(Always appreciate some good ol’ fashioned grassroots action. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Hello CDP Members and Friends,

Shawnda Westly (CDP Executive Director) referred a friend of hers, a woman named Deborah Ortiz to me early last week.  Deborah told the story of a woman I had never heard of, who was running for mayor in a town I never heard of. The town is Riverbank, in Stanislaus County near Modesto. The name of the candidate is Virginia Madueno. I spoke with her to get her views on what is going on in her community and why she is running for office. She has identified the issues and her campaign is bringing the community together by being solution oriented. She is a bright, articulate Latina woman who holds Progressive values and knows how to put them into practice them without being divisive. She knows how to build coalitions with sometimes disparate groups, to get things done. She is a mother of three and a small business owner. She is an outstanding candidate and I believe we will hear more from her in the years to come.

Edit by Brian: More over the flip

Needless to say, after speaking with her, I became VERY excited.  I saw an opportunity to bring several of our CDP caucuses together to work for a common goal: help get a candidate, who represents the interests all of our caucuses, elected to office!

I called Mickie Luna of the Chicano/Latino Caucus, Karen Bernal of the Progressive Caucus, Karen Weinstein of the Women’s Caucus, and Alyson Abramowitz of the Business and Professional Caucus. All FIVE of us were anxious to help such an outstanding candidate. Mickie Luna brought two more volunteers with her; Ruth Hermosillo, Secretary of the Chicano/Latino Caucus, Monica Rodriguez, of LULAC, who is an advocate for parents and children at the schools.  Susan Rowe, a volunteer for the Rural Caucus and Chair of Madera County DCC, drove more than two hours to join with us. We all joined forces on October 31st and walked for Virginia all day. We all came back with wonderful stories. We had a great time together and agreed we should do this more often. I think we will.

For the first time in CDP history, five caucus chairs have joined forces for a common cause. I hope to see more activities like this in the future. If we want to win in red counties, this is the kind of cooperation it will take.  

The election is Tuesday.  We will keep you posted on the outcome!

Keep Fighting!!!!

Jamie Beutler

Chair, CDP Rural Caucus

(Jamie sent this letter out a few days ago. I respect her a lot for all the work that she has done with the Rural Caucus, so I thought this letter might be of general interest. – promoted by Brian Leubitz)

Dear Rural Caucus Members and Friends,

John Burton was gracious enough to invite me to join him, and several other people to a meeting with local grassroots leaders followed by a fundraiser in San Luis Obispo last Saturday.

The purpose of bringing me along was so I could meet the people who had been instrumental in electing a wonderful Democratic candidate to the SLO Board of Supervisors, thus turning the Board of Supervisor composition to a Democratic majority. This is quite an accomplishment in a Red County with a roughly 6% Republican advantage in voter registration. They did it with the assistance of their fellow AD counties and it is an effort that can be duplicated in other red counties and ADs.  It shows what can be done when we all work together for the same goal. Following the more formal meeting, we joined a high energy, well attended chili cook-off celebrating Obama’s first 100 days, which was hosted by the San Luis Obispo DCC.  The whole trip was very inspiring.

(EDITED by Brian for space, see the flip)

Since the convention, I have been struck by John’s sincerity and level of commitment to helping red counties win local races, build farm teams, and get grassroots the tools needed to succeed.  From my observations, most of the red counties have achieved a level of organization that has not been seen for at least 10 years.  The red counties as a whole are more organized, more enthusiastic and more hopeful than I have ever seen them. I have no doubt that this level of energy will only grow stronger.

In the past, I have shared your feelings of frustration with the California Democratic Party, and with good reason, but I wanted to share with you my experience, thus far, with  John Burton and his staff, who have shown me that there is reason for more than cautious optimism.  

Whatever you may have felt about the California Democratic Party in the past, I have the personal experience to say to you, that today is a whole new day. I believe we now have a true partner in the California Democratic Party.  

Keep Fighting!

In Solidarity,

Jamie Beutler

Chair, CDP Rural Caucus