. Ah well.
The juicy tidbit I’ve heard is that Phil Angelides is strongly considering jumping into the CA-03 race against Dan Lungren. This makes a pretty good deal of sense. Angelides has the policy chops, the ability to raise money (he has a huge list of supporters to tap from 2006), and a focus on green jobs and clean energy from the Apollo Alliance. I’d like to see this.
Solis’ money quote: “This is the most progressive Administration I’ve seen in a long time.”
More later.
…The Garamendi-bots are out, bringing him to the floor. I think they just had a bunch of leftover signs from when he was running for Lt. Governor.
…Most awkward quote ever: “George W. Bush, you are bad history!” Garamendi followed up with the old “We now have a President who can speak a complete sentence” standby…
…This is a drastically long speech by the Lt. Gov. I think the crowd’s basically with him, but it’s a little awkward that he got the Governor candidate-length speech when he isn’t running for Governor.
Robert: Treasurer Bill Lockyer is laying out the problems with the state budget – Federal tax collections are off by 6%, by 16% here in California. He reluctantly backs the May 19 initiatives, but made a solid case for repealing the 2/3 rule.
Dave: So Gavin Newsom is being introduced now. Lots of “visibility” in the crowd.
Robert: Looks like Gavin is planning to run as a change candidate – especially on his Healthy SF universal program and his protection of teachers’ jobs. “The old ways of business just don’t cut it in this tough new world.”
Dave: As Gavin talks about his alleged delivery of health care to everyone in San Francisco, can someone please ask him about cutting the city health care budget by 25% across the board to cover his city’s budget deficit? I will, in a couple hours.
Robert: As David notes, Gavin is clearly planning on running on his record as San Francisco mayor – able to provide “sound fiscal policies” while providing health care and giving teachers a raise. All this depends on the details not getting out to the broader CA public.
Dave: Money quote – “We’re not intent to relive history.” Yes, just to rewrite it. You can read Gavin’s speech here.
Dave: Barbara Boxer is up right now. I’m reading over the speech, and it’s a bunch of red meat.
Most of the State party officials keep saying Obama this, Obama that…and of course they want to take credit for Obama…but the fact is that they did very little to help him (in fact most were Hilary supporters)…it was the netroots and the younger set of activists who injected the energy into the recent campaign. Besides the speeches which are mimicking Obama, what is most notable to me is the visual of the room…THIS CONVENTION HAS VERY FEW OF THE OBAMA PEOPLE AT IT. Where are the Obama youth???…were they all excluded by the old timers clawing to keep control during the delegate elections? I’ve yet to meet one Delegate who is younger than 35. This does not bode well for the State party as I think lots of those Obama youth who were excluded by the ‘good old timers’ might not be coming back….a missed opportunity for the State Party.
With all eyes on the Democratic Convention, the quiet corners of the Central Valley are enjoying the weekend and getting ready for another school week, with ongoing testing and graduation coming up. The question brewing in the back of my mind is: what if the flu cases among public school students have been on the rise in the last weeks (as many teachers I talk to report). Would this be reported to anyone? How good is our information gathering official and otherwise? Why, after a very slow winter and late fall as a substitute teacher, with work drying up due to budget cuts and freezes, ending of teacher training and conference absences, was my phone ringing off the hook Friday with unfilled substitute calls?
Is anyone paying attention? Do we even have a viable public health system in place in case this “pandemic” concern emerges as a crisis?
I greatly respect what he did on gay marriage, but most of his campaign message so far is most peculiar to anyone who knows anything about San Francisco politics: almost everything he takes credit for is something that he either initially opposed or had little to do with. The Board of Supervisors came up with the universal health program and a number of the other reforms he now plugs.
And San Francisco has very tough budget problems these days, problems it seems Newsom has little interest in working on, not when he could be traveling around the country raising money to run for governor, from people who only know him as the man who championed gay marriage.
I’m not saying this because I’m particularly impressed by any of his rivals (though Newsom or any of the other Dems would be a vast improvement over Arnold).
I told Jack O’Connell and Bill Lockyer at their party Saturday night that it would be great if one of them was to become our next governor*. Either of them would make a superior governor compared to the leading candidates. I just can’t get excited about Brown, Newsom, and Villaraigosa. Not that they’re horrible–I just think we could do better than any of those three.
*Mr. O’Connell and Mr. Lockyer pointed to each other and smiled.